How many hours is your K class?

[splotchy1]

I'm in the final decision between the one and only Kindergarten class I would put my son in, and homeschooling. I do really like the K that I found, but it is 7 hours a day, 5 days a week! They do incorporate a rest-time after lunch, but it just seems sooooooo long for him to be away. He has spent the last 2 years going to a pre-school 3 mornings a week for 2.5 hours. So, it's a huge jump for him from 7.5 hours a week to 35!

How long is/was your K class? I'm curious what other's experiences are with longer day K classes.
Thanks!

[Justmee]

My girls are in pre-k and it's 7:30 (but you don't have to drop them until 8:30, it opens at 7:30 for free play) until 1:30. My girls are usually there by 8, they love it. I find they have a more relaxed day because the teacher isn't trying to jam 8 hours worth of activities into 3 hours worth of class time. They have free play (different centers, etc) until around 9, then circle time, snack / outside play, art, etc. Kindergarten is a simmilar schedule except in pre-k there isn't the emphasis on reading / writing and in Kindy there starts to be more transistion between the "play" of pre-k and the "work" of 1st grade. My friends in the states have usually been happier with the longer kindy classes because there is more time for "extras" that the shorter classes don't have (ie: they only have 3 hours / day to make them ready for 1st grade so the kids don't get the amount of art / free play / etc that kids in longer classes get).

[mommy68]

My DD is in kindergarten from 8:00-2:45 Mon-Fri. It is tough for her. She comes home stressed and grouchy a lot of days. She had nap time the first half of the year but that was taken away right before Christmas. She needs the nap and misses it.

However, there are fun things about her day and she does have a wonderful teacher that I wouldn't regret for the world. I have the utmost respect for her teacher. She's great with all the children.

You just have to weigh the good with the bad and see what you think will work best.

[mata]

ours are half day-morning sessions are 7:40 to 11:30 ish, and afternoon 10:30 to 2:08. Full day K would be too much for both of my dds.

[jen in co]

We have full day and 1/2 day at our school...full day is 7:55 to 2:30 and 1/2 day is 7:55 to 11:30

[s_kristina]

The only option we have here is full day kindy. It is from 8am to 2:30pm which works well for us. They have plenty of time in the day for different fun specials. Every day they have PE along with a long recess and they have plenty of time for just playing in the classroom in addition to all the things that the state requires them to learn. At registration they did make sure to let us know that if any of the children needed a break there are cots in the counselor's office where they can nap. My dd hasn't napped unless she is sick since she was 2 so that's not an issue for us.

[MattBronsil]

I've worked at both full day and half day Preschool/Kindergarten classes. Both can work well with proper planning.

I would find out if anything different happens in the afternoon. At the full day one, we had our normal 3 hour work period in the morning, then did different enrichment activities in the afternoon. That seemed like the best solution to help the children avoid getting bored.

Matt

[Alyantavid]

Our school goes from 8:05 to 3:05.

[RainyDaze]

Our district has 1/2 day Kindergarten. The kids go from 8:30 to 11:10 or 12:10 to 2:50. We had the afternoon session and it worked really well for us.

[TiredX2]

We chose half-day kinder for DS:

M,Tu,Th,F 8:30-11:10
W 8:30-10:25

If you go with full day it is:

M, Tu, Th, F 8:30-3
W 8:30-1:30

[calynde]

Here it's 8:15-11:45

plus 2 hours on one afternoon per week (coming home in between for lunch), where they do projects that work better in a smaller group.

[alegna]

Almost all K here is full day- typically runs 8-3

-Angela

[dimibella]

The school DS attends gave us a choice between 1/2 day 8:15-12, full day 9-2:30 or extended day 8:15-3:15, we choose full day, because I felt it was a good compromise of time. I think almost all the public schools around here are from 8:15-3:15 though and I do feel like that is a long time for a kindergartener.

[neptunemama]

K at our school goes from 8:45-2:20.

[annethcz]

My DD attends full-day kindergarden from 8:30am to 3:00pm. So 6.5 hours at school. She really enjoys school and the day isn't too long for her at all. She's very happy at school and doesn't seem tired when she comes home.

[meowee]

DD K is 7:50am-2:35pm with no commute (we live right next door). DD PreK is 8:15am-2pm. I agree this is a long time for kids to be away, but I didn't have many options. There are no 1/2 day K programs where I live, and the half-day preK program I found had a lot of things I didn't like.

I think the length of day shouldn't be the first consideration, rather, are the teachers kind, do they care about the students, does the school make an effort for things to be fun, do you like the academics, are the kids well behaved... those are more important. It's better to be in a good program full-day, than a bad program half-day.

[mistymama]

My son will start K in the fall here and it's 8am-2:30pm.

He's in preschool now, but I do my best to pick him up by 12 or 1pm. On days I have to work longer, he's stayed as late as 4pm. I missed him, but he was totally fine. I think K will be no problem.

[HollyBearsMom]

My son's K hours are :

Mon and Weds: 8-3
Tues and Thurs 8-12
Friday 8-1

Drives me bonkers!

[Tinkerszs]

I teach a 1/2 day Kinder program and hate it. I still have to meet the standards as the full day programs. So in half the time I am cramming stuff down the students' throats. We have no recess, no art projects, no "fun" centers, no games, etc . . . We spend the entire time reading, writing, and doing math. If my program was full day I'd be able to add in those things that students need at this age.

[Hannahsmummy]

My daughter goes to a Waldorf kindergarten.
Her hours are 9am-1pm, 5 days a week though you could choose to go few days.
Her day is relaxed and fun and she loves it.
It goes like this:
-free play
-clean up time
-daily activity (bread baking, painting, craft, soup making...)
-snack time
-ring time
-outside garden play
-story/puppet show
-rest
-home time