TNPC Home | ParenTalk | Articles - Preschoolers | Parent Chat

When You Are Considering A Co-Op Preschool

by Evelyn Petersen

Speaking from my experience as a co-op mom and also a co-op teacher/director, I think the co-operative preschool experience is well worth the extra effort, in terms of both your child's best long range interest and the quality of your parenting.
Nothing will teach you more about your child as a person than seeing and working with him and other children in a co-op preschool. Nothing will teach you more about how your child develops, how he learns, his learning style, his personality, or how he gets along with others. You will see him from a new perspective as a ``team teacher,`` which is what you will be as a co-op volunteer.

In a co-op preschool, the teacher director is a paid, early childhood professional whose daily staff usually consists of 3 volunteer parents. Parents take turns, so after about three weeks, all parents have been assistants, and the rotation begins again. This provides an adult child ratio of about 1:4, which helps your child get an incredibly rich learning experience each day. Since parents make up the staff, serve on the board that runs the school, and have annual fund raising or social events, the cost of tuition for a preschool experience of exceptional quality is very low.

As a co-op parent, I learned things about my own children that made me a better, more informed parent for life, not just for those early years. As a teacher, it was the most rewarding work I have ever done, because so much more can be accomplished for every child when you work hand in hand with their parents every day.

When parents are actively involved in their child's learning, as they are in co-op, that spirit of parent involvement continues throughout the child's school years, making a tremendous positive impact on the child's achievement and self esteem. Do give it a try.

Ms. Petersen's nationally syndicated parenting column is carried in over 200 newspapers twice each week. As a family/parenting consultant, early childhood educator, Head Start consultant, and host of a series of parent training audio and video tapes, Ms. Petersen employs an approach of providing hands-on, nuts and bolts advice to parents across the country. Her new book "A Practical Guide to Early Childhood Planning: The What Why and How of Lesson Plans" has just been released.

TNPC Home | ParenTalk | Articles about Preschoolers | Comments for TNPC

Programmed by: http://www.parentsplace.com/