I personally don’t think it is ever truly good for a young child to be separated from their family to attend kindergarten or preschool, BUT I think social interaction in the company of his mother or father is important and not just in the church setting.

We currently attend a playgroup/coffee group once a week and have attended something like this since my kids were tiny.

I did have to be a bit proactive to get things up and running with my local homeschooling community at first but somebody else has since taken it on board. We currently hire a hall and meet there with our preschool and elementary aged kids once a week. Each of us bring along something fun for the kids to do.

This week they had play dough, ball sports, free play, dance and craft making props for their dancing.

Next week one of the mothers is going to teach them to do a traditional Maori dance with their “Poi” which is balls on the end of a string that they twirl around while singing and dancing.

Another week they made miniature robotic insects, cards, played with a train set and played board games.

My kids have also taken part in organized sports from as young as 5 or 6 and we have a very active homeschool community so most sporting opportunities are provided within it.

I think something like this is much healthier for young children than an enforced separation from the family in order to attend kindergarten or preschool.

I suggest that if your local homeschool community doesn’t already have these types of things up and running that you take the bull by the horns and organize something yourself. Talk to your pastor about
hiring or using the church facilities to hold a playgroup in for mothers and children of preschool and elementary aged children. Talk to your local swimming pool about holding homeschool swimming lessons.

Talk to the manager at the local YMCA about holding homeschool basketball classes or homeschool gymnastics classes. These are all things that my kids enjoy taking part in on a weekly basis.