At KidFit Preschool, I approach education in toddlers and children with the big picture and longterm perspective I wish I had twenty years ago when I started raising my own. Each day is organized into five intentional active learning segments that address your child’s mental, physical, emotional, and social fitness. GameTime is the time to get the heart pumping. ActivityTime is the time to be creative. StoryTime is the time to imagine and reason. SnackTime is the time to refuel and learn about nutrition. YogaTime is the time to feel and focus.
We create learning experiences that build on academic concepts. We eat colors to learn colors, we build with shapes to learn shapes, we sing numbers to learn numbers, and honestly, a lot of times we play games just to have fun. If you want your kids to learn how to read at a kindergarten level when they’re 4, this is NOT the preschool for you. If you want your children to have positive, engaging, confidence building learning and social experiences as the foundation for their learning career, then KidFit may be the right fit!
As a new mom, I remember feeling tremendous anxiety about my own children who initially lagged behind academic norms from Kindergarten through early elementary. Despite my own mother’s wisdom, in addition to my own intense home routine, I put them in “accelerated” preschools, summer schools, paid for private tutoring, and so on. In the end, as the years passed, I realized that it was more time and maturity that made the difference. Regardless of my efforts, they just weren’t ready to read at four or five years old. I changed my approach with my younger ones and have seen no significant difference in their academic development.
Children develop at different paces, and the data shows that early academics does not result in any long-term sustained benefits. Actually, it shows the opposite. A focus on reading at 3 or 4, or even 5, is not going to develop stronger readers. Any advantage children gain through early-academics, disappears by as soon as Kindergarten . Sadly, on the other hand, higher levels of anxiety remain, when compared to non-preschooled peers .
Sure, it’s anecdotal, but I’ve realized my early worries and approaches were unfounded. I should have listened to my mom! Don’t sweat it! They’re going to get it, and when they’re ready. Some will be ready sooner than others, and preschool shouldn’t get the credit. Don’t be pressured into pushing them to do something their little minds are simply not ready to do. I love helping preschoolers build a strong foundation on which they can achieve success, academically, and I strongly believe that it is through active, creative, and experiential learning that children will build that foundation.