A child's brain grows at a mind-blowing pace from the ages of 2 to 6 years old. If you child is entering kindergarten at 5 years old, you could be throwing 3 years of education out the window! Not to say that learning at home is a great disadvantage compared to preschool; but specialized education geared toward kindergarten can do wonders when your child reaches the age of 5. And even sometimes, a regular preschool just doesn't cut it for every child.

In history, many preschools have focused on the main things children need to learn before entering kindergarten: how to listen, be quiet, and how to learn the same thing that all the other children are learning at the same time. For some, this format works okay. Inevitably, there are confidence issues as well as some children being more advanced than others. Many times, these children become disruptive and are labeled as troublesome. According to many childhood experts, if you appropriately challenge a child and allow them to advance at their own pace, they become very motivated and independently challenge themselves. A child is like a sponge, and the younger they are, the easier it is for them to grow and excel.

It is a fulfilling experience to witness your child's self-confidence and skills skyrocket as they achieve success. So it is important to assess your child's standing across the board to decide where your child belongs. For my son, regular preschool labeled him a disruption; while I noticed that boredom was the reason he began acting out during quiet times, and talking during listening times. I enrolled him in a Montessori school where he was able to challenge himself appropriately. Within a week, my 4 year old wrote his first and last name without help!

At these specialty schools, children are doing things at their own pace and succeeding! During the day, they participate in yoga, learn manners and virtues, and recite the 50 states. When I pick up my son, he is raving about the fun he had at school while he blows me away with his new knowledge.
It is important to know exactly what activities and subjects a preschool offers when searching for your child. A wider variety of subjects, the better: math, language arts, Spanish, sign language, yoga, science, geography, zoology. There are so many more, but these are the subjects I found most important in my son's school. I found that if children like my son are stuck in the classroom during the full school day, they zone out and lose the educational experience. At the Montessori schools, they treat children like individuals instead of a herd of cattle, and that is what made the difference in my child's education.