Any academically focused preschools in Irvine?

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phantom600rr_IHB

New member
Can anyone recommend an academically focused preschool in Irvine? Most of the ones that I've talked to (including Turtle Rock Preschool and various Montessori Preschools) within the city are considered developmental focused preschools.
 
<p>We looked at perhaps 8-10 preschools, most of the Irvine Montessori schools included, none of which were academically focused. </p>

<p>In spite of that, I'd have to say we have been very happy with our selection of Jenny Hart. My 3-year old has become quite interested in words and wants to learn to read. Hard to get through books now because he's become focused on the letters, sounding them out, etc! I still find it amazing that 4-year olds are reading today. I don't think I could read a lick until 1st grade or so.</p>
 
My fiance says to check out early childhood education center at UCI....they have a few other preschools within UCI, but this one is academically focused.
 
<p>A bit off topic, but a good resource so I will post it here. If you have a 4-6 year old and want him/her to learn to read, I have found the following online resource very helpful for my kids. It's an automated cartoon program that teaches them how to read. It's smart (ie. adjusts based on what they do or don't know) and works like a charm. The first 5 lessons are free.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.headsprout.com">http://www.headsprout.com</a></p>

<p> </p>
 
Not to sound rude or anything, but how about let them play and be with other kids for a while. I'm thinking there will be plenty of time in the rest of their school life to drink from the fountain of knowledge, but you're only an innocent kid once.





Like IPO, I didn't know nuthin' about nuthin' until they bussed me to school at 6 or 7. I still turned out okay and got my fat admissions letter to any Ivy League school (which I turned down). So it seems it's not how early you start, but how well you do once you get to the start line.





Not sure if the above helps or not, but good luck!
 
<p>darsh - UCI's Early Childhood Education Center is not an academically focused preschool in my opinion. They supposedly adhere to Piagetian teaching principles, which suggest that children learn sequentially. Reading and writing are not stressed with Piagetians until after preschool years... </p>

<p>A woman that lives on my street is a teacher there and she'd definitely agree that the ECEC was developmentally focused. </p>
 
<p>I just heard a report about some research done on children and how their play time has changed over the years. Toddlers and children have much more structured play time now than they did 20 years ago. One of the problems with this is that when they are playing by themselves, they have to figure out what to do on their own. They talk to themselves a lot when doing this. This helps them to get better and self-control. One study had researchers ask kids of ages 3, 5, and 7 to stand still. The 3-year-olds couldn't really do it. The 5-year-olds could do it a few minutes. The 7-year-olds could do it as long as the researches wanted. That was 20 years ago. The repeated it now, and the groups had regressed to the level of the younger group of 20 years ago. That is, the 5-year-olds could not stand still and the 7-year-olds could only do it for a few minutes.</p>

<p>Self-control is a big predictor for success in school. The part of the mind responsible for it is called the Executive Brain. It is ironic that in trying to get kids to do better in school, we may be eliminating the time in their lives when they are actually best preparing themselves.</p>
 
FWIW, a child psychologist we talked to said the academic focused pre-schools do more harm than good by creating a stressful environment for a kid that is too young to handle it. Not trying to start any big debate here.
 
<p>If you've got 2 hours to kill, you can watch this playback of the IUSD "Welcome to Kindergarten" program, and make you own determination on how academic your preschool needs to be. IUSD holds two sessions each year for the incoming class --- this one was taped Feb 13th, next session is Mar 12th. Lots of information on K curriculum, if you can get past the IUSD administrators patting themselves on the back for having such a great school district.</p>

<p><a href="http://irvine.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=203">http://irvine.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=203</a></p>

<p> </p>
 
Call me old fashioned if you will, but why do you need to find an academically focused preschool? Why not take the responsibility of raising intellectually curious kids in an environment that provides opportunity to learn onto yourself?
 
After watching the IUSD video last night (posted above), I came away with the impression that my 4 year old was way OVER prepared for entry to K --- and her prep has come from 2 years at the so called "developmental" Turtle Rock Preschool. Let the kids enjoy their developmental years, they have plenty of years of stress ahead of them....
 
My children did not attend pre-school. They all do very well in school and did so from the first day of kindergarten. IMO, they seemed to be a bit better mannered than many of the children who attended pre-school. The oldest had severe reading disabilities, but she and we worked through it. She usually attends UCLA, but is presently attending Kings College in London. It doesn't appear lack of pre-school had any negative effect.
 
no kidding, lay off and let them enjoy their childhood. they're going to learn to read sooner or later.





"good preschool" =/= "success"





remember just because kids may be attending school in a "great school system" does not mean that parents can abdicate their responsibility to teach and supervise learning.
 
Red Hill Lutheran School offers a excellent academic preschool. Their programs use the Open Court curriculum as well as Scripture Bites while the program is academic it still focuses on the importance of social skills as well as understanding that all children develop at an individual pace. I have searched around the Irvine area and Red Hill offers the highest quality - academic with developmental undertones. It is located in Tustin at the corners of Bryan and Red Hill. It is not a bad drive from Irvine, and could be closer than you realize depending on your residence. I encourage you to give them a call. They will fill up quickly for fall. Hope this helps. cm
 
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