Topic!

The topic I chose to write about is that preschools are the best placement option for pre-kindergarten children. Other options include home daycares and staying home yourself with your children. I chose this because it is an issue very personal to me. I would have loved to have been able to stay home with my son, and I do think it is a wonderful thing if you are able to do this when a child is first born. However, once a child hits the age of 3, they qualify for preschool services. This is the best option because staff are well trained in a preschool facility, there is a structure provided for these kids that is absolutely crucial at this age, and pre-kindergarten training is provided. The federal Child & Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) provides guidelines for serving nutritious meals and snacks in child care centers and afterschool programs. My stance is that children who have been in preschool programs are better prepared for kindergarten.

While keeping your children at home allows you more time with them, which just about every parent wants, the interactions with other kids are fewer and the curriculum provided to the child is not as regimented. Preschool programs work with trial and error and are put into place based on countless hours of research.

Home daycares may provide more structure and interactions with other children, but are also less beneficial to children than a preschool. Having had my child in a home daycare prior to enrolling him in preschool, the differences in his learning progress were truly amazing.

There is a lot of great information out there to support my claim so that my argument can be based more on facts than my personal experience and opinion. A lot of my research will be from this website: http://preschoolmatters.org/