Hellobee Boards

When your son starts K, would he be more likely to be in K with kids from the old school or kids from the new school? Both schools sound like they have great advantages, so I didn’t vote.

As for kindergarten readiness, my son went to a daycare that wasn’t really a preschool (the concept of preschool didn’t really exist where we were living). When he started K, the school was known for being rigorous and very academic. I wouldn’t say he struggled in the beginning, but the kids who had gone through the school’s preschool program had a huge leg up for the first few months. My son caught up and did just fine academically, but I kind of wished he had had more K readiness. Now, we’ve just moved and started a new school. My daughter is nearly 4 and she’s in a true preschool program for the next 2 years. If things continue in the direction they seem to be going, I think she will be much more advanced when she starts K than what my DS was. But I think it also depends on your child’s personality and where you think he would fare best.

Before I explain, I just want to level set a few things: I don't subscribe to the idea that kids are bored in school. There is so much going on, and having the experience now of a full year of kindergarten, I fully understand how the program is tailored to the individual needs of each child. The kids in my son's school (120 kids) were of mixed ability and the staff has gone above and beyond in ensuring that challenging material is available for the kids that need it, remedial material and support is available for the kids that need it and that the emotional and social skills are being taught.

I also chose to send my son to a magnet school in a different town that requires 25 minutes in the car, but the program is well worth the commute, in my opinion. The building is nothing to get excited over, but it's what they do in that building that makes the difference.

As for K readiness, you will be surprised at the varying abilities that the kids display. If you visit the classroom, you will see it for yourself, but it's going to be eye opening. This is why I believe that teachers will ultimately prevail and will tailor the material to the needs of the child. You're going to see kids reading and other kids not even being able to write their names. I believe that all kids benefit from being in mixed ability classrooms. It teaches a life skill, which is that it does you no good to be the first or best at everything, because when you get older, you will be working with people of all abilities and if you cannot work together to complete tasks, you will not be successful.

Does that help at all?

@oskarsmommy: Hi, I have done copious research on language development in children from a young age and as you probably realize, in other countries children are commonly trilingual from birth. Early language development does so much for their brains in other areas like math and music and pursuit of additional languages, that the fine motor skills could be tuned at home with some weekly "homework" if you had a way to work that in to what I am sure is a very busy life/schedule. Bottom-line, I want my kids in an immersion school and if they are requesting it, all the better! Good luck!!