SUCCESS STARTS AT HOME!!!

Seriously, now that I warned you, I feel like I should make something really crazy up.
Anyway, here is what has got me all bothered.

"Eighty-four StrongStart BC centres have opened to help preschool-age children and their parents get ready for kindergarten. Another 316 centres will be added in the next two years, for a total of 400 StrongStart centres that will be open across B.C. by 2010.A new Early Childhood Learning Agency will be established. It will assess the feasibility and costs of full school day kindergarten for five-year-olds. It will also undertake a feasibility study of providing parents with the choice of day-long kindergarten for four-year-olds by 2010, and for three-year-olds by 2012. That report will be completed and released within the year. "

This is taken from the throne speech given by my province's Liberal government.I have a problem with legislation that erodes the core family unit. Taking children out of their home earlier and for longer periods of time is not a solution to our problems! Those who approve of the idea of all day kindergarten for 4 and 5 year olds say that it will make it easier on low income families/single moms who have to pay for full time daycare. I can see that, but wish there was a way to keep more single parents in their own homes with their own children. When I was a single mom faced with prospect of going back to work, my children were only 3 years and 3 months old. I chose to do daycare in my own home after visiting a lawyer and social worker to see if I qualified for any programs that would help keep me at home with my young ones, especially after a divorce had already devastated our family unit. The answer was "No", unless I wanted to give away my car and get a vehicle that was worth less- then I would qualify for social assistance. I took a friend's children in on a part time basis- which is all I would do for someone else. When I became an early childhood educator, I decided that I would never work in full time daycare and look after someone else's children more than they do. (see, this is why I know I am ranting- I am getting off topic a bit here). Now the gov't solution is to make all day kindergarten. They say it will help the lower income families save on daycare- I can see how this gets expensive for a single parent, but I think that this cannot justify the amount of children that are in the system too early because both mom and dad WANT to work ( I am not condemning parents who work here, so please don't get upset- this rant is directed towards the gov't. I understnad that some have to work).

The only real opposition I found in some articles that reported all day kindergarten coming into effect was frustration on the part of the early childhood ed community who want more funding for their programs as there is a significant percent of Canadian children not ready for kindergarten when they start. They maintain that their programs will help get those students ready and don't want the gov't to only concentrate the funds on the Strong Start centers. I don't mind Strong Start as much as it is a program that the parents go to with the child, instead of the child just being dropped off. Some of my working friends take time off work to go to Strong Start with their child- that's a good thing. We had the opportunity to do it with Mr. J, who just turned 5, but it was for 2 1/2 hours once a week for 16 weeks. That is a fairly big commitment and would require me finding child care for Little M. Kinda made more sense to just do our own thing and to spend time with them at home.

Back to what has got my pants in a knot: all day kindergarten for 4 year olds. HELLO!(this is where I will stop attempting to sound collegiate and mature)- are we ignoring the fact that there is much evidence to suggest that children are already being put into school too young already? Especially boys, who are usually at least 6 months behind girls developmentally. This article talks about the struggles that boys can have in school.

Children need more time at home!!! With their parents- who can do a better job of giving them one on one time. (GASP- has this really become revolutionary thinking?)
What if, instead of further pulling children away from the family unit, we tried to keep that unit intact? We could have more support for parents who need some ideas on how to spend quality time with their kids or just need reassurance that they can do a good job of it? Our 2 1/2 year old has never attended a preschool program, but we have time to read to him and he enjoys being part of our busy, talkative family, whether we are at home or are out and about. He listened in on homeschool lessons while he played nearby and often was breastfed as an infant while I read good literature to his siblings. This same child did not choose to speak much till he was over two, but noW he stands on the lawn with baseball bat in hand and counts to ten while he waits to hit the ball. - no flashcards or worksheets needed! He says sorry when he hurts someone and offers hugs to sad family members. He learned all this AT HOME. He may go to preschool when he is older for a few hours a week, just like his older siblings did, but it won't replace or even come close to competing with the time we spend together as a family.

Kindergarten has become something that it was not originally intended to be. Probably when most of us attended kindergarten ourselves, it was about a 2 hour program where we, (gasp)...PLAYED. Now the demands to read, write and do the academics are much greater.
So, though I understand the need for less child care costs for some families, in general, I think that if more leaders stood up and announced the importance of parental influence and a strongly bonded family unit, we would have more successful children in school once the children finally got there. Why are we changing families to fit school, career, and budgets?

Before we were called to homeschool, our two oldest attended kindergarten, with our daughter going up to gr 3 there. They had the best kindergarten teacher in all of Canada, as far as I am concerned. She had a lovely, rich curriculum. I am not anti school/kindergarten. After 2 1/2 year of homeschooling, they are back in public school. They have lovely teachers. I DO know that taking our son out after kindergarten was a good move- he was getting lower marks in sitting still/concentration by the end of his kindergarten year then he did at the beginning! Now he is doing really well. Mr. J, our 5 year old, will be homeschooled next year. (I'm really excited about a Canadian curriculum I have found!) That is as far as I know. Hopefully I am in line with the Lord on this, because I feel really strongly about it. Mr J would actually be quite ready for public kindergarten in a lot of ways, but I want that time with him, now that I have had the confidence building experience of teaching our children at home. Maybe they will all be back at home, we'll see.

So, there was the rant that never ended and I am not fully satisfied that it made a lot of sense. I am open to other opinions , just please be nice and remember that I was not personally criticizing any of you working moms out there. My beef is with the government not even making it an option for parents to have half day kindergarten and to THEN lower the age of the little ones enrolled. GRRRRR... But then, maybe they are just reacting to the times- there are a LOT of kids in full time daycare at very young ages. SIGH. What do you think?

Stay tuned for a future post when I reveal every homeschool mom's nightmare- their child going back into school and not getting a good grade! I will be speaking from personal experience. OUCH.

ps- I don't think my spell check was working- this is not good since I get grammatically incorrect and a little sloppy in my spelling when I am worked up. Please forgive mistakes!