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We just got a brochure for a local kinder/childcare in the mail. I know it's a while off, but it got DH and I pondering...is 3 and 4yo kinder compulsory in Vic? I don't mind so much about the 4yo kinder I guess, but 3 years old, I don't know, I think it's too young and we'd really rather not send her. What's the deal there?
No, it's not compulsory. 4 yo isn't either but I think there was talk of it becoming compulsory.
We didn't send DD1 to 3yo kinder - it was only two hours a week here. MCHN told me 3yo not that important, 4yo VERY important.
Not compulsory, I send DD1 because the MCHN recommended it for her as she was ahead with her speech & getting bored with things we were offering at home, writing her own name at 2.5 and dad just before 3.
Don't discount the idea, I thought there would be no point but she LOVES it and DD2 is enrolled for next year.
It's also great as I get some one on one time with DD2.
It's going to become hard to get places soon with the increase in 4yr old hours, we had to actually do a deposit this yr for DD2.
Sent from my iPhone, more than likely while I should be doing something else!
Yep not compulsory but I registered DD in April for next year as she is already needing extra stimulation than what I can provide for her at home, plus she is already asking me when will she be big enough to go to 'school'.
Depending on the costs for next year she will either be going 1 or 2 mornings a week for 2 1/2 hrs, which will then give me some time to be able to do things.
Cool :) I honestly don't like the idea of 3yo kinder right now. It may happen, but it's good to know its not compulsory. Same with 4yo, and frankly, if I didn't feel DD was ready by then, and it were compulsory, I'd be fighting that. By that stage DH and I have already discussed hiring a nanny for the children rather than sending one to childcare and one to 3yo (or 4yo) kinder, as I'll be studying by then and we like the idea of one on one care. DH had a nanny, although his was 5 days a week 9-5. We would only need one the times I need to be at uni. Nice to know there are options though.
Regardless of whether or not you like the idea (personally, I think that early learning is very important and that 3 year old kinder is part of this) I'd strongly recommend registering Isla. It can be near impossible to find a place and if you do decide to take up the option, it's best to have put your name down. It's different from council to council but registrations generally start around 18 months.
I also feel 4 yr old kinder is super important!
I also believe early learning is extremely important. But I also don't believe the only way to access early learning is necessarily through kinder :dunno: I'm definitely not discounting it, and will register her, but it is good to know that it's not enforced.
As far as I am concerned, there is a vast difference between kindergarten (which is part of a child's education) and being cared for by a nanny (which, at the end of the day is childcare). That's to say nothing of the vital socialisation that occurs at kinder. Ask any prep teacher...it is glaringly obvious which kids went to kinder.
DH and his brother had a nanny who was fluent in 3 languages, was a qualified primary school teacher and a long term nanny. He went to play groups, music classes, group craft sessions, libraries and was 'socialised' and very ready for school without having ever set foot in a kinder. He spent plenty of time interacting with other kids (and other adults), learned how to share, read and speak another language. So I guess it depends on the type of nanny you get.
If you're getting a nanny that has qualifications and skills like that, who is willing to do all of those things, you have a lot more money than DP and me! :lol: I still think kinder is a better option, but obviously, it's your choice :)
We don't even have 3 yr old kinder up here and the kids are all fine, LOL. I wouldn't send my kid either. Sure, at 4 yo, that's the year before school so it's starting to get them ready for that just a few days a week but I think 3 yrs old is very different and young. I wouldn't send my child (taking into account I'm a SAHM so easy for me to make that choice). And I highly doubt a child would be disadvantaged in any way by not going at 3yo.
Okay...I'm willing to hazard a guess that my financial situation is probably a lot poorer than yours, although I didn't really start this thread to debate the merits of questioning 'the man' and how our country suggests we raise our children or discuss my finances or explain in detail how we plan to afford our choices, I think that's a bit rude, don't you? Anywho, I have the info I need, I've years until I even have to think about kinder, so I trust that I'll make a pretty good decision for DD by then. As I've said, I've pretty much discounted 3yo kinder but I don't have much of an issue with 4yo unless DD isn't ready.
My girls didn't do 3 yo kinder but they did do long day care so I didn't think it was necessary. They did and will do 4 yo kinder. With the changes making 4 yo kindr 15 hours a week yo will probably find that many 3 yo kinders are harder to get into or will stop operating.
Regardless of what you decide it is a good idea to research what is in your area and putting Isla's name down, or finding out what age you can register her from. Just because her name is on a list doesn't mean you have to take up a spot but it does give you an option.
What Nai said :) it's good to have options.
Some of the Mums at our school send the nanny to help out with reading and the other volunteer stuff we're meant to do.
My son LOVES 3 year old kinder. The kinder is a lovely place. His teacher is wonderful. The community is great. I always stay for ages and always do my 'duty' twice a term or more. It has provided me with a break to spend one-on-one time with DS2.
Please don't feel you need to make a decision just yet. Not all 3 year olds are too young for the right environment. I didn't even enrol DS1 until he was three already, and he still got a spot.
I wouldn't presume to make a decision 3 or so years before I need to ;) I really just wanted to know if 3yo kinder was compulsory. Onyx, I think you need to link that Google thing again :lol: As I've said, I'm glad to know there are so many options available to us :) I might be gagging to send DD, I don't know yet!
it is not compulsory for you to send her. like others have said, i would look around and enrol her now- because you can always pull out later.
fwiw, my kids have never been in cc or anything- i have been a sahm for 5 years- and sending ds1 to 3 year old kinder for 4 hours a week has been fabulous. he and i have both made some awesome friends and contacts in the community, and it has helped me with the decision of where to send him to school. ds2 will start next year.
You can always hold her back too if you wanted to. DD turns 4 in March but she isn't starting 3 yo kinder until then. 3 yo is direct with the kinder - we put her name down in May I think this year and she's been accepted. 4 yo is through council. But no, 3 yo isn't compulsory.
I never thought i'd send my kids to 3 yo kinder, didn;t feel it was necessary. However, by the time DD was old enough for 3yo kinder i couldn't wait to send her! lol She loved it and i needed a break!
I wish we had 3yo kinder for my now 3yo... She and i would both like the break i think. :redface:
I agree with the other posters I'd put her name down now just in case you decide you want to try 3yo Kinder.
It helped my DD1 a lot, when she first started she was shy & didn't like being around new people but by the end of term 1 she was making friends & coming out of her shell.
DD2 also goes to 3yo Kinder & loves it. It's her special time away from her sisters where she gets to hang out with her friends, sing songs & do dances etc...
We do a similar program thru neighbourhood house. I think a few places now are offering similar programs as it can be quite hard to get into 3yr old kinders.
Ours is only 2x 2.5hr days and Em loves going, get so excited.
Just keep it in mind if you are interested down the track, check out what available in ur area.
I haven't read all the replies but I wanted to add :)
We sent our kids to 3yo kinder because I think it is a good intro to the kinder and the kids your children will build a relationship with during both kinder and early school. It is only a couple of hours per week and all of our children have loved going to 3yo and it almost isn't enough at only a couple of hours per week.
The 4yo kinder is great at getting them into routine and ready for school :)
Most kinders will welcome inspection for upcoming kiddies, so go and have a look at a few local schools.
Good luck
I see kinder as being a great Introduction to social situations, learning to share, wait their turn, following directions from other other than parents, becoming independent with toileting, dressing, packing/unpacking bag, snacks andlunch etc...not just education.
:hug: you'll know what's right when the time comes...like others have said put her name down so you have to option to go with it or not.
Gosh does that mean I should be thinking about this already?
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It depends on your area, our council you can only apply the year before starting, I'd contact your council and ask
As others have said, kinder is not compulsory. Neither is school, you can home school if you choose. The misconception that kinder is compulsory is one I come across frequently as I withdrew DS2 from 4yo kinder because it was shockingly run, and my twins are not in it at all because tbh their daycare is far superior to the kinder DS2 went to. If 4yo kinder is ever made compulsory you could avoid that by registering for home schooling I am certain.
Nah, WM our area is not that hard to get into. i have booked DD in for next year for 3 year old kinder, but you don't need to book years ahead.
Boys go to CC 1 day a week so I have not done 3 year old kinder. Next year DS1 will most likely continue at CC and do 2 or 3 days a week there. The kinder program as such is about school rediness and not about teaching them to read and write etc BUT they will help if a child is keen and wants to learn. I have been to info nights at CC and info night for sesional kinder and both have stressed the fact that neither has more benefit than the other. Both have to follow the early years framework form birth to 8 years of age.
My council used to be register at age of 2 now they have changed it to can register even earlier and 2 is the latest you should register for 4 year old kinder to have a good chance of getting where you want.
What olive said. My council takes 4yr old applications (listing your 3 choices in order of preference) once they turn 3. 3yr old applications are direct to the kinder & from what i can see, they all have different ways of doing it (some will let you put your name down whenever, others will only take it the teay before etc).:
Im another who wasnt sold on the idea of 3yr old kinder but after having visited a couple, speaking to the teachers who explained it's more about the social aspect than anything else & speaking to the mchn, we're planning to see how it goes. If it's not right for ds we can always wait until 4yr old kinder or look at other options.
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Did not enrol the girls into 3yo Kinder as they were already in childcare. DD1 went to 4yo kinder, along with a day at childcare. It was good for her, but the main benefit was its connection to the local primary school. Automatic acceptance there, integration program at the end of the year with the school. Also she got to build friendships that she could continue, along with me getting to know the other parents.
For 2013 DD2 will be going to Kinder and a combo of childcare. She may or may not get into our Kinder of choice (same as DD1). If we had sent to her 3yo there, she would be given greater priority (introduced this year, so did not know when enrolments were on).
So, really consider the flow from 3yo to 4yo to primary school. If your chosen primary has a priority system for children from a certain kinder, it may be beneficial to enrol.
My gf's DD didn't do 3 year old kinder. And she's fine. I think it is a child by child basis. She had an older brother and a younger sister. And when she started 4 year old she already had friends there from outside kinder.
I chose 3 year old because DD was an only child. I didn't like the idea of child care for socialising. I think this is more important than anything. The socialising. My gf is one of those amazeballs mothers who walks to the park everyday, meets people with kids, gets out in the dirt with her kids etc. so her daughter was more well rounded than some of the others.
I *only* did three year old kinder, then went to school. My parents had the choice to hold me back or send me to school, and I was waaay ahead of the other kids (at that point, i made up for it by beig a dumbass in high school :lol:) so off to school I went :) As others have said, each child is different!
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http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000000/00000028.asp
Found this an interesting read, although I've yet to find and read the 2000 Program for International Student Assessment, which is what I'm really interested in from that article.
nup 3yr old isn't compulsory. i chose to send DD1 because she was getting bored with my offerings at home :lol:
as for 4yr old kinder believe it or not we actually got our papers for that when DD1 was born!. i submitted them to council when she was 3 mths old! we live in a fast growing municipality and the reasoning behind it is to see how many children will require places and if the current infrastructure can support the required places.
i got confirmation last week that DD1 had been accepted into the first choice 4yr old kinder i chose so I'm very relieved :)
I also don't know if we'll be living in the same suburb by kinder, and we definitely won't be by the time DD's starting school. We have a MCHN visit next week so I'll ask them about what we need to do in terms of putting her name down. I may be over the moon by that time with two young ones to have DD go along. DH has always wanted DD to go to an alternative school, maybe we could speak to one of the ones we like about what kinder they take the most children from :think: :)
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If you are looking into Montessori (sounds as though this would be something that may appeal to you :)), they start at 3 years old, but you will need to start the process now as their waiting lists tend to full years in advance.
We sent DD to a private kindergarten for 3 yo Kinder, as I found her CC centre woefully lacking once she got to the 3 year old room. It was a disgrace and she hated it. There is really no 3 yo kinder at all in WA, so I had to search hard to find one anywhere near us with a place open, but I was so glad I did. DD1 thrived there, they had small classes and was such a fabulous environment for her to be in. She adored it, learned so much and grew as a person so fully, I would do it again in a heartbeat. Had 4 yo Kinder not been a part of primary school in WA, she would have started 4 yo kinder there this year.
I have found our local PS has a Steiner kinder right next it and follows on with a Steiner stream offered concurrently at the PS. So DD1 will follow through with mostly the same kids and have already formed some friendships going into Prep.
I haven't read the article word-for-word PZ but that article seems to concentrate on the correlation between primary school academic results and preschool education. And concludes that there are no great academic benefits in starting "formal education" early.
It's hard to compare apples with apples because that's a US article/study.
These are my observations after spending some time at DD's kindy. It's not very formal at all. Granted, I've been there less than 10 hours all up, but I've never seen the teachers "teach" letters and numbers for example. I'm sure they incorporate this into the activities, but it's not like formal classroom learning.
The emphasis, at least at DD1's kindy, is on having fun. They do lots and lots of craft, lots of reading stories, lots of painting, lots of running around outside. It's just fun. DD1 loves it. She'd like to go every day. And I do think it's really important in getting them to share, take turns, etc. etc.
I also love the idea that she is making friends there who she will go to school with next year. We are in a small community and the friends we're making now will probably stay with us until she's a teenager. I love being part of that community and the kinder is an integral part. In the last 30 years, it's only had three changes of teacher.
What I'm trying to say, is that, to me and DD1, kinder is a lovely, holistic, fun experience, not a scary pushy pushy, let's start pushing alphabets and numbers on to them.
Most of the article was US, but there was a part that focused on an international study. Also, the conclusion's wording was pretty biased, but I am looking more into the points raised.
Maybe it's one of those things that I'll come to terms with...like this pregnancy, DD weaning etc, maybe once she's actually 3 it'll be different for me. I will continue to question the necessity of 3yo kinder though, just like I question most things; conventional ideas about pregnancy, birth and parenting have been things I've always challenged in some way or other :)