Volunteering at Immanuel Lutheran Preschool

By: Elizabeth Hardy

1. I decided to volunteer at Immanuel Lutheran Preschool because I absolutely love working with children.

2. Volunteering at this preschool made a huge connection with what is discussed in FCS 4840 because it shows what type of families children are coming from. The children that are being raised today are our children of our future and it is very important to raise them with proper morals and values. Many people say you should never judge a book by its cover, but in the child care profession you have to. While volunteering at Immanuel Lutheran you can tell which child actually came from a family that's living in poverty or the "working poor". Volunteering at this preschool didn't just make to the information in the FCS 4840 course, but also the life span course, family perspectives, and family in crisis. It connects with life span development because I was able to work with different age groups. I was able to see the different age levels in children. It connects with family perspectives because in this course you discuss different age groups and also schools that are available for children. Finally, it connects with family in crisis because I was able to speak with a child whose family was going through a crisis. One of the child’s father was in the military and he had to go to a different state for a couple of months. The preschooler was very upset the day her father left and she waited patiently for her father to come home. In family in crisis you discuss military families and how it affects the children and the family as a whole.

3. While I was volunteering I was able to speak with many different teachers who just loved to teach and watch children's minds grow. The teacher that I observed was a woman who absolutely had a passion for teaching, she didn't teach for money but for the love she has for children. I was also able to talk to the director of the preschool. The director was able to give me good advice on how to run a preschool and how much work it is. I realized that in order to work with children you have to have a great amount of patience. Volunteering at the preschool made me think about how I want to run my preschool and what type of teachers to look for when opening my very own preschool. 

4. This preschool is great for the community because its education for children. There are some children who aren't able to go to preschool. Preschools are just the beginning of an educational journey for children and their minds. While the child in the community is growing the community is growing as well. The saying "it take a community/village to raise a child" is very true; whatever happens in the community/ village will affect the child and vice versa.

5. I really enjoyed volunteering at Immanuel Lutheran Preschool. I am very excited to start my career in the next year or so. The children and teachers have taught me a lot and I will make sure that I will take this on my journey to teaching.  Many teachers have lost the patience when dealing with children and I believe that it takes a person with a lot of patience and a nurturing person to teach children. I enjoy teaching children because it’s amazing to watch their faces light up when they learn something new. I was happy about doing this assignment because I enjoy talking about how children can help a community grow and how they affect the community.