Jun 30 2007
Wk 4: Choosing an Appropriate Childcare Facility
To choose to enroll your child into an Early Childhood Education is a decision that many parents are faced with. In chapter 9, the book discusses the vast variety of early education alternatives. The variety can differ from a babysitting environment to an environment that promotes intellectual and social advances. Is it better for a child to stay home, or to attend a child care center? I was raised by a stay at home mother and never attended any pre-school type of programs. I always believed that I would also be a stay at home mother. However, as I plan to become a mother, I do not have the option of being a stay at home mother. So when the time comes for my husband and I to choose a childcare facility, we will be looking for the following qualities that this chapter describes as being “high qualityâ€. Well trained and appropriate number of providers. We will look at the curriculum, language, and appropriate materials and activities that are age appropriate. One last thing that we will follow when choosing a childcare facility is our intuition.
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I have been a stay at home mom for my son and he is now in school. I had the option to stay at home while attending school and I have loved being there for my son. I am now expecting another child and I will not be able to stay home with this child - and that breaks my heart.
It is important to investigate the type of environment you will be leaving your child. Of course, having an academically rich environment is beneficial. This can only help the child when they begin school. The text states that children that are “enrolled in child-care centers show intellectual development that at least matches that of children at home.” There are great possibilities for children that attend child - care facilities.
It is also important to remember the teacher to student ratio when deciding a facility. I know from experience that having too many children in a classroom can cause frustration and may not leave adequate time for the lesson. This defeats the purpose of having an academically rich environment if the teacher cannot teach due to having too many students.
I also think it is important for the parents to view the curriculum to ensure that it is satisfactory to them as well as appropriate for their child. The text truly helps the reader to see different qualities that child-care facilities should have, key points are listed on page 253.
Before commenting on this topic I looked up different child-care facilities to see what is offered to our children and many seem very promising. One I found interesting is as follows, http://www.childtime.com/parents.aspx. This is the “parents” page but they had many links to their site that were just as informative.