2brides - Kindergarten?

ctbride08

This weekend we recieved a brochure in the mail for an upcoming kindergarten open house.  Can you even believe our boys are on thier way to being 5?!

Will your kids be starting kindergarten next fall? There's a growing movement in my area to wait until 6 (especially for boys).  I'm 92% sure Sprout will be starting next year and will be going to a traditional public school, but there is 8% that's wondering if we should think more about waiting and/or exploring one of the non-traditional schools in the area.  Just wondering what you guys were planning. 

Hope its not too nosey! PM me if you'd prefer.

2brides

Funny - I was just talking about this with some people this weekend. Long story short - they'll be going to Kindergarten next year. If they were singletons, we'd have one kid go ahead (Grayson) and one kid hang back a year (Carter.)  Gray is MORE than ready. He's ready socially and academically - while Carter is more immature and doesn't give a care about anything other than playing! But we can't split them and Gray would be bored silly, which I think would morph into behavioral issues.

They'll stay at the school where they are now, which has smaller class sizes and more individualized attention (I hope!) We would have LOVED to send them to Montessori, but the programs around here were $$$.  I think Gray would strive in the self directed work and Carter would love that he isn't sitting at a desk doing worksheets. 

What are you guys thinking?

ctbride08

That sounds like a good compromise to meet both the boys' needs.

I'm pretty confident that by the end of this year in pre-k Sprout will be ready to thrive in kindergarten.  he loves to learn and be challenged and he's a kid that really emulates his peer group so holding him back and keeping him with younger kids would probably be a disservice. 

We are moreso struggling with the traditional vs. non-traditional schooling.  On the one hand, we chose our town because of thier strong public schools and small class sizes.  I like that going to school in town would help us get to know our neighboors and create a friend group that Sprout could (hopefully) grow with.  On the other hand, there are some great (free) magnet schools a couple towns over, including a montessori, that we could get in the lottery for and have a good chance at since he's a minority with an inner city nexus (they go by where his bio mom lives).  I like the idea of the non-traditional school because i'm less afraid of him getting labeled there.  However, some of the magnet schools still have half day kindergarten and I have a strong preference for full day.

I dont know...i go back and forth daily! 

The only thing I've ruled out is going to kindergarten where he is currently b/c my mom is the afternoon K teacher and that just would not work out.  They do much better as grandma/grandson than they do teacher/student.