I am a registered nurse who has extensive experience in day care and early childhood development. I’ve witnessed the good and bad of government-run, child development centers. As a military family, we saw how children were affected by frequent travel and separation from their parents. Having taken that into consideration, we desired to provide stability and consistency to the raising of our children. I choose to stay home and run our household and educate our children. If I were to return to working in a hospital, I would be away from my children for the majority of their daily lives. I did not desire to have children to have someone else raise them for me, especially by a minimum wage earning and a minimally trained person who has no vested interest or love for my children.

We tried Pre-K due to my son’s diagnosis of Level 1 Autism. It was one of the biggest mistakes we made in regards to his care. He actually fell behind once entering the program. His teachers told me their hands were tied in how they were and what they were being allowed to teach. Realizing I can give far better instruction and more time, we pulled him out of the Pre-K program in our district. It is not the responsibility of the State to raise my child. Schools should not be viewed as an answer to the daycare predicament in which parents may find themselves. Giving more power to the state does not solve the issue it exacerbates it. I know my son, and I know what his needs are. No legislator knows better than a parent who invests in his or her child (ren).

First of all, I am a Christian. I believe that God gave my children to my husband and me to raise, nurture and educate them with the knowledge Him and His word….not the government through public education. Young children fair better both emotionally and physically if their mothers and fathers care for them. They also feel more secure in an atmosphere where they are deeply loved. I believe that good character has to be instilled at a young age and parents are the best ones to do that. If early childhood education becomes mandated, this will cause more of a tax burden on low-income parents that desire to raise THEIR children the way that they best see fit. This is our God-given right and freedom as citizens of the United States. Thank you.

I have three children ages 4, 3, and 5 months. I keep them at home with me because it is the best decision for our family. My husband and I believe that preschool aged children don’t need formal academics. They need the love and attention of their parents. No other teacher will ever care for my children the way I do or know them as well as I do. I know their strengths and weaknesses and can tailor their education to that. We read, memorize poems, play games, count, sing, bake, and countless other things together. I cherish the memories that we have created together. They are memories that wouldn’t be created if I sent them off to school at such a young and impressionable age. I want their values and morals to come from me, not the state.

I know the perfect person to teach/prepare my children for school is me. I know my children better than anyone else on this planet. I know how they learn, when they’ve had enough, and how to motivate them with the most success. My children benefit in many ways by staying home. In addition to being in a comfortable and familiar environment, they are also more rested, benefit from a more appropriate adult/child ratio, and can experience more field trips/activities outside of the home. I think it is important for children to communicate with all age groups, not just their peers. This is something I have achieved by keeping them home and planning outings with local groups (containing all ages) to all kinds of places. They would never get the same experiences at an institutional daycare/Pre-K that I can give them by keeping them home.

God blessed my husband and me with seven precious children whom we have home educated. Four of them have graduated, and are working and are productive citizens. I have always been a stay at home mother and enjoy it very much. If God gave us this little human being to love, nurture, potty train, walk and talk and everything else that comes. Do I become totally incompetent to teach them and educate them in character and other life skills? I was not willing to trust anyone else with my God-given responsibility. Why should I turn my child over at a certain age to someone who doesn’t know him or her like I do?

Research shows that young children develop a healthier understanding of themselves and others at home. It shows children are less violent when they spend their preschool years at home. It shows they develop a better understanding of language and develop better listening skills at home. It shows boys, in particular, thrive in a dynamic situation which requires less seat time and more ability to develop gross motor skills… at home! Why the government would fund something that studies show to be handicapping to young people is beyond me. We have contentedly fought to raise our eleven children on one barely adequate income out of joy and a deep conviction that is what is best for our children socially, academically, and spiritually. We can always earn more money when they are grown… we cannot rewind and invest in their preschool years.

I will raise my children, not some non-relative who has a whole room full of other children to tend to. I can work on good character quality at home, vs. send them out and hope they don’t pick up bad attitudes or bad language because their peers have older siblings at home. I can cultivate a love of learning vs. forcing them to think of learning and school as being synonymous with being planted at a desk all day, preparing for non-age appropriate tests. I keep staying home with my children to parent them because I am their parent as it is my job to raise them to become good citizens and productive members of society with intelligent minds, not assembly line cogs in a machine.

 

Fortunately, I have a work-from-home job that allowed me not to have to send my child to daycare. Most institutional daycares have a prohibitive cost, meaning that most of what the parent earns would go to paying for daycare. As far as for Pre-K/Preschool, we didn’t send our daughter because we were in the process of moving/just bought a house in a different town & didn’t have time to research the options, and I didn’t feel that it was necessary to go to Pre-K in order to succeed in school later.

We fully qualify for these programs but will not be putting our children in them. We intentionally give up a possible second income to do so. For one, the atmosphere is often that of entertaining children more than anything. Children who may actually be developing a theory and learning something are often swept away to the next activity regardless of their interest in the task at hand or the future task. At home, my child has the freedom to fully develop ideas and to continue building the steps to their desired results for however long it takes and in as many tries as necessary. The children are also often learning useless information. When I worked at a preschool for a summer in college, we put food dye and soap in cold spaghetti noodles so that the children would have the opportunity for tactile “learning.” I’m certain that my three-year-old at home tossing our spaghetti with olive oil for dinner is the one learning a valuable task and simultaneously getting tactile experience. I am also fully capable of providing many educational learning supplies to my children via household items and our public library. We all know the statistics concerning THE most valuable influence on reading success as being read to! Reading and rereading and reading for the fourth or sixth time are the very things that will build confidence and familiarity with the English language and reading comprehension. Pre-K institutions do not provide that for their students. There’s also the very real concern of unnecessary illnesses. Even with preventive measures, the flu, stomach bugs and regular colds are a normal part of daycare and Pre-K learning centers. We also do not personally agree with the disciplinary measures practiced in these environments.

 

When my kids were little, I watched, amazed, at how capable they were of learning so much about the world around them. They were like little sponges! My oldest, who is now 15, was reading by the time he was 3 and his little sister wasn’t far behind! They are thriving and excelling beyond what I feel they could have if they were placed in a daycare/preschool. The individual time I had them when they were little would never have been possible had they been gone most of the day. My next child in line was way different but still so observant. He didn’t talk and babble about the world around him but he was always watching. He didn’t even talk until he was almost 4! Then, when he did, it was with great difficulty. It has been a long journey in learning how to talk and read, but he is so smart and excels in math skills and mechanics! He fixed my vacuum when he was only 8 after his dad and I gave up! Again, if he would have been placed in a day-care or preschool, he would have been labeled and probably have been overlooked at what he could do well. And for the record, I was totally for placing my kids in public school. I did not want to homeschool and was encouraged (prodded and with persistent discussions) by my husband to do so! I had no desire to stay home all day with my kids and prayed and wrestled (fought!) with the Lord on what to do. To this day, I do not regret my decision to stay home and continually be amazed at their abilities and talents. And yet, to this day, I am fully reliant on God to help me because I am scared to death sometimes of the responsibility of it all! But I know my kids. And I wouldn’t trade that for the world. My family, for years, have been one of those lower income families. But we are not lower in our treasures in our children, each other, or our treasures in heaven. We are lucky and blessed.