How many days per week for pre-k?

PhilsWife07

DS1 is currently signed up for a 5 mornings per week pre-k class this fall (four year olds). He's currently in a three day per week class (three year olds) and it seems like it's more than enough for him right now. Wondering if 5 days per week if the best choice for him for pre-k in the fall or if I should look for a different school with a shorter week. What are your kids doing?

kmhunt11

I think 5 days is fine.  DD does fine with 5 days and she'll be 4 next week.  Good prep for kindergarten.  

LisaMinFL

I agree about the five mornings. It is good procatice for K, which is 5 full days (at least by me).

Switching schools is probably more traumatic then adding 2 mornings...

jlw2505

How many days is Kindergarten going to be?  Will it be full day or part day?  I think how you answers those plays into what you do.  The PreK program that my older DD is in now and younger DD will do in the fall is full time, 5 days a week, full days and older DD will be in full day kindergarten in the fall and hoping younger DD will get that as well.  My kids have always been in full time daycare/preschool so it was a no brainer for us but if you are moving up slowly than you need to do whatever works best for you and for your schedule.  I would take into account what Kindergarten will be though - if kindergarten is 5 full days than I would for sure do 5 days of PreK but if it will be 5 half days than I think you can do 3 or 5 days and still have an easy transition to kindergarten.

fignewt74

We did 2 full days this year (3 yo) b/c of my work schedule, and decided to do it again next year.  I toyed around with doing 3 or 4 days, but I just decided to be selfish and spend the extra time with DS

Originally I was concerned about the transition to Kindergarten too but since DS is going to be almost 5 and a half when he enters Kindergarten, the more I think about it, the more I think he is going to handle 5 days just fine.  He will have a ton of neighborhood friends in his Kindergarten class, and is super pumped about riding the bus and going to Kindergarten when he's five.

shopgirl78

We did 5 this year (Prek3 half days) and he will do 5 full days next year (prek4).

AngelaU1971

We do 2 half days of preK for my daughter.  We did that with our 6 year old son too.  We do that for financial reasons as well as scheduling reasons.  I would like to do more, I guess, but it's worked out fine.  It still gives them a little experience of being in a classroom with other kids before they start Kindergarten.

duckiegrl

We're doing 2 half days, only because that's the only option offered by the school district. I'd love for DD to do more but we can't afford it.

KristinKD

DD1 will be in half-day pre-k four days a week next fall. Our school has a five-day pre-k class, but I opted for the shorter week just because once she starts kindergarten, she'll have 13+ years of going to school five days a week. She'll be in half-day kindergarten; like others said, if it were full-day kindergarten, I would have leaned towards the five-day pre-k.

Also, if our preschool didn't have a four-day option, I wouldn't switch schools just to find one.

bim38106

DD will be doing either 4 half days, or 2.5 days (2 full days and Fridays will be 1/2 day). We're still waiting to hear back from the school as to how they can accommodate all the different schedules and what parents want. It's going to be a big change for them because our district just switched from 1/2 days to full-day Kindergarten, so the preschools are having to change things up a bit to prepare for that.

WestCoastMommy

DS is in 2 days a week right now in a 3's program. I just enrolled him today for the 4's preschool and it's 3 day's a week from 8:30 to 12:00. That's enough for me. I want to enjoy some time with him since he is off to Kindergarten after this.

howleyshell

I'm in the minority but I believe they have the rest of their lives to be in school but a very limited time to be little and be with you.

Mine do 3 days and I'm totally fine with that.

They're both excelling academically.  If teachers were expressing a concern perhaps I would consider more days of school or more learning focus at home but for now I'm thrilled that they spend 3 days academically focused and the other 2 exploring and having fun with me.

If I had to have them in daycare 5 days a week then maybe it would make more sense to me to be in a 5 day a week academic program. 

alchris

I would have done 4 days (9:00-12:00) if it were an option next year, but it's not.  I chose 3 days over 5 days.  She'll be in school for 5 days for the following 13+ years.

Court0026

At 3, he goes 2x/week.  At 4, he will go 3x a week.  I want the time with him, don't want to pay for the extra days and I think the transition to k is a transition no matter how you look at it, so I am not worried. 

 

Aimathy

DD is currently in a 2 day a week program for 4 hours each of those 2 days.  She loves it and is doing so well overall.  Next year (for "4's") she will go three days a week for the 4 hours.   There is a five day option....but she will be in school for five days a week soon enough and our days of being together so much will be over.  I look forward to those "free" days as our days to go to the park, museums and just have time together alone during the day when my older two aren't home.  I am going to soak it up while I can!

PhilsWife07

howleyshell:

I'm in the minority but I believe they have the rest of their lives to be in school but a very limited time to be little and be with you.

Mine do 3 days and I'm totally fine with that.

They're both excelling academically.  If teachers were expressing a concern perhaps I would consider more days of school or more learning focus at home but for now I'm thrilled that they spend 3 days academically focused and the other 2 exploring and having fun with me.

If I had to have them in daycare 5 days a week then maybe it would make more sense to me to be in a 5 day a week academic program. 

I'm torn because I want to keep him in the school he's in now, but I'm leaning more towards wanting to let him have more time at home next year. He could go to kindy when he's (just) turned 5, but we're not sending him until he's 6, so he'll have an additional year of preschool or jr. kindergarten after this coming year. Ugh, decisions, decisions.

Thanks, everyone, for weighing in.

howleyshell

PhilsWife07:

 He could go to kindy when he's (just) turned 5, but we're not sending him until he's 6, so he'll have an additional year of preschool or jr. kindergarten after this coming year. Ugh, decisions, decisions.

Thanks, everyone, for weighing in.

If you're red shirting I'd definitely not do 2 years BEFORE he even starts K at 5 days a week.

That just sounds like over kill unless you're needing it for child care purposes.

 

kelbrian

My DD does full time pre-k. Five days a week, 9-2:45. She loves it.

KL777

If I had a choice, DS would do 4 half days. 

In reality, he'll be doing 4 half days with the after school care program in the afternoon one week and then a full week Pre-K and after school care program the following week---then repeat.

byrne15

DS is currently in a 2x/week pre-school and he will be starting 5x/week pre-k next year.