Have you been trying to decide if your toddler is really ready for preschool? Does he or she suffer from separation anxiety — or do you? We’ve mentioned before that the Mommy & Me classes at Kidville are a great first step to group learning, but now Kidville offers additional help with the preschool transition: KVU, Jr.
What is KVU, Jr.? It is a 2 hour version of Kidville University (KVU) specifically for toddlers 18 months through 2 years old. A pre-preschool, if you will. The format is similar to the Mommy & me class Run, Wiggle, Paint & Giggle. The children are led through hands-on activities with song and movement interspersed with sitting and listening to stories. When you first start your semester, you can hang around as long as you want in the class those first few days to help your little one get acclimated to the environment. Moms were encouraged during the first few classes to stay until our child seemed comfortable with us leaving naturally. One mom stayed the entire 2 hours for half of the semester before her daughter was comfortable staying alone. The idea is for the transition to separation to happen gently, without the screaming and crying that so often accompanies the first few weeks of preschool or even kindergarten.
My 2 year old daughter, Little Lady, just loves KVU, Jr.! For her part, Little Lady never had a problem with separation. Because she had attended Kidville as a Mommy & me class the prior semester, the minute she saw the Kidville sign from the car she yelled “Kidville!” and there was no looking back when I left. She was at Kidville, so she was happy!
We were also particularly lucky to have Miss Morgan as one of our KVU, Jr. teachers this year because she was our teacher in our previous Run, Wiggle, Paint & Giggle class at Kidville. Miss Tresa is our other teacher, and the class is staffed with other wonderful and enthusiastic assistants so that the adult-to-child ratio is very low. When I come to pick Little Lady up, the ratio is often as high as 1-to-1.
Pick her up? Oh yes, the magical day has come when I walk out of Kidville kid-free for a few hours each week (my son is in regular preschool the same day). In case you need an additional incentive to help your child with this important step toward educational independence, let me remind you that Kidville is located conveniently near the following of my favorite mommy hangouts: Creme de la Cookie bakery, Einstein’s Bagels (free WiFi), Whole Foods at Preston & Forest, Panera Bakery (free WiFi), Corner Bakery (free WiFi), Central Market, and The Toy Maven educational toy store. Can you tell what I like to do with my 2 free hours — free WiFi, anyone?
What is our favorite part of KVU, Jr.? I think it is the individualized attention that each child receives. Miss Morgan and Miss Tresa always tell me the funny things Little Lady did that day and they go over the worksheet of the day with me when there is time. All semester, the kids have been learning the letters of the alphabet and their phonetic sounds. It’s a big head start on learning to read.
I’ll leave you with words from my 2 year old when I told her that today is a Kidville KVU, Jr. day: “Oh, yes! I go a Kidville, Miss Morgan singa me a song!”. There you go, you can’t ask for a more ringing endorsement (or a cuter one!).
Are you worried about your child’s transition to preschool? I’d highly encourage you to give KVU, Jr. a try!
NOTE: Select Dallas Moms Blog contributors were given free tuition to KVU, Jr. to blog about our experience. The opinions expressed in this post are that of the author and the awesomeness of Kidville is purely coincidental.
