Kindergarten - am versus pm
Littlejen22
member
I requested AM which is not guaranteed but if i asked for PM i would get it my reasoning for requesting AM is mostly because DD will be in AM preschool and if they go at the same time they will have more time together, I will have some time to myself, less time running around and more time to do things with the kids if they both get out at 11:30 (different schools).
But I am second guessing. If DS gets PM I would have time each day one on one with the kids, my last year for that possibility. And I can sign DS up for art one day a week in the morning. And DS likes to sleep in until 7:30-8:30 so I would not have to wake him for school. The down side is I get no time to myself or afternoons to do things with the kids together and DS would have to come with me to drop DD at school or stay home with DH (when DH is not traveling) and that might be hard on DD, and DS would see his sister go to his old school with his old teachers and some of his friends (Montessori school so DD will be with some Kindergarters). I think DS would be fine learning in the afternoon and that class is usually smaller.
Thoughts?
Re: Kindergarten - am versus pm
We're going through the same thing. Our town will be sending out the class assignments shortly but does not accept requests for am versus pm. We can't sign DD2 up for preschool until we know because our top two choices have time conflicts with either K pick up or drop off so we have to see which class DD1 is in before we can even register DD2 (and I really hope there are slots available still!). I would love for them to both be in am because then I would have time to myself for a little while (at least until February) but there's also appeal to each having alone time with me, especially the older one, who hasn't had regular alone time with me since her sister was born.
My thought is that we'll make the best of it either way. I hated pm school this past year (my oldest was in preK 12:30-3:30 5 days a week) because it split our day up terribly, but we also had a long commute (Harlem to the Bronx) and now we're back in suburban NJ and everything's 5 minutes away, so I don't think it will be nearly as annoying if we're in afternoon!
Technically yes but I want her to be in the class DS was in and that teacher only teaches in the morning and has a younger class in the PM. And I know technically they are supposed to do the same thing in AM and PM and I would guess that all but one or two kids out of 18-23 kids in pM are there full day and not just PM so I fear she would miss more that way. And I love the Montessori school so I won't switch...and do not have the money to keep DS there and think he would transition better this year. UGH, it should not be this hard. I might call the secretary and ask what the class sizes are looking like right now, I know this year they were something like 24 in AM and 20 or 21 PM.
When my DD was in K, it was still half day where I live. Since I was working from home at the time, I didn't care whether she was in AM or PM. I actually really liked PM kindergarten. Her little brother turned 1 about the start of the school year, so we could run errands after breakfast, then come home for lunch and get DD on the bus. DS napped during the time she was in school, and I got a nice break in the afternoon to work or chill out.
My DD had been in AM preschool, and the transition to PM kindy was no problem.
It was true that the PM classes were smaller. Her teacher also told me that the PM classes often had a higher percentage of kids who were already reading or very close to reading when school started.