Which Kindergarten would you choose?

[Anonymous]

Normally I'd say if you are planning for public in 1st regardless, then do public kindergarten. But sounds like it'll be a combined group of kids not at your kid's eventual school ... so not the same community feeling. I'd stay in private and move to public in 1st grade.

We did private kindergarten due to Covid and moved to public in 1st grade and DD did not feel left out at all. No regrets.

[Anonymous]

Private - with the caveat that another PP mentioned about academics. You'll want to make sure the current program has a bit of rigor so that your DD is up to speed in 1st grade.

Particularly if you are in a great school district, the public K may be very academic-focused.

Curious if you are in a smaller town in New England? I am, and we still have some towns without full day K. If I were going through this kind of transformation locally, I'd be fine not having my kid be a guinea pig for this new consolidated K program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private - with the caveat that another PP mentioned about academics. You'll want to make sure the current program has a bit of rigor so that your DD is up to speed in 1st grade.

Particularly if you are in a great school district, the public K may be very academic-focused.

Curious if you are in a smaller town in New England? I am, and we still have some towns without full day K. If I were going through this kind of transformation locally, I'd be fine not having my kid be a guinea pig for this new consolidated K program.

Surprisingly we are in the suburbs of Chicago. Most districts around us still only have PT Kindergarten (despite high taxes) and it's a HUGE hot button issue around here.

I think academics are good at our current school. DD is the youngest in her grade (turned 4 over the summer) and she knows all the letter sounds, about 20 sight words, and is beginning to sound out and write words on her own. For example, her babysitter's name is Ellen and DD drew her a picture and wrote "To LN" (to Ellen) on the top. She also wrote "babe" (to mean baby) on her own last week.

[Anonymous]

OP I don’t think you can go wrong either way. It’s really NBD to change schools in 1st grade, and then you’d get another year of convenience. But if you change now you save some money. Go with your gut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Sorry- to clarify we will be going public in 1st grade either way. We are in a great school district.

Public ofcourse now that you gave us that info. Invest ca $700 a month you are saving now and she never has to work for money.
Our good public school has very capable kids - they don't need private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest child will be in K next year and our district voted in full day K for the first time next year. I can't decide if I want to keep her at her current school (parochial- we're not religious) or put her in the new public K.

Current school:
-She's been there for two years of PreK and has a solid group of friends/is very comfortable there
-It's at the end of our block so we walk her there and back everyday which is probably my favorite parts of the day
-The school hours are 7:45am-2:45pm and then we do aftercare til 4:15pm so I work from home 8-4, have her home by 4:30pm, and it's a really nice balance for all of us
-Tuition is $795/month plus aftercare $150/month


Public K:
-Is a brand new program that is combining 3 school districts to offer full day K at a satellite location. DD would be in the first class (possibly worried about kinks in the program).
-10 minute drive away (opposite direction of our younger child's daycare)
-School hours are 9am-3:30pm so we'd likely need before and after care.
-No tuition

The public option has more hidden costs even though the tuition is $0, and way more unknowns. It seems a no-brainer stay in the parochial school unless there's info you're not telling us. Is there something about the parochial school's curriculum that makes you consider public? Do you think your child is not on track with reading and math? Is there some religious stuff seeping in that makes you uncomfortable?

[Anonymous]

If she’s definitely going to the public school for first grade you might as well put her in for kindergarten so she can get accustomed to the new surroundings and make a new group of friends. Otherwise I would say keep her in the parochial school from K to 8 or however long it goes

[Anonymous]

Private, we did a private for K-1st and it was so much better as more attention, smaller class and convient. By the time you pay after care, costs may be similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private, we did a private for K-1st and it was so much better as more attention, smaller class and convient. By the time you pay after care, costs may be similar.

How would that work? It sounds like they’d need about 3 hours of care (before and after care) daily at the public school whereas at the private they’re paying tuition plus after care costs. No way will it work out to be the same cost.

[Anonymous]

OP, it sounds like you want to justify your decision to keep her at her current school, but given that you will be sending her her home public school for first, I would send her to public K.

[Anonymous]

People are missing this from the OP:

Public K:
-Is a brand new program that is combining 3 school districts to offer full day K at a satellite location. DD would be in the first class (possibly worried about kinks in the program).

Normally I'd say start in the public school at K so that she can acclimate to how it works, make friends, and stay on track with her cohort. But this sounds like it will be chaotic and potentially not that useful for those things at all. It's not even at the elementary school where she will attend 1st grade, and combines kids from multiple districts so no guaranty that there would be continuity between K and 1st.

I would also guess that since the program is brand new and combining several districts, that many parents will choose to keep their kids in whatever they had planned for private K before this program was introduced. Meaning that 1st grade will be the first true year of OP's child's cohort, and she won't be entering as the odd kid out.

For these reasons, combined with the aftercare issues and the fact that OP likes the current school and the schedule and location are ideal for their situation, I'd stay where I was and just move to public at 1st. It would not be worth it to me to save around 8k I'd already budgeted for school to deal with those drawbacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private, we did a private for K-1st and it was so much better as more attention, smaller class and convient. By the time you pay after care, costs may be similar.

How would that work? It sounds like they’d need about 3 hours of care (before and after care) daily at the public school whereas at the private they’re paying tuition plus after care costs. No way will it work out to be the same cost.

Transportation is a hidden cost in many ways. Your time has value.

[Anonymous]

Public - you will lose a large majority of her class going into K. Also Covid was a different playing field. People aren’t using private to avoid remote learning anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Sorry- to clarify we will be going public in 1st grade either way. We are in a great school district.

I’d stay private. I actually think 1st is a much smoother transition to public than K anyhow. Kids do better with the change since they are a little older and the kids are more near same level of learning (still can be big differences, but less than in K). As where K, some kids are reading chapter books and some don’t know their letters. Plus if it is a brand new school,
I think waiting a year to let them get organized and running smooth(er) is also good

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are missing this from the OP:

Public K:
-Is a brand new program that is combining 3 school districts to offer full day K at a satellite location. DD would be in the first class (possibly worried about kinks in the program).

Normally I'd say start in the public school at K so that she can acclimate to how it works, make friends, and stay on track with her cohort. But this sounds like it will be chaotic and potentially not that useful for those things at all. It's not even at the elementary school where she will attend 1st grade, and combines kids from multiple districts so no guaranty that there would be continuity between K and 1st.

I would also guess that since the program is brand new and combining several districts, that many parents will choose to keep their kids in whatever they had planned for private K before this program was introduced. Meaning that 1st grade will be the first true year of OP's child's cohort, and she won't be entering as the odd kid out.

For these reasons, combined with the aftercare issues and the fact that OP likes the current school and the schedule and location are ideal for their situation, I'd stay where I was and just move to public at 1st. It would not be worth it to me to save around 8k I'd already budgeted for school to deal with those drawbacks.

Agree with this, with the caveat that you also want to find out what the other families at your parochial are planning for K