Dh and I toured a local school today to see about kinder there for our dd. I felt pretty good about it overall, but I'm still left with so many questions and worries (in general, not about this school). First of all, I am a former public school teacher, can't afford private and have no intention of homeschooling. The charter options where we live are not that appealing to me (one Waldorf, hard to get into, one Montessori, where I used to teach-needs improvement IMO). So public school is almost certain.
Our daughter is a Novemeber birthday, which means she is young, and I'm getting a lot of advice to keep her out of kinder for another year. I really don't agree with the advice. I have taught kinder, and know what the expectations are academically, and my daughter is meeting most of them already (but can't yet write her name well). Socially, she's been attending preschool since the age of 2, gets along well with other kids, listens to her teachers, can sit still and focus, etc.
If I keep her out of kinder, she would attend the kinder class at the preschool (otherwise next year she would be the oldest in her class and her friends would 'move up' without her). So essentially she'd be doing 2 years of kinder, which I'm afraid would leave her VERY bored by year 2. I don't want to sound snotty, but she can already read a little bit, and both dh and I read before kinder and were in GATE programs. I know they do a lot of things that are fun, but I worry about her sitting and learning letter sounds when she is 6 years old and has known how to read for 2 years, KWIM?
So, the school we want her to go to, probably, has a lottery system (it is a magnet school for the arts and sciences) and if she doesn't get in, we're stuck with coming up with a plan B. Here are my choices:
1) Keep her out of kinder (let her do a year at her preschool and another year in public) and try to open enroll again next fall
2) Enroll her in our local school (good school, but K-6, and the middle school isn't great)
3) Use my parents address across town and enroll her in a really good school, but drive 30 min. each way into a very wealthy, non-diverse neighborhood (where my sister and I attended great schools but were both bullied).
I am freaking out. What should we do?
Our daughter is a Novemeber birthday, which means she is young, and I'm getting a lot of advice to keep her out of kinder for another year. I really don't agree with the advice. I have taught kinder, and know what the expectations are academically, and my daughter is meeting most of them already (but can't yet write her name well). Socially, she's been attending preschool since the age of 2, gets along well with other kids, listens to her teachers, can sit still and focus, etc.
If I keep her out of kinder, she would attend the kinder class at the preschool (otherwise next year she would be the oldest in her class and her friends would 'move up' without her). So essentially she'd be doing 2 years of kinder, which I'm afraid would leave her VERY bored by year 2. I don't want to sound snotty, but she can already read a little bit, and both dh and I read before kinder and were in GATE programs. I know they do a lot of things that are fun, but I worry about her sitting and learning letter sounds when she is 6 years old and has known how to read for 2 years, KWIM?
So, the school we want her to go to, probably, has a lottery system (it is a magnet school for the arts and sciences) and if she doesn't get in, we're stuck with coming up with a plan B. Here are my choices:
1) Keep her out of kinder (let her do a year at her preschool and another year in public) and try to open enroll again next fall
2) Enroll her in our local school (good school, but K-6, and the middle school isn't great)
3) Use my parents address across town and enroll her in a really good school, but drive 30 min. each way into a very wealthy, non-diverse neighborhood (where my sister and I attended great schools but were both bullied).
I am freaking out. What should we do?
But I honestly think that if she is already reading some, and has been in preschool for a couple of years she is probably ready. Plus, girls are usually ready earlier anyway. What does she think? (((Hugs))) I know you will make the right decision for her!
the only reason i thought of it is that my district is currently in the process of retroactively suing parents who have sent their children to our schools without really living here. which can mean $35K-40K just for elementary alone...
