Hellobee Boards

1) Child's name/initial- I
2) Birth month- May (Our cutoff is October 1)
3) Type of school: public, private, charter, whatever- public
4) What method of transportation? - bus but may drive her depending on what our assigned bus pick-up time is - I'll be driving her second grade sister to a different school and her preschool sister to either the same school or a third school (!!)
5) Is this your first to go to K or are you a seasoned pro?- my second

I is super excited - she actually did a year of preschool in the building (PK3 - 1st grades) where she'll attend K, and is there all the time with me for her big sister's events...so she feels very comfortable, and is already BFFs with the principal and teachers there. I think it will be a fun year; my biggest concern is dealing with the logistics of my three girls being (most likely) in three separate schools for the next two years!

Wahhhhhh

1) Child's name/initial: M
2) Birth month: May
3) Type of school: public, private, charter, whatever: private
4) What method of transportation? He’ll come in with me (upper grade teacher at school)
5) Is this your first to go to K or are you a seasoned pro? My first baby to go to K

@Foodnerd81: we only have full day here.

Full day I think 9:20-3:20 or something like that.

@magnolia: I don’t know the requirements for repeating but in the case that she really is not doing well I’d sure be fighting for that! But knowing her and also talking to her preschool/pre-K teacher, we are confident she is ready in all aspects.

Oh yeah- I’m not actually sure of our exact hours, but the bus picks up in my neighborhood at 7:50, drops off at 3:15.

1) Child's name - Declan
2) Birth month- November. The cutoff is 9/1 so he’ll be one of the oldest ones.
3) Type of school - public
4) What method of transportation? - We’ll drop him off at our daycare (where DD will still be going to) and he’ll get the bus there, then he’ll get dropped back off there in the afternoon.
5)Is this your first to go to K or are you a seasoned pro - this is my first.

@Foodnerd81: We think we’ll have full day. They put it in the budget and it has to get approved at the town meeting in May. In previous years it was free for half day and paid for full day. But the budget item is a drop in the bucket and the town has to approve or reject the entire budget wholesale. So most people expect it to be passed. It’ll save us almost $4k, so that’ll be awesome.

@Foodnerd81: Yeah i think we need an additional 1.5 teachers. But we have the space already. And you lose the tuition money but you do get more from the state for full time students, which goes a long way towards paying for itself. I forget what else needs to get paid for, but it’s $100k of a $20m budget.

1) A
2) January birthday so she’ll be right in the middle as far as age goes. Cut off is September 1st.
3) Public school, still not sure which one.
4) She will start out with one of us driving her but I know she really wants to ride the bus, so we’ll probably transition to that.
5) She’s my first!

I’m excited and scared for her. She’s extremely social so that part will probably be fine, but she’s also pretty energetic and easily distracted. I’m hoping that the more structured regimen for kindy will help her settle into a routine. She is beyond excited to go.

@Foodnerd81: we only have half day, but there’s a wrap enrichment program that will either pick them up from or drop them off at school (walking distance) depending on if they are AM/PM kindergarten. We will do that three days per week.

@bees_knees: After having a child who was on the young end for K, I see zero harm in having an oldest kid, unless he’s already way ahead academically and you think he’s the type who will get bored/act out. Even if he’s ahead, most schools have ways to deal with that - gifted programs, special reading/math programs, etc. I think the worst case scenario of eventually skipping ahead a grade is much better than the worst case scenario on the other side of things (potentially deciding to hold back later). Being the youngest and possibly struggling a bit (or just bring later to do things) has been hard on my oldest’s self esteem. I know it’s cliche, but an extra year of growth doesn’t hurt for sports, either!

@PinkElephant: @Foodnerd81: You guys are so right. The potential negatives of sending him on time far outweigh the potential negatives of waiting a year. Plus, I'd LOVE to give him one extra year of just being a kid, ya know?! I think he would truly do ok if we sent him this fall, but we are def leaning towards doing half day (pre-k)!

1) Child's name/initial: Luke
2) Birth month: October
3) Type of school: public
4) What method of transportation? we will walk to school, after school care then walk home
5) Is this your first to go to K or are you a seasoned pro? first

We have "Junior Kindergarten" here which starts the year kids turn 4, Luke will be 3 when he starts so definitely one of the younger ones.

I'm having anxiety about it. We absolutely love his current daycare provider which is also located in another school, so he's used to the "environment" and the fire drills, etc. The after school program is run by another provider and my first impression wasn't good in terms of they were really pushy. I need to give them the benefit of the doubt though; he will only be in there 1.5 hours a day after class is done.

I can't believe my baby is starting school. JK is elective, you can hold your kids back and start in senior kindergarten when they are turning 5 but I feel like why hold him back? Daycare throughout the summer will wean the kids off mid-day naps so they are more prepped for no naps in school.

1) Child's name/initial Chase
2) Birth month August
3) Type of school: public, private, charter, whatever. We aren’t sure yet.
4) What method of transportation? Parent to drive
5) Is this your first to go to K or are you a seasoned pro? My oldest will be going into Third. They will go to school together. Just debating the public school where she is now versus the new charter (classical model)

hi all! thanks to @graceandjoy for pointing this thread out to me!

1) William
2) August
3) Public elementary school
4) Will be dropped off and picked up at the on-site before/after school child care each day!
5) This is our first! Kinder orientation is literally this Wednesday and I'm excited and nervous right alongside our little guy.

I have lots of the same thoughts as others with summer kiddos - our cutoff is September 30th, and we're choosing to send him because he seems ready, the district timeline aligns, and childcare is EXPENSIVE. Ha!

Wondering if anyone else has done their orientation, and had any good questions they'd suggest asking?

@Mrs. Milk: we had an info session back in NOVEMBER. But they did everything early because they are working out logistics with the full day / half day thing and trying to make sure everyone who requested full day could get it. C has been signed up since January. I heard they also did it so early to make sure the people who already live here get the full day and people who move to town after the registration dates take what is left (likely half day spots since that’s all we are guaranteed here). It’s weird.

But I can’t think of any great questions because they have the orientation down pat and answered most questions in the presentation. In your case I’d prob have questions about before and after care though, like is it grouped by ages? At the same school or bussed to a different location? (My friend’s daughter goes to a different location for after care because there aren’t enough kids in her school).

@nana87: Hmm my first thought was, since you might move, maybe it's just cheaper to send her to public if it should be almost as good as private? Also who would walk her to public? If it's a giant hassle that she is going to a different school, I'd be tempted to keep her...

@magnolia: Yay! Congrats!

1) Child's name/initial: Snowy
2) Birth month: January
3) Type of school: public, private, charter, whatever: Public
4) What method of transportation? Either drop off and then aftercare or bus and aftercare, haven't decided yet!
5) Is this your first to go to K or are you a seasoned pro? First and only!

We found out yesterday that DD got assigned to the school we asked for rather than our zoned school. I’m glad, but keeping my fingers crossed that this was the right choice. She’s excited because she will be at the same school as her best friend, so that’s good. Unfortunately, we’re going to be out of town when they do the first “meet and greet” event for incoming kindergarteners, so I’m hoping they do more over the summer.

@MrsBeluga: oh I would be pretty happy wth uniforms to cut back on the morning discussions about what to wear. Even when we pick out clothes the night before my 5 year old usually changes her mind in the morning.