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If he's the right age I think he will be fine! They know what they're doing. I say this as someone whose kid started TK this morning at a public elementary.

A lot of the curriculum is similar to preschool, no HW. Letter recognition, reading books, counting, science, music and PE officially once a week but also with their teacher, some technology involved. She has to be more independent but not a crazy amount. She came home happy so it seems like it's going to go well. GL!

My son is just finishing his pre-k program at a Montessori school and he's mostly enjoyed it. He's learned letter sounds, number sense, how to write his name, and social skills. Hes a very emotional kid, but he keeps it in check at school for the most part. He may surprise you with how he is at school vs. home.

My son went to a private program, on the grounds of a nature center. It was the closest thing I could find to the European style waldspielgruppe (forest play group) that my husband experienced. It was really important that my son have as much play and outdoor time as possible.

Having written that, for the 4's program, it was half day, about 2.5 hours and the 5's program was about 4.5 hours, so not even close to approaching the kindergarten 6 hours, but I was okay with that. The programs were very loose, for example they had a unit where they learned about their town, and the programs in the town, the police, movie theaters, grocery stores, etc. They also had "play stations" set up, where the kids could go and pretend they were in a doctor's office or ice skating rink. There were no worksheets and very little actual academics other than recognizing their name and address. They basically learned how to function in a classroom.

The fives program was a little more intense in that it had a math center, a sensory table, a science center, but it still had building blocks and dress up. Again, very little in terms of actual academics, but a lot of recognition of numbers and letters, but no reading.

In hindsight, this put me in a position where I sent my child to kindergarten not knowing how to read...so I was extremely anxious about it because he showed no interest. He was totally fine not being able to read, but I was not okay with it. It made for a stressful few months of kindergarten, but in the end, he learned on his own time and now is reading at a second grade level as he is entering first grade. It's really important to me that he doesn't jump too far ahead because comprehension is a big deal, moreso that sounding out words.

So, I wouldn't change a thing, but there was a brief period of time where I felt I should have looked for a more academic environment, but it's all worked out now.