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@Mrs. Pajamas: I’m confused- so the TK is for kids that are just barely too young to start K (basically it’s like advanced preK?)? Then they do regular K the next year? What’s the benefit of TK vs preK?

My daughter turned 5 right before the cut off but her preK teachers recommended waiting a year for K, and we did go with a “junior kindergarten” which I think is mostly the same as this TK. It’s a little faster moving than her old preschool and definitely preparing her more for real school- more behavior stuff, more independence. But the reason I chose it is my girl needs some help with the social emotional maturity stuff and this teacher is good for that. Half the kids are late summer bdays who are waiting a year and the other half are early fall bdays like your son.

If you are happy with where he is and feel he is being well prepared for k, I wouldn’t rock the boat. But if you feel like he needs a little more, I guess find out more info?

Short story- I don’t think our old preschool was equipped to handle my daughter’s issues. If she had been thriving there I would have stayed. But I love the school and my little one started there this year. The junior K teacher is family with our town K and works to prepare them for that.

Would she be repeating the same material/curriculum at preK that was covered this year, or is there a more "advanced" class for the 2nd year? If it's the same material/class and I felt she had mastered it well enough I would probably to the TK. I totally get the idea of not transitioning her twice though - we had to make the same decision with DD1 this year (not with TK but with public pre-K at a different school than her elementary).

I’m wondering where you are. We’re in the Bay Area and our local highly ranked elementary school has no TK but we could have transferred to a neighboring town and sent her to TK there 15 minutes away. We ended up enrolling her in a private K program. If she ends up repeating K I don’t think it’ll be too different than TK and then K, but this will also give us a chance to see if she can keep up with the older kids socially and emotionally (academically we’re not worried).

Repeating Preschool wasn’t an option for us because she would have been far and away the oldest kid left and all her friends would have graduated.

@Mrs. Pajamas: we did TK and had a great experience. K curriculum is more challenging, but my dd could read a bit by the end of TK. For us it was the school she is in K in, so it was nice to also make new friends and all of that. Plus no preschool tuition, haha. Other parents who did TK also have told me that their kids seemed to have a huge advantage, but obviously that would depend on the area/school/kid. Either way it sounds like you have great options! Good luck deciding!

@Mrs. Pajamas: also in California. Do you work? The hours are super short. I think I would keep her in her school if you need to figure out aftercare. A lot of the afterschool programs where I live don’t take tk kids

@Mrs. Pajamas: I'm in CA so I understand this TK vs preschool thing. My daughter is a late August birthday so I have no idea how that's going to work out when the time comes. Based on your recent reply re: 6 friends... this is what I would do. I would try to keep my girl with the group of friends. If all or most were going to the other school for TK, and then would be going to the other school for kindergarten, then I might take that route because TK is free. But if my daughter would be the only one making those switches, then I might be inclined to keep her at preschool with her friends and skip TK - less transitions. Even if it was going to be hard to pay for the extra year of preschool, I would do it if I thought it would be best for easy adjustments for my girl. Why does it have to be so hard!! Whatever decision you make, I am sure your daughter will do just fine. But how lucky for her to have 5 little friends already!?!?

@Mrs. Pajamas: I'm in the Bay Area too and our TK has the same hours as K (full day).

My youngest has a December birthday but it is after the TK cutoff of Dec 2nd. I'm hoping I can petition the district to let him start TK instead of doing another year of preschool (well, Jr. K since our daycare offers it). I feel you on making the decision due to cost. I really don't want to pay the Jr K tuition, it's like $500 more per month than preschool. Plus it would be nice to only have to do one drop off!

@Corduroy: I'm in the south bay and it varies by school district. The district a friend works in does not have full day Tk or Kinder.