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This is why my wife and I chose a play-based co-op pre-school for our kids. They both were academically above average compared to their peers in kindergarten.

by sidlls 9y ago

This is why my wife and I chose a play-based co-op pre-school for our kids. They both were academically above average compared to their peers in kindergarten. But everyone is different. Our kids learned well by being allowed to pick what they studied. That may not be suitable for all children, and some, perhaps even many or most, might need more structure and rigor earlier.

gnicholas 9y ago
Appreciate the nuanced perspective. When we toured preschools, they touted the "play-based" foundations, but there were very few specifics. It was mostly in response to parent questions about "do you do anything with the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, etc.". All of the messaging around play-based learning was in the negative — "no, we don't do that; it's play based!". They never said "we do play based learning, which means that the teachers do x, y, and z to facilitate outcomes 1, 2, and 3."
- sidlls 9y ago
  In our case the school was almost completely unstructured and "play-based" was quite literal. The teachers would organize projects at "stations", but the kids were free to completely ignore that and go outside and play on the playground the entire time if they wanted. Of course teachers and parents played up the projects the teachers worked on, and encouraged learning through play (e.g. understanding why the sand fell the way it did or how the swings worked, etc.). But it was very indirect and light-touch. What we found was most kids naturally gravitated to things out of curiosity. Most knew the alphabet, days of the week, numbers and the like by the time they went to kindergarten. Many could even read and do simple arithmetic.
martian 9y ago
If you're interested in play-based schooling, I recommend looking at the Reggio Emilia approach. Some very interesting and very practical approaches around early childhood education. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach

by sidlls 9y ago

gnicholas 9y ago

Appreciate the nuanced perspective. When we toured preschools, they touted the "play-based" foundations, but there were very few specifics. It was mostly in response to parent questions about "do you do anything with the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, etc.". All of the messaging around play-based learning was in the negative — "no, we don't do that; it's play based!". They never said "we do play based learning, which means that the teachers do x, y, and z to facilitate outcomes 1, 2, and 3."

sidlls 9y ago
In our case the school was almost completely unstructured and "play-based" was quite literal. The teachers would organize projects at "stations", but the kids were free to completely ignore that and go outside and play on the playground the entire time if they wanted. Of course teachers and parents played up the projects the teachers worked on, and encouraged learning through play (e.g. understanding why the sand fell the way it did or how the swings worked, etc.). But it was very indirect and light-touch. What we found was most kids naturally gravitated to things out of curiosity. Most knew the alphabet, days of the week, numbers and the like by the time they went to kindergarten. Many could even read and do simple arithmetic.

martian 9y ago

If you're interested in play-based schooling, I recommend looking at the Reggio Emilia approach. Some very interesting and very practical approaches around early childhood education. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach