I've been thinking about this video all night... I'm so torn between two things...

It's so inspiring to hear Bev speak and just to think of how simple it is to allow children to have independence and control over their day and what materials they use and how they use them. At one point, she was showing a cute little hidden space and said that a child could choose to have a little snack in that space by herself. This sounds so lovely and ideal and what I think it shoud be like, HOWEVER, I am tasked with preparing children for kindergarten. I run a preschool in a college town (lots of professors kids). Most of my children go on to public school.

So, I am responsible to make sure that children are able to follow directions, participate in a group, recognize and can write upper and lower case letters, know their letter sounds, etc etc etc. I help them learn table manners, passing items, pouring milk. I DO run a play-based program and make sure that we're learning all of these things through play, we don't do worksheets or anything, but it's still not as 'ideal' as what she does.

Everyday, I run a small group activity that is teacher led and yes, pretty much the kids have to join me. I make them come to morning meeting and circle time at the end of the program (they all want to come to these things anyways, but when they first start, I sometimes have one that is reluctant and I pretty much just tell them they have to...ha, so they do). I feel like if I didn't plan art activities I have some children that would NEVER do art. They wouldn't learn cutting or gluing skills.

There are all of these things that I feel like I'm responsible for 'teaching' them or at least giving them experiences with because I feel like they should be prepared and confident when going to kindergarten. I would LOVE to just let them make their own choices all the time and encourage such freedom, but I just don't see how it's realistic. I wouldn't have clients if they didn't leave here ready for kindy.

Sorry for my ramble, does anyone else feel this way??

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