-
I didn't even realize we could skip K in our state! Very interesting. That said, I don't think we will skip unless we have a very good reason. One reason I can think of is if LO doesn't get into a good school for K (we have a lottery, so it is sort of a crap shoot) and we don't have time to move to a city with a non-lotteried/better system before she is scheduled to start. Our Montessori daycare has preschool that goes to age 6 so I think we could make it work. But I'd prefer that she go to public school for K to get used to it before grade 1. I think it would make the transition to "academics" easier.
-
@T.H.O.U.: It's sad that I am impressed there is 25 minutes for recess and snack.
I don't know what it is where we currently live, but in our former state, recess was only required to be 15 minutes. I feel like you can't get 20 kids outside and back inside in 15 minutes!
-
@daniellemybelle: Yes I feel like it takes 5 minutes to line up and 5 minutes to line up to come back in.
I think too for state reporting, they have to have so many minutes of "reading" and "math" but I'm curious how much of that is "lecture" time (sit in your seat and listen) and worksheet time versus learning through play.
-
@T.H.O.U.: where did you find this??
-
@regberadaisy: I kinda had to dig. I went to the school website that we are zone for and looked at the links for the various Kindergarten teachers. Some teachers have great websites with all kid of class details and others just have more basic pages. In general though all classrooms follow this same schedule.
-
We aren't skipping K, but we are doing it outside of traditional school. We'll likely do 1st on up this way, too. I think you're on to something about K being part of the problem, but maybe I've been reading too much Charlotte Mason lately.
I'm sold on her ideas about letting little children have afternoons free to play and explore and run around. Also, the idea of bouncing from one subject to another in short succession in the way that traditional schools seem to do really bothers me. I kind of understood it in preschool, because attention spans are relatively short then, but 5 year-olds can concentrate on new subjects/problems/books for long periods, and I think it's a good idea to let them do that.
-
@T.H.O.U.: yeah, I found the teacher websites and there's nothing on there but their name, number & email!
-
@regberadaisy: Does the school website go over schedules? ours also had posted the daily lunch schedule and recess schedule.
-
Originally, we actually planned on skipping Kindergarten. It is not required in my state, though the vast majority of children go. Our family's initial plan was for my MIL to keep DS1 during the day, but she's gone back to working part time and can't. We considered continuing with childcare (and blended homeschool) instead of K, but since so many of his friends go to public school, he is curious and genuinely WANTS to see what Kindergarten is like. So...since we have our choice of public schools in the area, we decided to let him try it this fall. If it doesn't work out, I will withdraw him and go back to blended homeschool. With DS2, I anticipate public school from age 3 on, so that he can continue with EI services....though I could be wrong again : ).
-
@T.H.O.U.: I found the PTA Facebook group. Would it be crazy anal to post and ask? I feel like it's so far away that most of them will think I'm crazy and "that" parent!
-
@regberadaisy: Definitely ask. Maybe just phrase it as "I'm a future kindergarten parent and want to know what the schedule is like"
Another thing I did (a long time ago) was to sign up for the school listserv so I get notifications and an inside view of how the school is "run" .
-
@regberadaisy: try contacting your district.. probably a better place to get info than the PTA, IMO
Never considered skipping Kinder
-
@T-Mom: yup, I emailed the secretary. We have 3 teacher options so I'm curious on the parent feelings on the teachers too. Lol and if we have an option of choosing which teacher our kids get.
-
We plan to homeschool for Kindergarden.
-
@T.H.O.U.: @T-Mom: as a total aside. I found it weird that the admin approved my request to join the (closed) group immediately. I'm not even a current parent at the school! My profiles only shows the city I live in which technically isn't even the town name for our district.
-
@T.H.O.U.: Wow...how does that work? In our state, if a child is in Kindergarten, attendance policies are super strict. After 3 days of absences, doctor's notes have to be provided to avoid a possible truancy contract (which can start as early as only 5 days absent for the school year).
-
@tlynne: mandatory attendance isn't required until age 6 (hence why K is optional). Even at age 6, there are ways to document "educational" absences.
Even for older students (age 6-16), truancy ins't until 10 missed days per calendar month or 15 days per semester.
-
We would not consider skipping. It. Where we are, DS will enter elementary school in a class somewhat comparable to US kindergarten. It's compulsory starting at 6 and he will be 5.75 when he starts. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be allowed to skip it and jump into the next class since the first year is already "real" school.
-
@T.H.O.U.: I am SO. JEALOUS! In our state, it's optional..but if you start they are sticklers. That's one of the things we were so sad about...DS1 loves spending time with his grandparents, working in the garden, going new/interesting places, etc....almost all of which could qualify as a field trip...especially since MIL and FIL are both retired elementary teachers...
-
It's optional here, there is a possibility of us homeschooling but we wouldn't just skip education for the year. The program is pretty heavy on academics and there isn't a lot of free play-although they do have two recesses a day which I suppose is a positive.
-
@regberadaisy: I would be surprised if you got to pick your teacher. I wrote a letter to the principal when I enrolled my DD for 1st grade, and was pretty much told all the teachers would be great. I think only teachers at the school and maybe the president of the PTA have enough clout at our school to have any impact on the outcome.
-
We are planning on sending our son to a private, Christian school near our house for many reasons, but mainly because it seems to have a very gradual approach to introducing school. They have a preschool program that begins at age 3 to seemingly ramp the children up to kindergarten and to get an idea of readiness. I really like their gradual approach starting at the preschool level.
The preschool formal program is only from 9-11:30am, or 12:30pm-3pm, although they offer it in conjunction with daycare from 7am to 6pm if you want it - any time before or after the formal preschool time is basically indoor and outdoor play, snack time, lunch, nap, and a video.
The primary school offers both a half-day kinder (8-1130am) or a full day program (8am-250pm). I assume again this is based on the readiness of the child, their need for a nap or more rest, and the comfort level of the parent. The published full-day schedule looks something like this:
Class Schedule:
8:00 Seat work
8:20 Calendar
8:45 Bible
9:25 Recess
9:45 Math
10:30 Language Arts*
11:00 Centers
11:30 Lunch/Recess
12:30 Rest/Reading time
1:00 Music*
1:30 Art
2:15 Recess
2:50 DismissOn Tuesdays and Thursdays, art or music is displaced for a PE class. Fridays from 830am-915am is chapel. They also have a schoolwide "nutrition break" during the first recess from grades K-5 where the kids can only eat a healthy snack (i.e. veggies, nuts, jerky, cheese, or protein. No bars, cookies, candy, or chips.)
Overall, I'm pleased with the balance they are offering. There's a lot of recess and rest time, they're incorporating some Bible time in the day, there's art, music, and PE in the curriculum, and the school puts a limit on 15 minutes of homework in kinder and no more than 30 minutes for grades 1-2. The educational goal for their kinder program is for the child to be able to read, write their name and simple sentences, and tell a simple story, which I think is very fair. I remember doing at least that much in kinder 30 years ago and I was an ESL speaker! They also assess the child in kinder before allowing them to move on to 1st grade to make sure they can adjust well.
-
@blackbird: they don't offer full day K here and the after school program costs more than our preschool!
-
Just wanted to thank you for sharing, I had no idea!
We are in California, where apparently K is not even required. Our 2 year old is in preschool now, so by the time she is old enough for K will certainly be going. Would love to have her home longer but we both work, so preschool and eventually K it is.
-
@rachiecakes: what?! Crazy! They just started offering ours for "free" (aka our taxes went up)
-
I had no idea that this was an option until right now. T will go to kindergarten.
-
We're in sort of the opposite situation. Our equivalent of kindergarten (called Reception) starts at four here but compulsory school age isn't until five. We're fighting to delay our LO's start in Reception a year, so she'd start when she's just five, instead of just four, but the schools here like to keep everyone in their age appropriate cohort so there is a good chance she'll have to skip the year altogether and go straight into Year 1, which I think is absolutely appalling. I think making a child miss the first year of school is terrible on so many levels - delaying their start if they're not ready is one thing, and should be left solely up to the parents, but forcing a child to skip a year is awful.
On the plus side, our school has morning tea break of fifteen minutes (equivalent to recess), an hour long lunch/recess break, and then another 15 minute afternoon tea break, all in a 6hr 15 min day and this is all the way up until secondary school at age 11, so that much is good. And Reception (kindergarten) spends more than half of their day outdoors in unstructured play, so there's that going for it too, but they still have crazy academic targets they need to reach by the end of the year! So frustrating....
-
Our district has full-day kindergarten that is pretty academic. They do have "rest time" during the first quarter/semester to ease the kids in a little. DS will be almost 6 when he starts (misses the cutoff by 3 days) but even if he were younger I wouldn't consider not sending him.
-
In my state (PA) it's not mandatory but once you enroll your child in kindergarten, attendance is compulsory. (I was at the state board of Ed meeting where they passed the new rule - they were having problems with people enrolling their kid in kindergarten and then never showing up b.c the truancy law didn't apply to kindergartners.) In my school district, kindergarten is only a half day, so we'll likely stay at daycare for kindergarten. Pretty sure our Dept of Ed guidelines say that kindergarten is option up to age 6, and once a child is 6, they can start first grade.
-
Pre-K (offered free by the public schools, if you can secure a seat) and K are not mandatory in NYC. Also, red shirting (delaying admission by a year, resulting in a 5 year old starting pre-k or a 6 year old starting kindergarten) is generally not allowed. Admission is by year of birth - so this year, kids born in 2012 who want to go to school must go to preK. If they opt to wait til next year, it'd be K. The following year (fall 2018), they're legally obligated to attend first grade, and there's no option to go to kindergarten instead that year.
I'm very torn because full day pre-k five days a week seems totally unnecessary for a four year old when I'm a SAHM. But DD has already started asking when she gets to be a lunch kid like many of her preschool classmates (she currently attends three half days), so maybe she's ready...if I don't send her to public, she will go to her current private pre-k either three full days or five half. And she will definitely go to full day kindergarten in 2017.
@Chillybear: genuinely curious - if you keep your DD in private school for K, but move her to public for first grade, wouldn't she still be impacted by the age cutoff, and be asked to enroll as a kindergartener? Or would the school honor the fact that she'd attended a non -public K program elsewhere?
-
@dagret: This is really interesting about truancy and kindergarten. I was contemplating enrolling in pre-k but pulling my daughter out/picking her up early once a week (or twice a month, or something) to make it less intense...but wondered if it might be considered abuse of the system, since I suppose some families need those five day per week seats as daycare. My friends in education have had varying opinions of this, from doubting anyone would notice a few absences a month to being quite certain this would impact the kindergarten placement offers we'd receive (which is not a risk I can take, probably).
-
Coming from someone who has taught kindergarten and first grade is a state that didn't require kindergarten, don't skip kindergarten! They have upped the academics in Kindergarten, and it's nothing like it was when we were younger. Also, the social and school skills learned in kindergarten are crucial.
-
I would never even consider having my child skip kindergarten.
-
I don't think we'd totally skip-- but it is nice to know that if she wasn't ready say at 5, we could wait a year on our own....
we have a November birthday so she'll probably be almost 6 anyways by the rules here! (I grew up in California so I started at 4 with an October birthday, but those rules seem to have changed to 5 by August or September in most places now!)
-
I would never, ever consider it. I feel like it would just be starting out her education a step behind.
C currently attends full day preschool in our district, and she has learned soooo much.
-
Nope I would not skip. I can't believe it's not mandatory now!
-
Oh and our daycare's kindergarten program is considered a private kindergarten - they provide curriculum aligned with the public school standards.
-
We're planning on homeschooling at least for the first few years, so this is a bit different for us. I'm not going to skip kindergarten, but I think by doing home school it will allow my kid to learn while also having plenty of play time.
-
Definitely not! Kindergarten is super important for teaching kiddos how to be a student. I would never want them to go into 1st grade unprepared.
-
I wouldn't skip it regardless but we're doing public schools so we're basically counting down until K starts just from a cost-savings perspective.
I don't know what it is where we currently live, but in our former state, recess was only required to be 15 minutes. I feel like you can't get 20 kids outside and back inside in 15 minutes!
I'm sold on her ideas about letting little children have afternoons free to play and explore and run around. 
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
87 comments