Is starting English early a good idea?

Start English as soon as you can, kids learn like sponges. Everyone agrees with this. We don’t; kind of.

We ran a very popular Mummy and Me classes.   One hour class:  20 minutes play with toys, 40 minutes songs, songs, songs and books.     We had 4 classes, lots of students, smooth classes, everyone had fun, learned basic vocabulary, how to interact with others.     Unfortunately, when kids "graduated" to our kinder classes, too many M&Me graduates couldn't handle being apart from mum.

Perversely, new kids who had never studied before joined happily. Too often, star M&Me graduates would flounder and scream down the house, turning a happy place into an asylum.    Passing pedestrians must've wondered what horrors were going on.     Not a good advert for English classes. 

We threw in the towel. We abandoned the classes. Lost money (temporarily).    We felt bad, but we knew it was for the best.    Associating English classes with Mum made it difficult to separate later on.     Kids only really learn without parents there to help.     The spare time in the mornings we put to great use to improve our school, make texts and materials.     

We lost money (temporarily).   But gained it back tenfold with better lessons (thanks to time to make texts / materials), improved academic reputation, increased student numbers (thanks to improved reputation) and increased student retention.    

Stopping Mummy and Me lessons was one of the best decisions we made as a school and business. 

How about you and your school?