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Why is kindergarten only half days in most area's?
Back in my day they was full day. Only 2-3 four
days a week for kindergarten is not enough.
That is how i feel anyways. I am thinking of sending
my child to a Catholic school just for kindergarten,
so they can get ahead start. I feel that is so important.
I seen a lot of kids already reading and writing well
in the Catholic school.
2.5 hours for kindergarten gets you socialized, a graham
crack and recess.
Anyone else disagree?
This is my third go-round with pre-school.
1. Child #1 began a three morning a week program at 22 mos. At 3 yrs., she went full-day three days a week. When we moved, her new school only offered a half-day pre-K program. I didn't feel that she was 100% prepared for kindergarten but her full-day kindergarten program (in a private school) was excellent. She entered public 1st grade in one of the better districts in the state almost a year ahead of the other children in her class.
2. #2 began a three day full-day program at 22 mos. She loved it. At 3 years (we moved) her school only offered a 3 morning a week program. She appeared to do well. When we moved again, she entered a three full-day pre-k program. A month into the school year we switched her to every day (at the teacher's request because she wasn't adjusting to the day off, day on status) and she flourished and did very well. She was never at the top of her class and she's one of the youngest so we struggled on whether or not to put her into kindergarten or re-do pre-k. We made the decision to do full-day kindergarten (because we felt it was very successful for our older daughter) -- we moved over the summer and our new school is only half-day. She is doing fine and is in the middle of the pack. She probably would have struggled at our old school but she's doing fine here.
3. #3 seemed to miss the cut-off for school. We enrolled her this year at 3 years old. She was so ready for school and was pretty much bored at home--causing lots of problems if I wasn't watching her every minute. Her current school is three mornings a week. The plan for her pre-k year this coming year will be 5 mornings a week.
4. Child #4 will be 2.5 years old in September. My 3 yos' teachers tells me that #4 needs to go to school and is so ready from their observations of her in the classroom at drop-off and pick-up. My heart is very torn. I want her to stay with me because she's my baby but wonder if 2 mornings a week wouldn't do her some good (socialization and independence).
The reason I gave so much information is to reiterate what other posters have stated. Each child is very different. A high academic world is very important to my oldest child. My 2nd child likes to socialize versus academics while my 3rd loves school, learning and socialization.
To the OP: my advice is to put your child in the morning kindergarten program. School policy doesn't always make sense. Our kindergarten teachers have been very blunt that half-day kindergarten is a mistake but that is what our district is willing to pay for. When your son enters first grade, he will go all day long and switching from an afternoon to a morning routine will be difficult. I wouldn't second-guess yourself. Your instincts are dead-on. Your child will grow up before you know it--don't sweat the small stuff and spend as much time with him as you can! He'll be reading before he gets to college.
I am a preschool teacher. Are the three days you send your child consecutive? I know that we work on a lot of different themes. You child may only catch the tail end or beginning of each theme and miss things in between so he may be confused when one day they are talking about apples and then the next couple of days they are on the next topic or continuing a project he wasn't there for in the first place. I know that if I had a child missing that often, I would rather he/she just stay home.
My oldest daughter went to preschool three, half days a week. She then went on to afternoon kindergarten. She is in fourth grade now and tested into and was highly recommended by teachers for the Gifted/Talented program, in which she is excelling. My youngest also went to preschool for three, half days a week. She attended morning kindergarten because that worked best for all our schedules. She is in first grade now and reading at a fifth grade level and doing extremely well in school. I don't think preschool matters much other than to provide some socialization experience. What you do at home is way more important. We have read to/with our kids every night since they were born. I talked constantly to both my girls and we do all sorts of fun/educational things as a family; kid museums, zoos, aquariums, board games, etc. I, for one, am sick of everyone wanting my kids to help "prepare" them for the next stage. Kindergarten use to prepare kids for school with socialization, etc. Now, we have preschool to "prepare "kids for kindergarten and the last time I took my youngest to Gymboree at four, they had discontinued a Gymbo Doll activity because they said they were replacing it with an activity to help "prepare" the kids for preschool! Oh please, can we just sit back and enjoy our kids a bit while they are little!
I think three days a week and afternoon kindergarten is fine; whatever works for your family! Good Luck! Enjoy!
I actually stress with my four year old to practice his writing for atleast one hour a day.
Work on addition and subtration everyday. Play only educational board games and only
uses the PC for educational purposes. I feel if you don't work with everyday on educational
activities their brain will turn to mush.
How bad are cartoons and how much a day is enough. How about video games?
I also feel they need lots of exercise and healthy eating.
I guess i worry to much and worry i might be pushing him too much.
What about the parents who leave their children at daycare for 10 hours a day?
What kind of effect does that have on a childs development?
Any feedback is great.
Thank you.
I actually stress with my four year old to practice his writing for atleast one hour a day.
Work on addition and subtration everyday. Play only educational board games and only
uses the PC for educational purposes. I feel if you don't work with everyday on educational
activities their brain will turn to mush.
How bad are cartoons and how much a day is enough. How about video games?
I also feel they need lots of exercise and healthy eating.
I guess i worry to much and worry i might be pushing him too much.
What about the parents who leave their children at daycare for 10 hours a day?
What kind of effect does that have on a childs development?
Any feedback is great.
Thank you.
I have purposely avoided this thread since it started because I have very strong beliefs that preschool is completely unnecessary. That being said, since you asked for feedback, I feel compelled to give it.
I am a former preschool/kindergarten teacher, and while I think that many parents are too lax about their child's education, I cannot imagine pushing my four-year-old son the way that you do. Children are only young for such a short period of time, and they should be focusing on PLAY rather than an hour of handwriting practice every day. He will have his entire life to perfect his writing technique, and there is no benefit to forcing him to focus so much on academics at such a young age.
Most 4 year olds are only a year and a half out of diapers, and you are expecting him to work on addition and subtraction daily? What about time to play? Do you dictate what he can play as well? Why not foster some creativity or imagination in him instead of forcing him to work on skills that he has the rest of his school career to focus on?
Moderator cut: really not necessary There are definitely skills that a 4 year old does not need to be concerned with yet, and I think that by forcing them at such a young age, you are just setting yourself up for rebellion in the future.
Last edited by jeannie216; 11-18-2008 at 01:49 PM..
does that mean you need to pick her up almost like right away? do you work? mines goes from 8:30am to 3:30pm with lunch, so he could learn to have lunch with others. mines is the only child. also, does your nap after school due to the afternoon schedule? thanks for sharing.
I started my oldest 2 in preschool at 3 yrs old 2 days a week. The following year they went 3 days a week. Didn't send my youngest 2 as only 5 days a week was availble in our parish school. The teacher that taught then had the reasoning that the only way she could keep the kids in line was 5 days a week, as the other days with mom would ruin anything she was trying to do with the kids. I wasn't ready to let go of my baby for 5 days a week yet. We went to all day kindergarten, and I just wanted pre school to get my kids used to being away from me and ready for kindergarten. My 2 that did not go to preschool did not do as well in school in k-3rd grade as my oldest 2 did. The youngest 2 also had learning disabilities that were not recognized until they were in 5th grade.
Some of our kids go to school 5 days a week 8:30-12:30 . I think that's a good balance because it's not all day and you still have time to do things later on in the day with them and get your errands done in the morning. Some of them go from 8-6 pm and those are the ones I see have the most behavioral problems in our school because that it way too much time.
I think having a 4yr old do writing for an hour a day is way too excessive. Just 20 minutes a day from a prek workbook would be enough. YOu have to do other things that are educational too; going to the museum, zoo, beach, exploring different things and places, creating art, dancing, science experiments etc. They will have more time for all the academics in later grades.
I have purposely avoided this thread since it started because I have very strong beliefs that preschool is completely unnecessary. That being said, since you asked for feedback, I feel compelled to give it.
I am a former preschool/kindergarten teacher, and while I think that many parents are too lax about their child's education, I cannot imagine pushing my four-year-old son the way that you do. Children are only young for such a short period of time, and they should be focusing on PLAY rather than an hour of handwriting practice every day. He will have his entire life to perfect his writing technique, and there is no benefit to forcing him to focus so much on academics at such a young age.
Most 4 year olds are only a year and a half out of diapers, and you are expecting him to work on addition and subtraction daily? What about time to play? Do you dictate what he can play as well? Why not foster some creativity or imagination in him instead of forcing him to work on skills that he has the rest of his school career to focus on?
I'm sorry, but I found this post to be disgusting. There are definitely skills that a 4 year old does not need to be concerned with yet, and I think that by forcing them at such a young age, you are just setting yourself up for rebellion in the future.
I TOTALLY agree. Spend time with your child. Enjoy your child. Talk with your child. Play with your child. Do family activities with your child. He will learn and he will enjoy it not resent it!
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. Her current school is three mornings a week. The plan for her pre-k year this coming year will be 5 mornings a week.
Oh please, can we just sit back and enjoy our kids a bit while they are little!