Full day Kindergarten OR half day....? (childcare, method, SAHM, baby)
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Our school district has 1/2 day Kindergarten in their own building from 8:30-11:20am. It's not even 3 hrs. I talked to a K teacher and she said it is ONLY academic. No art or music or gym. She said she crams a lot in the 2.75 hrs or so that the students are there. They get right to work. Do you think this is enough time and would it be too rigid for a young 5 year old? There are a few private schools in our area that do have full day K from 8:30-3:00pm. I'm an at home mom so pick-up and drop-off isn't a problem. I love having our daughter here! But I do want the best for her. Anyone who has been there, done that? Any insights?!
The teacher said maybe 20 minutes of free play or outdoor play. She said by November, there's no time.
But then again, she'll be home for lunch. However, we have a baby who will be napping in the afternoon. I won't be driving her place or doing too much with her becaue I can't leave the house.
Id do private full day in a heart beat...but I would do private over public no matter what. We had an AWFUL experience in public and hope to never go back
Ask the parents in your neighborhood who have had kids in public and private kgtn.
The full day is long for this age. But the best part about kgtn is the playing together, and now that's no longer part of the curriculum if they're in half day.
Schedule at private is work from 8:30-11:30, lunch, recess, work again at 1:00 or so until 3pm. They do have Music, Spanish and Gym. This is a Montessori program.
I think full day works best for most families these days, in that it provides childcare for working families, and gives teachers enough time to cover the academics that are required, while also giving the kids more breaks and more specials (art, music, PE, library).
I asked my sister, a kindergarten teacher her opinion on this at one time, and her first reaction was that she would not have enough time to cover everything. But, then she stopped and considered a little more, and said that it would be ok if she didn't have any "special needs" or behavior problem kids, didn't have any who needed differentiation / more individual attention, if she could just plain teach the standard curriculum and not deal with all of the extra bureaucracy and special situations that the larger classes bring.
I would have liked half day for both of my two oldest kids, for different reasons. In both cases, I was a SAHM so I didn't need the childcare. My oldest kid was very academically advanced. She really didn't learn that much in kindergarten, not nearly as much as she would have, if I'd had her at home for the afternoon where she'd be able to explore and learn at her own (accelerated) pace. Half day would have worked well, in that she could have had exposure to same-age peer group while also doing her own thing. A full day at school didn't really give us time for extras, though.
My next kid was the opposite - she didn't like being in school all day because it cut into her play time. She would come home exhausted after a full day, and I think she probably would have learned just as much if it had condensed into half a day, and then she would have been free to run the neighborhood for the rest of her day, as she much preferred to do.
Schedule at private is work from 8:30-11:30, lunch, recess, work again at 1:00 or so until 3pm. They do have Music, Spanish and Gym. This is a Montessori program.
Our kids left public for Montessori and I can't say enough good things about the method. My children went from stressed out kids to thriving kids. It's just really great. But it isn't for parents who enjoy lots of testing and competitive natured environments.
At least at our school the kids get lots of social time, play time and work time. They work cooperatively a lot. Those things are important to me.
That's great! I do like the Montessori program. But we would only send her for K. We plan to send to public 1st though.
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