A parent swells with pride every minute their child learns something new. Every time a child showcases a talent or speaks up about something they have not been taught yet, it is not just the parents but every adult around is amazed. Amazed by the capacity of these young minds, that can just absorb things around them like a sponge.
Little Elly understands the importance of this stage and hence the launch of Elly@Home to guide those hungry young minds. When you are unable to send your young child to school due to the current never-ending pandemic, but your child has too much energy and enthusiasm which cannot be satisfied by those toys you buy; you need someone like Elly@Home to help you out.
Elly@Home is the home-schooling program introduced by Little Elly – India’s leading and most admired playschool chain with more than 130 centers. Now your child can receive the benefits of a pre-school right from the comfort of your home, with you by their side!
What Is A Pre-School?
A pre-school is the educational setup that helps a small child – as young as 1.5 yr old to learn before they become a part of a full-time regular school.
Is Pre-School Considered A School?
In the National Curriculum for School Education, which became effective in 2021, the 5+3+3+4 structure proposed in NEP is defined in great detail. The pre-school program (age 1.5+ to 4.5+) is an integral part of school education under this new structure.
As of now, the formal education system was a 10+2 system, with formal schooling starting at age 6, but the new policy includes pre-school education.
Therefore, yes, pre-schools are schools that cater to a younger age group than regular schools do. Branches of these organizations can only be established following approval from relevant authorities and must meet certain criteria before being given a license to operate.
Pre-school Age Requirements
Different schools have different age group requirements when it comes to enrolling your child into their programs. Elly@Home program has the following age group criteria for their programs:
| Age Criteria | Program |
| 1.5 Yrs + | Playgroup |
| 2.5 Yrs + | Nursery |
| 3.5 Yrs + | LKG |
| 4.5 Yrs + | UKG |
The minimum age requirement for each program ensures that the child can understand and cope up with what is being taught to them. The programs are designed according to the age groups.
Why Should Parents Consider Online Pre-Schools?
Covid has brought the world to a standstill. There is stagnation or slow activity everywhere except a child’s mind. A child’s growth is necessary, no matter what the circumstances are around us. It is important to expose young children to the required experiences they need at each stage of their development.
This is where an online pre-school like Elly@Home comes into the picture. They have invested their vast experience and insights from Little Elly pre-school chains to deliver the home-schooling program that helps you educate your child right from home; without the risk of exposure, worry about social distancing, or the constant need to sanitize everything in sight.
Top 10 Tips To Choose The Right Online Pre-School For Your Child
Now that we understand pre-school is essential for your child’s development (even if it is only online in the current scenario), how can you choose the best school?
Here we have 10 tips to help you choose the perfect pre-school for your little wonder.
1. Virtual Curriculum & Activities
Look for schools that have a well-planned curriculum and activities that can be done virtually. All schools conduct classes online but only a few have successfully adapted virtual learning and have altered their curriculum accordingly. Elly@Home has beautifully tied up virtual learning and their experience from their Little Elly physical schools.
Look for online pre-schools which offer
- Easy-to-do activities with things easily found around the house
- Activities with materials are sent home in a learning kit.
- Storytelling sessions to educate and keep those tiny minds occupied at the same time
- Singing rhymes to help them learn more effectively
- Creative and fun ways to learn numbers, letters, and scientific concepts; so that the child learns and enjoys at the same time. Children tend to retain more information when taught this way.
- Group discussions to hear a million stories and doubt those tiny minds are filled with (all parents know about the never-ending “whys” and the “imaginary scenarios”). When children are encouraged to share their stories and hear others, they learn, get creative, and are completely occupied – giving your parents a much-needed break!
2. Class Timings & Duration
Screen time controversies are never-ending. Look for an online pre-school that offers lessons and learning with minimal active screen time. If these tiny minds have to learn only by looking at what the teacher does or says on the screen, they are not going to retain most of it.
Good online pre-school aims to reduce screen time by offering short classes with frequent intervals. Also, small children have a very limited attention span. To make them sit in front of the screen and actively listen to what is being taught online is more of an annoyance than teaching for a child so young. These children are meant to run around and play.
This does not mean we must compromise on their learning. We, as parents, just need to find a school that gives us the option of both online and offline classes, so that we can teach our child offline too. This can be beneficial for working parents too, as they don’t have to work around the school class timings.
When both online and offline classes are offered, it gives both the child and the parent the flexibility to learn at their own pace without any rigidity or rules, which is not recommended for a young child.
3. Student Group Size
Small children require more focus from their teachers. There is no point in a teacher addressing 20+ children on their screen. They just can’t give the undivided attention a child requires. A school that has a maximum of 10 children in a class – a 1:10 ratio for small children or a 1:12 ratio for older children, is the best.
When the number of children on screen is less, a teacher can fully focus on every child and follow their progress with enthusiasm. The children get a turn to show off their progress (these little ones are very proud of what they do and thrive well with an audience).
4. Demo Class
Now, you cannot just sign-up for an online pre-school based on what is printed on the website. If it were a physical school, parents would be given a tour, allowed to see how a class is conducted, check out the facilities, etc.
Look for a school that offers the same online. Elly@Home offers a demo class. You can sign-up for one and see how you and your child like it.
The demo class gives you, the parent, a fair idea of how your child will be taught online. Online schooling is new for most of us and parents are expected to home-school too. A demo session will help us analyze how much your child will learn from school and how much you will have to help them at home – to understand or to do the activities.
5. Learning Resources
You cannot expect children as small as 2 or 3 years old to learn from the book and the computer screen. They need practical learning. They need to touch, feel and explore items to learn about and understand them.
A good online pre-school must send home activity kits your child can work at their own pace. Though you can find these in stores and online platforms, getting them from the school itself is always better. When an academician designs a kit, they do it with experience and knowledge, which we as parents may not have or any company without deep academic knowledge may not have.
Check if the online pre-schools on your list offer such resources and if they send kits back home. If your child can learn to stick or group items just like how the teacher is doing it on screen, they can learn better. However, the school should not expect the parent to go hunting for all materials and increase their workload.
6. Teachers’ Qualifications
Anyone can teach but you need qualified teachers to teach your child the right way. They need to be trained well to handle such small children. These small children learn and absorb everything they are taught. So the teacher must be well qualified to do it.
7. Unplugged (After class) Activities
Children learn better when there is practical learning and when they are left to their own pace. Unfortunately with online schooling, when the time and space are limited, a child does not get much freedom to do things at their own pace.
The after-class activities are crucial to help them develop important skills and understand concepts at their own pace. Elly@Home not only sends home activity kits but also educates the parents on how to help the children and what activities they can do with the child for effective learning.
No, we are not talking about the activity kits you can buy and just hand over to the child. We are talking about involved activities where the parents are taught how to help the child. This not only helps the child learn but also improves child-parent bonding. The parent can see the world through the eyes of their child and understand what they see and learn, rather than just getting a progress report from the school.
Don’t worry, these kits have activities that can be done by your little one by themselves too. With all that is going on around us, a parent having to sit through every activity a child does, despite paying for a school, is just not what a parent needs or wants.
8. Accreditations Of The Preschool
With the lockdowns and restrictions, many online schools are popping up today. Look for a school that has a proper license and accreditations. The government has these for a reason and it ensures the safety of young minds. Never compromise on this.
Look for schools that have won multiple recognitions over the past years. Their experience with the physical school will help them teach your child better online.
9. Fees
This is another important criterion to choose a school for your child. All of us have a budget. Rather than focussing only on the number, see if the school delivers according to what it charges. The cost of education today is not what it was when you were a child. So, don’t compare that way.
This is your child’s future you are investing in. What they learn in their pre-school lays the foundation for what they learn in mainstream schooling. Check if the school has programs suitable for the child’s age; if they have qualified teachers and facilities to accommodate your child when physical school starts. Now, see if the fee charged is corresponding to all that they offer.
Look for a school that offers value for money.
10. Location
When all this lockdown ends and schools are opened, you need to send your little one to a physical school. It is not a good idea to take your young child away from the environment they have gotten used to and send them off to a new set of teachers and students.
Look for an online pre-school that has enough presence around you. This way, your child can be transferred to physical school seamlessly and with very few adjustments. When everything is new, it can scare your child.
When you choose a physical pre-school, you tend to look for something close by as you don’t want your small child to travel far for school, just as yet. So, look for an online pre-school like Elly@Home which has many Little Elly centers.
Conclusion
Choosing the perfect pre-school for your toddler is crucial to their development. This can shape them and you want that to go the right way. Spend some time, do some research, check reviews and see which schools have won awards for their work in the past. Choose the right school and give your child a good future.
Little Elly has used all their experience with young minds over the years and has curated programs and modules neatly packed into an online program called Elly@Home. Try one of their demo classes – Live or recorded, to understand what we are so excited about.
See for yourself how your child can be taught at home by both – parent and teacher. See how the child loves this brilliant combination. That excited smile is what all parents wait for – every single day!
