Early elementary teachers ? about Kindergarten

Littlejen22

My town offers half-day Kindergarten and you can pay to add on Enrichment which from what I can figure out seams to just go over the same stuff as the regular Kindergarten and was really created as a before/aftercare for the Kindergarten students which they only started offering this year.  A few of people I know are sending the kids to private schools for K, either Catholic or the Montessori preschool DS goes to (it only goes through Kindergarten). 

I realize that all schools are different but what are your thoughts about sending kids only to 1/2 day Kindergarten versus sending them to 1/2 day Kindergarten plus either the enrichment through the district or private or to just send them to private for Kindergarten and then switching them to public for 1st grade. 

I am mostly trying to figure out if I only do 1/2 day will he be behind the other kids and struggle in 1st grade.  Or if I sent him to private full-day would it such to be the 1st grader that went to a different Kindergarten (I would only consider keeping him in our Montessori for full-day b/c he does not do well with changes.

Katherine

You seem very fixated on making sure your child is ahead of his peers.  I'd seriously try to curb that ASAP, it will only hurt you in the long run.  As for your own child attending kindergarten.  You know your own kids needs better than any of us do and you know his breaking point.  If you think he needs the constant all day kindergarten send him, if you think he'd do better in a half day with a break and then an enrichment program (some of which are shotty at best) that is what you need to do for HIM.  Don't spend this time worrying about other peoples children and the decisions they make on their behalf.  You need to do what is right for your child and your family based upon your needs alone.  The kid will have 12 years of full day school.  I wouldn't start a comparison battle now.

AnnapolisLari

Our district only has half day kindergarten and I am not worrying about it for one single second.

I let my kids be kids for as long as possible. There are tons of studies that prove that kids who are pushed when they are too young burn out and start to hate school really early.

My son may not have the handwriting down pat or know the periodic table at 4, but he's very into imaginative play and just being. He wouldn't do that if I had crammed him full of 'enrichment' activities and too much stuff since the day he was born.

I was a teacher and I saw the results of ramming things down the kids' throats. They were no further ahead than anyone else and really disliked school and learning.

 

Littlejen22

Katherine:

You seem very fixated on making sure your child is ahead of his peers.  I'd seriously try to curb that ASAP, it will only hurt you in the long run.  As for your own child attending kindergarten.  You know your own kids needs better than any of us do and you know his breaking point.  If you think he needs the constant all day kindergarten send him, if you think he'd do better in a half day with a break and then an enrichment program (some of which are shotty at best) that is what you need to do for HIM.  Don't spend this time worrying about other peoples children and the decisions they make on their behalf.  You need to do what is right for your child and your family based upon your needs alone.  The kid will have 12 years of full day school.  I wouldn't start a comparison battle now.

I can see how you would think that from my two posts today but I honestly am not.  I do want to make sure that I do not make the wrong discussion for him and having recently been in two different circles of Moms with kids this same age with one talking about private Kindergarten and the other talking about camp it is on my mind.  But I am totally aware of my DS' strengths and weaknesses and know that he is pretty much an average kid, ahead on some stuff and behind on others mostly b/c of his interests.  He has 1/2 of my laundry room dedicated to craft stuff and creates things (mostly drawing or making cards, stapling and cutting) all day.  He got a dollhouse (a joint gift with DD) for his birthday, a play kitchen and dress-up, 99% of his time at home is just being creative and I never sit down to make him do things real learning things except reading to him at night.  And he is in nothing except for preschool, he has no interest in other activities at this age and going to school 2 1/2 hours a day is more than enough IMO.  I really am not bogging him down, just wondering what teachers thought.

Littlejen22

AnnapolisLari:

Our district only has half day kindergarten and I am not worrying about it for one single second.

I let my kids be kids for as long as possible. There are tons of studies that prove that kids who are pushed when they are too young burn out and start to hate school really early.

My son may not have the handwriting down pat or know the periodic table at 4, but he's very into imaginative play and just being. He wouldn't do that if I had crammed him full of 'enrichment' activities and too much stuff since the day he was born.

I was a teacher and I saw the results of ramming things down the kids' throats. They were no further ahead than anyone else and really disliked school and learning.

Thanks, I totally agree that pushing a kid too hard too young will make them hate learning and I certainly would not want to do that.  The only activities DS has been in were daycare until 12mos, music for 6 hours total at 1yo, My Gym for a little over a year and I pulled him out of it when he started preschool last year...he did preschool last year for 7 1/2 hours a week and this year for 12 1/2 hours a week.  I just don't want anyone to get the impression that I am over-scheduling him, and "poor" DD has not done anything yet, not even sure if I will send her to school next year.

 

Auntie,

Thanks for the insight, I know you are not a teacher but I always appreciate your thoughts b/c of all you have learned through years of experience.  I never really considered sending my kids to anything but public school but once everyone around you starts talking about it I did start to thing if I am the only one thinking this way!

Katherine

 IMO based upon your reply about your son.  I'd leave it at half a day of kindergarten and that's it.  I wouldn't bother with enrichment programs at this age.  If he is generally well rounded and a happy creative kid who gives you no valid reason to think he might need the extra support i'd leave it at that.  There will be time in the future to fill up his day with lengthy monotonos schooling.  Just keep filling his life with creative opportunities and let him engage in the outside activities he is interested in.  He'll be a happier, more well adjusted kid than those who are scheduled into a robotic lifestyle.

Andrewsgal

I am of a different view point than most of the nest and I too have also been a teacher. I think a lot of people underestimate the imporantance of pre-reading and pre-writing skills when entering kinder. I have had the experience with two different kids this year that breaks my heart. We have a family friend who stays home with her kids and believes in no type of structured program her daughter attended kinder thiis year with zero reading or writing skills she could not write her name or count past 10. I picked her up everday for the first week because her Mom's car was not working, she was crying every day saying how stupid she was and how the other kids know so much more. She started out behind and knew it from day one. I have been tutoring her and she is catching up slowly, but is far from caught up, she hates school and it breaks my heart.

A friend of my sisters little girl was in preschool programs however her mother choose to push her into school when the preschool teachers said she was not ready, she meets the cut off by 2 days. She is now in 3rd grade and doing horribly, she hates school and is misserable. This is the year we start standerdized tests and there is no way she will pass, she knows this and it makes it even worse.

I think there is a fine line between making sure your kids have the skills they need and not pushing them. I think a lot of people choose to stick their head in the sand and underplay the imporantace of academic skills in young kids. Whether you like it or not our schools are demanding that kids learn things younger and younger as a parent we can pretend it is not happening but it is and i for one want my kid ready to meet those expectations.

BTW I am not talking about anyone specifically on the nest so don't anyone get up in arms.