Fairfax Kindergarten curriculum

[Anonymous]

My child will be attending the half day version of kindergarten. How was it? Did you feel like your child got enough out of it even though it is half day? What was the curriculum like? I am a little concerned, because my child went to a preschool where she learned a lot of the basics. I am wondering if she is going to learn much of the same. If she is, she will be bored...and that is not a good thing. Please tell me your experiences. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

It is hard to know as my daughter attended half-day kindergarten, but I have no comparison. She never attended full-day. They have certain objectives they must hit for first grade. No matter what, your child is going to be challenged and will learn new skills.

[Anonymous]

mine went to half-day -- learned nothing new and wasn't challenged at all. It was a very long school year for all of us (him, us, his teacher). I ended up working with him at home at night to try and keep up his interest in school cause he was really bored (he's an average kid and everything including what came home in the folder today was stuff he already did in preschool).

[Anonymous]

PP...What did you do to work with your child? I think that I will be in the same boat next year. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

He had to pick a topic for "homework" on Sunday which could be anything he wanted and then we would do related art on monday, spelling words on tues, math questions on weds, review on thurs and write and illustrate a little book (nothing big -- like 4 pages) on friday. I work full-time and have other kids so I limited myself to about 1/2 hour a night while the others were working on their homework and I think that amount of time kept it interesting without becoming too much. In retrospect, I didn't really pick up how bored he was until he started acting up in class (because he would breeze thru the stuff and have all of this free time on his hands). At the beginning of the year (the first 9 weeks) the kids are getting to know each other and the teachers do a lot of review to get the kids into groups for reading and math and I kept thinking that the work would be getting more challenging but that never happened for us.

[Anonymous]

I too am a bit concerned about my daughter... she is in an excellent pre-school now... full time... and just not sure how she will like half day kindergarten and then the SACC After Kindergarten program. It would be great to hear from other parents about how their children did in a half day program.

[Anonymous]

I would think that if you're worried about academic boredom the half day is better - less time in school to achieve the same goals, so speedier progress.

My son did well in the half day program (plus SACC).

It's interesting though - so much must depend on the teacher. We had a very different homework experience than 15:19. Our homework was always (appropriately, I thought) a joke - I thought the main purpose was to adjust to the idea of homework. I guess a lot depends on the teacher. His teacher seemed to keep the kids engaged, and they far surpassed the K math curriculum.

PS: I was surprised to hear that the SACC program was considered "cool" by many of the kids who didn't "get" to go.

[Anonymous]

PP, I think the homework described by 15:19 is homework that she gave on her own to her kids.

I agree that half day is better for an advanced kid, less time drilling on the basics they already know. For a kid who was struggling or behind on their skills, I might be more concerned.

My kids love SACC, it's their favorite part of school. LOL!!!

[Anonymous]

I have a related question. My DD is currently in a Montessori school. She has just completed her first year, and have 2 more years to go to complete the primary program. By the time she completes the primary program, she would have missed Kindergarten and may join FX public school at 1st grade. My question is "is it better for her to finish her Montessori program and miss FX public kindergarten or we should take her out of her Montessori program after two years and join FX public kindergarten?" Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I would pick the former. Lots of kids transition into FCPS schools at 1st grade. Might as well make as much use as you can of the Montessori education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a related question. My DD is currently in a Montessori school. She has just completed her first year, and have 2 more years to go to complete the primary program. By the time she completes the primary program, she would have missed Kindergarten and may join FX public school at 1st grade. My question is "is it better for her to finish her Montessori program and miss FX public kindergarten or we should take her out of her Montessori program after two years and join FX public kindergarten?" Thanks.

If she's doing well in the program and you can afford it, I would let her stay. It will be easy to let her transition in first grade.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely stick with Montessori K instead of FCPS K if it's an option for you.

My 3 kids have all gone through Montessori K. They loved it and came out reading chapter books on their own. We LOVE our elementary school, but the half-day K is unimpressive. I have many friends who have sent their kids there who have told me their kids really didn't learn anything all year and it was a waste of time. I am so glad I kept my kids in Montessori for the kindergarten year; they would have been bored to death in half-day public K. They hade no problems transitioning in 1st grade. There are LOTS of kids entering FCPS in 1st grade after attending private K. The transition is not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely stick with Montessori K instead of FCPS K if it's an option for you.

My 3 kids have all gone through Montessori K. They loved it and came out reading chapter books on their own. We LOVE our elementary school, but the half-day K is unimpressive. I have many friends who have sent their kids there who have told me their kids really didn't learn anything all year and it was a waste of time. I am so glad I kept my kids in Montessori for the kindergarten year; they would have been bored to death in half-day public K. They hade no problems transitioning in 1st grade. There are LOTS of kids entering FCPS in 1st grade after attending private K. The transition is not a big deal.

PP 22:07 here. Thanks for sharing your experience. When your kids entered FCPS in 1st grade after they have finished their Montessori K programs, were they ahead of their classes in reading and Math? By which grade did the rest of the class finally "caught up" with your kids ?

[Anonymous]

By January everyone was caught up.

[Anonymous]

PP 22:07 here. Thanks for sharing your experience. When your kids entered FCPS in 1st grade after they have finished their Montessori K programs, were they ahead of their classes in reading and Math? By which grade did the rest of the class finally "caught up" with your kids ?

You were quoting my post. Not sure who posted that everyone caught up by January, but that was not true for us.

My kids were ahead of the class for all of first grade; there were a few kids on their level but not many. My middle child, in particular, was bored to death with the math - they were doing single-digit addition most of the year, and he knew all of his multiplication tables when he finished kindergarten.

But in 2nd grade, we found that the curriculum was differentiated enough that they were getting appropriate work (eg, they put the kids in different spelling groups, etc,) and they were getting pulled out of class to work with the GT specialists for math and language arts most days. And by 3rd grade, in the GT Center (now AAP Center), they are on par with their peers. (I'm speaking just of my older two; the younger one is just going into 1st grade now.)