It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth

[cinnamonamon]

Ugh. The Lutheran Pre-School we send ds1 to is considering changing to full day kindergarten next year.

They sent 2 propaganda style papers with information the Principal states he had recently "found regarding the impact all day Kindergarten has on those Kindergarten students." Of course that means, 1 'study' on how all day K helps kids from low-income areas catch up with other kids, and a Q&A paper where there were 'questions you want to know the answers to' that basically leads you right past whether or not K should be all day and straight into pressuring you to vote for budget increases to pay for it.

I'm not even sure we're sending ds to this school next year, so I don't know how much fuss I want to make. Plus, for people who have their kids in the latch-key program after school this probably IS a good choice. But my kid isn't & I'm resisting the pervading myth that kids need to learn more, sooner & longer. Why can't kids just be kids??

[CarrieMF]

Is it all day, every day?

Growing up we went to Kindergarten all day, every other day. Here all the schools are all day every other day except the Catholic system which is half day every day. The amount of time at school is about the same over the year.

I have no problems with all day K. It wouldn't bother me if it was all day every day either, though the every other day gives them a transition year.

[cinnamonamon]

all day every day. It just bugs me that they seem to be taking more & more family time away, younger & younger. And they aren't learning more -- they're "discovering" more "learning problems" and moving towards worse & worse solutions.

[Alyantavid]

I struggled with this alot before I enrolled my son in school. The district we live in does half day k, the district we'll move into (at some point) is full day k. We ultimately decided to go with the district we'll move into even though I wasn't keen on the full days. But he's done amazingly well. I woh ft so we were used to not seeing each other all day anyways. With full days, they have time to do computers and PE and music every day. I'm really happy with it now.

[wildmonkeys]

Our ps went fullday the year ds started and I was very concerned. It was fine for my ds, I am sure halfday would have been fine as well.

[PlayaMama]

we were getting some pressure from our preschool (that switched from three hours to four and a half) for our three year old to keep attending. we decided to pull him out entirely.

i'm leaning towards home schooling anyway (even though i teach at the middle/high school in our small town!) and it just seemed crazy how much they were into getting the kids *ready* for kindergarten rather than just letting them socialize and play in centers and stuff.

it was all about learning to write your name and getting them adapted to the schedule.

we had a conference and i just realized they were more interested in telling me, "oh, we don't do it like that, don't worry!" rather than paying attention to what i was saying.

IMO i think they just keep trying to start out with more "learning" sooner, faster, and it's more than little kids need.

[elmh23]

In New Mexico all kindergarteners HAVE to go full day every day. This is the main reason we will be homeschooling for K! I'd be happy to send her if we could do half day, but since we can't, homeschool it is!

[miasmommy]

We have half day public K here but there is an "extended day option" if you want to pay $$.:

I still vote for more family time when they are little ones. You can't get those years back!

[lindberg99]

Originally Posted by miasmommy

We have half day public K here but there is an "extended day option" if you want to pay $$.:

I still vote for more family time when they are little ones. You can't get those years back!

I think the extended day option makes sense. Then everyone can go half day but if your child needs care the rest of the day, you can send him/her to a program at the school instead of sending him/her somewhere else.

I've got mixed feelings on the full day kindergarten issue. I believe that some kids could benefit from full day school. Some kids are not going home to enriching home situations and maybe are just sitting around all afternoon in front of Oprah and Dr. Phil.

But for kids who do have good home situations it seems like half a day is plenty. So that's why I think the pay option makes sense. Of course, some of the kids who need it the most probably have parents who couldn't afford it. At the district we were in in Colorado, the full day K option was $300 a month a few years ago. I wonder if they do any type of scholarships based on need?

[sewingmommy]

My Ds1 school has several different options for prek and k .....right now he is in pre k 3 days a week 1/2 days ....next year he will be going every day all day only because the 1/2 day and full day k are in the same class the 1/2 k just leaves at 12......and most of DS friends will be all day and he won't want to leave early if they don't .......

[s_kristina]

I don't know of any schools in this area that do half day kindergarten. That doesn't mean the school dd is at is trying to force too much learning on her at an early age. It means that they have responded to both parents working outside of the home. Longer school days works well for those families and they are the majority here. Here they have some sort of special every day which could be art, music, PE or a couple other things I can't think of off the top of my head. They also have a long recess and plenty of time to just play at the different centers in their classroom. With what the state and local board district do require and the vastly different abilities in just 20 kids they would spend all of a half day doing work. With a full day it's broken up and more time can be taken to make things fun.

[RomanGoddess]

Have you checked what the kids will be doing all day? Is it going to be like "school" all day? In my DD's school, the kids age 4 and 5 have kindergarten in the morning, lunch and noon recreation from 12:30 to 14:00 and then they either choir, dance or gym until 15:30, which means that I won't have to cart DD around to extra-curricular choir and dance and gymnastics next year after school. Doesn't seem so bad to me.

I might not be so keen if it was just school-type work all day, though.

[hhurd]

I had reservations about all day k for my ds, but he likes it and it seems a good fit for him. It's pretty clear that he'd rather be with kids his own age than at home with me as much as he used to. He's an only so it can be lonely at our house. He has a great teacher who fits a lot into the day that is lively and fun: cooking, nature walks, etc...

[meowee]

It all depends on the program-- a full day at a great school is much better than a half day at a unpleasant school. My preKer is in a full day program. She is gone 8:00-2:10. I was terrified at first but wow, has she taken to it! But it all depends on the quality of the teachers/ program. Her PreK teacher and the class aid are just fantastic people, they are both grandmas and so patient and sweet with the kids.

Personally I never had an issue with full day K-- if you want to homeschool, then any amount of time outside the house will seem like a lot. But full day for K seems fine with me. I do get a little creeped out by these studies that "prove" children from poor neighborhoods do better outside the home and in a classroom. It seems racist/ classist, and you have to wonder exactly what criteria is being measured, and how.