Today was B’s speech time Valentine Party – they have a little girl that just joined so it’s five kids including Ben. They exchanged valentine’s & treats and he came home with a bag of goodies! He’s really enjoyed this group speech program and it’s worked out well. Though I do hope he’ll be ready to graduate after this semester, for his sake and for our budget’s sake. 🙂

I mentioned in that old link that each of our older kids had a year of preschool/pre-K the year they were four. Christopher attended a 3 hour once a week preschool that a friend ran in her home. It was Ben’s first winter at home and we couldn’t risk any co-ops or groups so it was good for C to have a chance to play and visit with friends (and Miss Amy was fantastically diligent about handwashing so C never caught a bug to bring home.) Moira attended a 2 hour once a week speech group/preschool that was just down the street from our home right after Emiline was born and it was really beneficial for her speech but also fun for her socially. And now Bennett’s in a speech program twice a week, 30 minutes of individual speech then an hour of the group (for 2 hours total with the other kids.) I can see how it’s helping his conversational skills and he’s connecting with the other kids.

I pursued the pre-K for C because of circumstances (fragile new baby) but it’s been nice that with the speech needs we could combine the pre-K and therapy for the next two kids. Also convenient since both times I had a new baby and couldn’t participate in a co-op that focused on that age.

I’m not sure if we’ll pursue a group of any sort for Emiline. She’s starting kindergarden in the fall and in so many activities already (PE, co-op, swimming) that I don’t know when we could fit it in or if it’s necessary, since she has so many social interactions anyway. I don’t think the pre-K is necessary for any academic reason, we did it only for the social (for C during our isolation) and for the speech therapy. I can see a benefit for extroverted first born kids to have that time but for subsequent kids, especially if they are introverted, I think it’s not crucial if they have siblings and social meet ups during the week.