We've officially red shirted.

howleyshell

I sent the e-mail to cancel Dylan's enrollment in public Kindy this morning.

The teacher replied kindly with "I know it's a difficult decision but I've never seen a family regret waiting."

That made me feel better.

So - now he's in an amazing program where he's learned more in a month and a half than he learned the whole school year in pre-school.  And he went to an AWESOME public pre-school so that's saying quite a bit.

He's in a special class full of red shirted kids so they're all June thru October/November birthdays.   It's so nice to meet other Moms making the same decision and feeling some relief that I'm not a nut for stressing over this so much as each of them did as well.

I'm so glad I found this place for him and made my peace with this decision.

Whew....   

ETA:  And thank you so very much for putting up with all my endless rambling on this subject!  All of your feedback really did help me process everything. 

franciscaz

I'm so glad you found peace about this!!!!!!!

llamakins

Sounds like you made a good choice! How nice to find a great transitional pre-k program that he is flourishing in!

smilejenn

Congratulations on making your decision! My 4 year old (July 4th birthday) will be starting pre-k this fall and we already know we will wait an additional year before starting kindergarten. I missed your previous threads, so I apologize if you already covered this, but how did you find a transitional program with other red shirted kids? I had presumed that my only option would be to re-enroll my son for a second year in pre-k and pay for that out of pocket. (the state of Florida pays for the first year of pre-k)

shouldbworkin

I'm so glad you found a great program.  That was my biggest obstacle with deciding what to do with DS last year. You're really lucky to have a good program available.

HarrietNJMommy

Glad the decision is made!!!! Good luck with everything.

I can tell you that none of my friends have regretted redshirting their kids....... 

howleyshell

smilejenn:

how did you find a transitional program with other red shirted kids? I had presumed that my only option would be to re-enroll my son for a second year in pre-k and pay for that out of pocket. (the state of Florida pays for the first year of pre-k)

Our public school district does pre-school for a small fee and kindy is free.

He did public pre-school last year 2 days a week (could have done 4).

As he's technically old enough to start Kindy he would not be allowed back into the pre-school class nor would I have wanted him there.  They can do a 2nd year if they fit the age range at the time but again there is a fee to families.

I found the program he's in at what most would call a "day care" center.

I found it by asking around a LOT.  Many of my friends have taken their kids to this place and RAVED about it.

I'm very happy.  Now I think the hard decision will be do we send him to free kindy at the public school and put him in the after care program (I work part time) or do I suck it up and pay for him to stay where he is for Kindy.

I'm leaning towards getting him into the public school for kindy because I know it's a great program and I really want him to settle in and establish those social bonds as early as possible instead of being the new kid in a pack of tight knit kindergardeners who spent the whole last year together, KWIM?

GL with your decisions!

 

 

catters77

My son is an August birthday, he'll be four this year.  We started him in Primary Montessori last year and it seemed like a good fit for him.  We'll continue him, but I do worry for kindergarten, then being so young for first grade.  His current school has elementary montessori, so I may keep him there, but with such a small school, it might not be possible.  The summer birthday is far more complex than I had thought!  

mabma80

Our son is going to his second year of prek.  Last year he went to prek-3, but he had just turned 4 two days after school started.  Same this year. He'll turn 5 a week after school starts.  He's going from two days/wk to three days/wk and then on to Kindergarden for the 2012-2013 school year.  It's a good transition.  : )

PhilsWife07

My boys are August and September birthdays and we have a Sept 30 cut off. I'm pretty certain both of them will wait until they are 6 to start. The preschool where DS1 is attending this fall has a junior kindergarten program that we are thinking about putting them both in after their year of pre-k.