Which day to 'start school' in K???

[MCsMom]

Our oldest DD is starting K this year at a private school. It is currently still up in the air about who her teacher is going to be, last minute shuffles with the director/teaching staff.

So anyways, she is supposed to start school on Wed the 8th. We are planning on her going to K on Mon, Tue and Thur and then to a Waldorf group that is forming on Fri - due to this and a little miss planning on my part - we are already scheduled for the last meeting of a really cool science camp on the 'first day of school'.

The waldorf group is not starting until Oct 1st, but are having a gathering on the 23rd of Sept as well.

Then, we scheduled an almost 2 week trip from Sept 11th to the 22nd, but not really back home till the 23rd and my DH has the 24th off and we will not be with the kids, so I know she is not going to want to leave him to go to 'school'.

So, would you just wait till the 27th to 'start school' or go the 1 or 2 days on Sept 9th and 10th? or ????

I am just trying to get other opinions and points of view, or maybe there is something I have not thought about yet. Like I said, I am not sure who the teacher might be (either one of the other teachers or someone hired new) so talking with them (which I would obviously do no mater what) is not quite an option yet.

[SoCaliMommy]

I'd have her go to school when it starts like everyone else will be doing and then when your taking your trip just inform the school that a family emergency came up and you will be out of town for that period of time.

[MCsMom]

My DH is on the board of the school and I am pretty involved with the parent program, and a few people already know that we are taking a trip we are quite excited about it, so I really would not want to lie about the cirumstances . . . Also, I could not expect my DD to not talk about it, she is beyond excited to spent a week and a half with her grandparents, she will tell her friends about it and these are some of the students and other parents at the school.

But thanks for the perspective, it just solidifies for me that I do need to come up with somekind of resolution.

[tsfairy]

Not sure if this applies to a private school (do they get state funding at all?) but if she's going to be out for 2 weeks it will count really negatively against her attendance for the year. I know in public school this is a BIG DEAL and in the higher grades, a 2 week absence can cause a child to fail the grade.

I'd wait to enroll her until after your trip because if she's not enrolled, there is no attendance hit. Combined with all the other stuff she has going on, I'd just wait until the end of September to start.

[MCsMom]

Hmmm, well they do not get any state funding at all, and the attendance issue is not much of a concern, as in she can only miss X days. Other then, you know, it is the beginning of the year and she is going to miss out on the 'getting to know you' stuff with the other classmates.

We are paying the entire tuition for the month anyways (actually we already sent the check). And she is already registered, it would be WAY bigger of a deal to take her out now actually officially then for her to miss for a few weeks.

I just wonder if that stuff is important enough to go to school for the two days before she is out or not? I mean, I feel like I hear people say how important the first little bit of time is - but is it really? Or is it not? kwim?

[mommy2maya]

Wow, I've never heard of a kindergarten where you can pick what days to go- how does that work with her keeping up with the rest of the class?

[ChinaDoll]

I think unless you have a super-flexible non-traditional private school, they're still going to have 'school-like' rules, and that you may have to decide if you're really committing to school culture or not. If I were going to have mine in school (and we have in the past) I'd make sure they were there for the first few days, when people are doing fun, get-to-know-you activities and figuring out seating arrangements. But I'd also become familiar with the student handbook and expectations, and not plan to have them out too much because most teachers/admin will come to resent that, as a constant class disruption when the other kids have learned something or are in the middle of some project and yours returns in the middle...

(obviously my siggy lets you know we're not schooling anymore; we aren't cut out to follow school schedules/rules/culture but if you are committing to school, you may have to change your expectations)

[sarahr]

I'd start on the same day everyone else is starting. At least for me and my dd, it would be really, really hard to come into a group where other people already knew each other.

And do I read your post right that your long term plan is to send your child to two different programs, even though at least one of the programs meets every day? That would not work with my dd and I'd be surprised if it was okay with the school.