Mamas with Fall 2010 kindergartners? - Page 3

[peaceful_mama]

Yup, this particular "magnet" is high parental involvement, which means more adults per classroom--who work directly with kids and doing some of the behind-the-scenes copying, cutting-out-of-stuff, that kind of thing. It also allows for projects and field trips that just don't happen in other schools--because they'd have to hire a bus, where this school has parent drivers, and just more stuff you can do simply because you have more adults necessary to pull it off....

See my siggy though---the DAY AFTER REGISTRATION, i found out we're expecting.......

My mom has volunteered to do some of my "time" which is allowed by the school--it's not strictly PARENT, it is an adult doing "X" hours per child.

We shall see how this all plays out in the end. I am *not* changing plans at this point as well, *anything* can happen.

[jillmamma]

peaceful_mama...will they allow you to bring your newborn while you volunteer? Or at least give you a few weeks "off"? I would think you could talk to some of the other parents and work something out, as well has having your mom help. I hope it works out well for you!

I just registered DD for K this week. She will be 5 during the first week of school, and I think will do okay. I like that her big brother will be there at the same school as well as the little girl next door.

[peaceful_mama]

As far as the baby attending with me BIG FAT NO. And I don't think I'd WANT baby to anyway! IT's a kindergarten classroom in RSV season.....mmm I think I'll SKIP that thanks.

As far as other parents, I *hope* that will be a possibility as it could give me more 'time off' my "commitment" is a 4 hour half-day, can't be split any way or how other than that. So obviously babe would need to eat.

though it may not matter if dh decides to go to school we'll be moving. things like that are why I'm not really worrying about it...lol

[bugginsmom]

My ds starts K this fall as well. We are definitely taking the approach that nothing is final or permanent. If it doesn't work...there are other options to explore, including homeschooling. There are a couple of private schools we would have loved to enroll him in, but financially it is not possible right now. We are not completely ruling it out though as things are likely to change for us financially in the next couple of years. Then again, we may be in love with the public school so you never know. All about keeping our options open!

[Mizelenius]

I think I'll be signing my 2nd DD up for KG tomorrow. Big sigh. I don't want to, but she wants to go. I am curious to see how she'll do. She's already worried about having to "draw what everyone else does" (that is how they do "art" at her school, sadly) but she's much more of a follow-the-instructions person than my oldest, so who knows?

I'd love to send her to Montessori, but our local PS is all we have the $ for!

I think she'll like it. 1st grade? Dunno.

RE: for those of you not HSing because of your husbands' attitudes . . .my DH was the same way. Completely, and I mean completely anti-HSing. I'm not saying he'll ever write a book about how great it is or anything, but he never mentions sending our oldest back to school. She was in it for KG and part of the following year, so he got to see how much she actually did not like it . . .how negatively it affected her. He never agreed to pulling her out, but since I am with the kids (alone) most of the time, I made the decision. He was pretty mad those weeks leading up to it, but once it finally happened, he has not criticized the decision, oddly. I don't think I would have felt comfortable not at least giving school a try for the kids, given his original attitude, however.

[peaceful_mama]

My DH too...I am of the attitude that we will either love it or not and then we might be able to have an actual discussion about it. DH has mentioned a couple times seeing DS with 'attitude' that 'if this is coming from school maybe he should stay home' but I don't think he is at all serious.

[organicmommy05]

Yes, my 4 year old girl, turning 5 before the cut off is starting. She's been in 2 years of preschool and is totally ready. She can't wait.

Me on the other hand, I'm a basket case. I'm nervous about all the outside influences and just the state of the public schools but homeschooling isn't an option since I work and she really loves being in a school environment.

[p1gg1e]

Our oldest is starting kindy this fall. She is pretty upset about it. I posted on the main page. So we are giving it a go. I hope she falls in pretty quickly and enjoys it. She will be 6 when she starts.

[sunanthem]

My little Eden is going to kindy in the fall. She will be a very young 5, but I think she is totally ready. She is in a full day kindy prep preschool right now, run by our local school district and loves school. She hates to leave school at the end of the day. I sent my first to public kindy this year after trying a private waldrofy/montessori community school that did not work for us, so he is a very late kindergartener, I think each child is going at the right time for them. I'm not having any of the fears or anxiousness of sending her like I did with him; I've gotten to know the schools alot more this year, I'm really only worried about helping both a kindergartner and a 1st grader with homework every night, while being able to do my own! (i'm a full time student) YIKES!

Oh, we have public magnet schools here as well and we have to wait until the first friday in MAY to find out where she is going! its so hard to remain patient!

[womama]

Joining the thread!

The past few weeks have been the most confusing and uncertain I have had in a long time. I had no clue kindergarten was going to be such an intense decision.

The public school system where I live is very poor. The schools are not accredited and seem to be lacking in many areas. There are magnet schools. They are lottery based and we did not "win" that lottery.

There are charter schools but they are new and somewhat unproven. I had heard more bad than good about these schools. However, I fell in love with the idea of language immersion schools. We toured the charter school offering this format. All of the children seemed unhappy, I saw a first grader choking another student. What I saw on the tour dashed my hopes in this school.

This left us with private school as really the only acceptable option. Most of the private schools in my are are religious and we aren't. We applied to 2 of the non-religious schools, but were put on the wait list. We then narrowed our choice down to 2 catholic schools. His dad REALLY liked one of the schools, when we inquired they told us we could be put on the wait list.
We both felt sad and proceeded to register at the other school. A few days later, the first choice catholic school notified us that there was an opening!

OMG!!!

I am happy it is settled for the moment. Hopefully, he will love the school and I won't have to go through this for 1st grade!

[p1gg1e]

Well registration went ok other then the vaccine comments. Her teachers seem really nice.

[amydidit]

Kayden is starting kindergarten in August. I had to have her test for it though because our district has a June 1st cut off! Our district is moving to a 4 day week, and kindergarten is only a half day. Ugh. So we're probably going to be putting her in a private school that has a full day program and five day week. Thank god I'm getting enough in student loans and grants that we should be able to afford it. Plus they offer tuition assistance. Only problem is they don't offer busing.

I'm really excited about her going to school. It's about time!

[madskye]

Madeline is starting in September! We're excited and so is she...she's very social and so far has really liked to learn so I am hoping for a decent transition...she's been in daycare/preschool since she was a baby, and her hours now are 9-3 just like K will be...so hopefully full day won't poop her out too much.

And hopefully I'll be able to convince her to partake in some "quiet time" when she gets home in the afternooon.

[Heavenly]

Originally Posted by p1gg1e

Well registration went ok other then the vaccine comments. Her teachers seem really nice.

What did they say about the vaccines? I haven't even mentioned that I don't vaccinate yet to the new school my 3 kids are going to. I live in Ontario, Canada and so far I haven't had any issues with not vaccinating. At my kids current school and at two preschools all I've had to do is sign a form saying that I don't vaccinate. Hopefully you won't have too much trouble.

[Heavenly]

We've decided to switch my kids to a much larger private school (about 340 students K-8) so she'll be going two full days, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:45am-3:10pm. The original school would have been 3 full days but I think 2 is a good start. She will go two days for junior kindergarten, three days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for senior kindergarten and then five days a week starting in grade 1. She is so excited and can't wait for school to start. She keeps asking me if it is after summer yet! Don't wish to grow up to fast, baby girl!

[Qestia]

Subbing. DS will start K in Sept. It may actually be a break for the kid, he's been in a full-day preschool program 2 years that goes 8-5 four days a week. I've been able to arrange my work schedule (DH will help too) so we can get him at the close of K each day. So his day will be 8-2:20 instead of 8-5. Yay! I'm hoping the transition will be smooth. We have neighborhood schools so he sees a lot of the kids already at the park and some of his preschool classmates should be at the school too. Plus he already goes to the school for speech therapy 2x/week.

My concern is long term--all the talk of bullies. DH and I agree we would pull him out of school at the drop of a hat if we run into something like that.

[BetsyNY]

Originally Posted by peaceful_mama

i have a new theory redpajama....called "no decision is EVER final" it's what's gotten me through dh's resistance to the idea of homeschooling. I figure we have agreed, and I found a magnet school that has a lot of parent involvement required, field trips, and a lot of interaction between all ages.

This is so, so true.

We are homeschoolers at heart, but my boys will be starting kindergarten in the fall, most likely. I am about it, but I think it's the right decision too.

My one son, dx'd with Autism, will be in a wonderful 6:1:1 class. We were planning on homeschooling, but this class is just like his wonderful special Autism school, but with higher-functioning peers.

His twin brother, dx'd with ADHD, is a harder fit. He's had a lot of anxiety around the separation from his brother, so we don't feel like he can be homeschooled separately. He'll be starting in a 15:1:1 class.

I know it's the right thing for them. But I'm trying to resolve my sadness around it.

[sweetcheeks]

DD is starting kinder this fall. She is beyond excited about it! She'll be attending the neighborhood school, where her older brother will be in Grade 2 this fall. She has a big leg up compared to DS1 when he started kinder -- she's been coming with DS1 and I for drop off/pick up the last 2 years so she's already very familiar with the school. Also, her kindergarten teacher is the same one DS1 had for kinder and is currently his afternoon Grade 1 teacher. So she's been seeing the teacher on a regular basis for the last 2 years. She knows many of her classmates already as many of DS1's classmates have siblings that will be entering kinder this fall too. We absolutely love our school -- the teachers are great, the administration is great and very supportive of the parents and teachers. There's a big sense of community in the school, I just love it!

DD's been attending a home-based nursery school just a block over for the last 2 years. It's a 2x/week, 2.5hrs each day program. Kindergarten will be half days, every day. We're not sure yet if the class will be split or not (it all depends on enrolment numbers) so we don't know if she'll be attending mornings or afternoons.