Preschool teacher says our child needs "something more"

[Anonymous]

My kids went to a full day daycare with a Reggio preschool curriculum.
They had a 4s class and a PreK class for this very reason. There are always kids on the cusp of the cutoff date who will need to do both the 4s year and the PreK year because they don’t leave 4’s for kindergarten.

My kids went to Columbia Baptist in Falls Church and I felt like the full day schedule, walking as a class to lunch in a cafeteria, having “specials” like art, chapel, library, and music was a great preparation to build the stamina for full-day school and behavior expectations while they were still in a mostly play based environment with plenty of recess where it was expected that they were not kindergartens and were still learning and adjusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks everyone for the responses. So I found a couple accredited private kindergartens, would the jump to kindergarten be too much?

I would do -
Private K program then put kid in kindergarten at our local public school for 2025/2026 when kid is eligible.

I would still recommend a Junior K program vs going to private K. Like others have said, really you want to think of it as a gift that your child gets to be in a play based program for extra months. They will be doing Kindergarten prep and kids do not get "bored" playing. He will be ready for sure, but Kindergarten right now is ahead of what historically we have done at this age. So what I'm trying to say is it will still be developmentally appropriate even as a child on the older end of the grade to start kindergarten on time.

[Anonymous]

Either a 5 day a week class or a half day kindergarten type class. Prince of Peace in Springfield offers a half day kindergarten. About half of the kids go on to First grade (because they were summer birthdays and their parents were considering redshirting) and half go on to full day FCPS kindergarten because they aren’t old enough or did decide to redshirt.

[Anonymous]

Agree that a five day K class is a good idea, but wondering what your situation is like - if you/spouse have the time/availability might be more fun and beneficial for your child to take enrichment classes - art, music, nature, sports, tech - than do the same routine every day at school. If you have a lot of freedom in your schedule, might benefit your child more to have the variety.

[Anonymous]

Why would you enroll him in a private K only to have him repeat said K in public? And be bored? That’s idiotic. Listen to the others and find a 5 day pre-K program and let the boy play for God’s sake! Keep him with his age cohort for K without repeating K. JFC.

[Anonymous]

I would consider a Junior Kindergarten at a pretty academic preschool, but I wouldn't go crazy worrying about this. Agree with PPs that enrichment after school is better - sports, music, etc. He is four years old and "real kinder" is plenty academic. My DD has always been similar to your son and scores consistently in the 99th percentile on standardized tests now that she is older and I am glad we didn't push her academically too soon.

[Anonymous]

Same and we did a 5 day a week Pre-K program. DS loves it. There's so much play and he really enjoys his friends. I'd encourage you to go the full day route because my DS likes playing on the playground all afternoon, which isn't something I'd be able to do with him at home (sure we do playground, but not for hours and hours).

Kindergarten is very structured, not fun and rote. It's nothing like the Kindergartens that we grew up with. Kids sit all day, be silent, and get drilled. It's often remedial and focused on ABCs and even colors, so my older kids were bored too. The whole Kindergarten year was torture for my older kids until the teachers caught up most of the class to reading. Our Kindergarteners also weren't allowed on the playground at our elementary school and instead have this courtyard with just balls and chalk. I'm debating skipping it for my DS next year and sending him to a private K instead.

I'd encourage Pre-K instead of two years of Kindergarten. Pre-K is glorious, full of activities, playtime, friendships. So many hands on activities, crafts, field trips that public schools can't afford. Instead of "everything you learned in life

[Anonymous]

Instead of "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten," it's "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in PRE-K"

If you send your kid to Private K then Public K, your son will be really bored for the whole public K year.

[Anonymous]

Using a 20/20 rearview mirror as a moms of teens and young adults, if I had a do-over, I would focus more on developmentally appropriate fun activities like dance or gymnastics, and just focus on creative and physical outlets, structured and unstructured, while continuing to do the normal things like reading, recipes, playing outside, looking at plants with a magnifying glass, etc, over 5 day/week or full time structured school.

I know that will not be a popular opinion in the dc moms world, but that is where I stand.

[Anonymous]

Kids never get bored with unstructured play...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same and we did a 5 day a week Pre-K program. DS loves it. There's so much play and he really enjoys his friends. I'd encourage you to go the full day route because my DS likes playing on the playground all afternoon, which isn't something I'd be able to do with him at home (sure we do playground, but not for hours and hours).

Kindergarten is very structured, not fun and rote. It's nothing like the Kindergartens that we grew up with. Kids sit all day, be silent, and get drilled. It's often remedial and focused on ABCs and even colors, so my older kids were bored too. The whole Kindergarten year was torture for my older kids until the teachers caught up most of the class to reading. Our Kindergarteners also weren't allowed on the playground at our elementary school and instead have this courtyard with just balls and chalk. I'm debating skipping it for my DS next year and sending him to a private K instead.

I'd encourage Pre-K instead of two years of Kindergarten. Pre-K is glorious, full of activities, playtime, friendships. So many hands on activities, crafts, field trips that public schools can't afford. Instead of "everything you learned in life

I am a kindergarten teacher and a lot of this is school dependent but also true. It takes the whole 1st quarter to figure things out and then start some leveled reading groups. Even then I might have 1 ready and not the other 3. And it’s very hard to get 1:1 enrichment. I would not do kindergarten next year. As a mom I would have done 3-4 days and fun things the other days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same and we did a 5 day a week Pre-K program. DS loves it. There's so much play and he really enjoys his friends. I'd encourage you to go the full day route because my DS likes playing on the playground all afternoon, which isn't something I'd be able to do with him at home (sure we do playground, but not for hours and hours).

Kindergarten is very structured, not fun and rote. It's nothing like the Kindergartens that we grew up with. Kids sit all day, be silent, and get drilled. It's often remedial and focused on ABCs and even colors, so my older kids were bored too. The whole Kindergarten year was torture for my older kids until the teachers caught up most of the class to reading. Our Kindergarteners also weren't allowed on the playground at our elementary school and instead have this courtyard with just balls and chalk. I'm debating skipping it for my DS next year and sending him to a private K instead.

I'd encourage Pre-K instead of two years of Kindergarten. Pre-K is glorious, full of activities, playtime, friendships. So many hands on activities, crafts, field trips that public schools can't afford. Instead of "everything you learned in life

So in FCPS would you do private K and then go straight to 1st even if your kid was born after the cutoff?

[Anonymous]

My November and December birthday both did full day Montessori at that age. One did it again the following year and then joined FCPS for first grade. The other did the full-day Montessori just once and then did Kindergarten at FCPS. (So, in both cases, they ended up in their correct grade.) Overall, they learned *much much much* more at Montessori than at FCPS kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

I cannot say enough good things about the Appletree School in Fairfax. My kid attended preschool and Kindergarten there. It leans more academic than other programs, but was a terrific fit for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My November and December birthday both did full day Montessori at that age. One did it again the following year and then joined FCPS for first grade. The other did the full-day Montessori just once and then did Kindergarten at FCPS. (So, in both cases, they ended up in their correct grade.) Overall, they learned *much much much* more at Montessori than at FCPS kindergarten.

What does that mean? What did they learn at Montessori that wasn't covered by FCPS? I don't doubt your experience, just having trouble imagining what the differences could be in kindergarten.