Is EEK (early entrance to kindergarten) getting harder?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is this your first child? I'm asking because I know you don't want advice, but consider the social side of this. My first grader just learned about intercourse from a classmate. Do you want that stuff a year earlier?

That's why it's a good idea to talk to your kids about this stuff BEFORE the kids at school start talking about it.

Yes. Thanks. But age 6 isn't "late" to learn that stuff. Reasonably expected we had another year or so.

Well, evidently not.

What age should we have told her about intercourse, then? O superior parent?

Before the kids in school said something about it.

Oh. Ok. So the psychic powers. Cool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is this your first child? I'm asking because I know you don't want advice, but consider the social side of this. My first grader just learned about intercourse from a classmate. Do you want that stuff a year earlier?

That's why it's a good idea to talk to your kids about this stuff BEFORE the kids at school start talking about it.

So, you really thin a year will make a difference? That is more of a parenting issue and you cannot get around poor parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. This is our second child. Again, I know everyone has opinions about whether EEK is good or not. I think it's ultimately very child-dependent so.... Private is not an option for us because she will be doing foreign language immersion (more important to us than EEK). We'll just try the test and see what happens. It does seem, though, that if you ask for your child's scores and they are acceptable that it would be hard for the school to deny entry, right? Or do they have complete discretion? There are a few appeal decisions that are available online that make it sound like it's simply a matter of scores. But I am skeptical. I'll call MCPS and see what they say.

Our school has a daily Spanish class. Not immersion, but a nice bonus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Oh. Ok. So the psychic powers. Cool

Well, not really. If your kid is at school, there is a chance that other kids at school might say something. So you either have to accept the possibility that your kid will hear something at school, or you have to talk to your kid beforehand, even if that's not the timing you would pick in an ideal world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Oh. Ok. So the psychic powers. Cool

Well, not really. If your kid is at school, there is a chance that other kids at school might say something. So you either have to accept the possibility that your kid will hear something at school, or you have to talk to your kid beforehand, even if that's not the timing you would pick in an ideal world.

So the answer is 4 then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Oh. Ok. So the psychic powers. Cool

Well, not really. If your kid is at school, there is a chance that other kids at school might say something. So you either have to accept the possibility that your kid will hear something at school, or you have to talk to your kid beforehand, even if that's not the timing you would pick in an ideal world.

So the answer is 4 then.

Only if you do EEK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Oh. Ok. So the psychic powers. Cool

Well, not really. If your kid is at school, there is a chance that other kids at school might say something. So you either have to accept the possibility that your kid will hear something at school, or you have to talk to your kid beforehand, even if that's not the timing you would pick in an ideal world.

My six year old is learning all kinds of fun stuff... no biggie. We just tell the teachers to watch for it. I'm sure he's told a few too especially about the tooth fairy and Santa. And, who knows what else he shares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are overcrowded, yes they will be more strict. It sucks but I recommend that you fight for it. The curriculum is so ridiculously slow and my child (an Aug birthday) is bored out of her mind.

I truly do not understand this. What is too slow? If the child is a precocious reader, is she not allowed to read at her level? In math, there are things like "make an addition fact family". That can be using 5+2=7 or 326+408=734. Right?

My child is in the middle of 1st grade and the furthest they have gotten is adding/subtracting up to the sum of 6. She did that in preschool. They have not learned any time, money, fractions or simple geometry yet. It is all VERY basic adding/subtracting with number lines, groups etc.... It is extremely slow. My oldest was actually EEK in Sept and at that point they had math levels so she was in K and then moved to math2 in grade 1. So she was adding/subtracting into the thousands and doing fractions and some geometry. Time and money was taught in K. She finished 5th doing Math 7 and moved right to Algebra 1 in 6th grade. They no longer have those options. ALL kids learn math at the same pace in MCPS until grade 4-5 when they can possibly go into compact math.

As far as reading, they do not encourage you to read past certain levels. So my 1st grade daughter already hit the end of 2nd grade reading level at M and is not allowed to advance past that until 2nd grade. Whereas my other daughter's reading group kept going and going and they even moved kids around in groups to keep them accelerating. 2.0 is about learning the basics. It helps kids that have had no prior learning but it seriously hinders kids that learned in preschool and learn at home.

That is completely different from how my child was taught in McPS in K. She was a level O in K and had peers in her class. Teacher did not cap her level. And in first grade they are adding and subtracting over 100. Of course only some are. Many are not, and that is fine too. Clearly different schools handle this differently!

Wow that is slow. Our private, where most kids are missed cut off kids are doing three digit addition and subtraction and they are working now on carrying over/larger numbers. All the kids are progressing well and getting it. That's way to slow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is this your first child? I'm asking because I know you don't want advice, but consider the social side of this. My first grader just learned about intercourse from a classmate. Do you want that stuff a year earlier?

That's why it's a good idea to talk to your kids about this stuff BEFORE the kids at school start talking about it.

So, you really thin a year will make a difference? That is more of a parenting issue and you cannot get around poor parenting.

First, it is absurd to say it's poor parenting to wait until first grade to tell a kid about intercourse. Second, a year may or may not make a difference. The point is that even if a kid is academically advanced and socially well adjusted, you do want to consider that EEK moves them ahead a year in terms of social sophistication, for better and for worse. I was an Eek kid. Academically, it was no problem. But socially it gets hard when kids are doing thugs you're not ready for (not to mention driving). Not to say it's bad for all kids, but I think parents don't factor those things enough when they make these decisions early on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Oh. Ok. So the psychic powers. Cool

Well, not really. If your kid is at school, there is a chance that other kids at school might say something. So you either have to accept the possibility that your kid will hear something at school, or you have to talk to your kid beforehand, even if that's not the timing you would pick in an ideal world.

So the answer is 4 then.

Only if you do EEK.

No. Summer birthday, so either 4 or right as they turn 5. Ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are overcrowded, yes they will be more strict. It sucks but I recommend that you fight for it. The curriculum is so ridiculously slow and my child (an Aug birthday) is bored out of her mind.

I truly do not understand this. What is too slow? If the child is a precocious reader, is she not allowed to read at her level? In math, there are things like "make an addition fact family". That can be using 5+2=7 or 326+408=734. Right?

My child is in the middle of 1st grade and the furthest they have gotten is adding/subtracting up to the sum of 6. She did that in preschool. They have not learned any time, money, fractions or simple geometry yet. It is all VERY basic adding/subtracting with number lines, groups etc.... It is extremely slow. My oldest was actually EEK in Sept and at that point they had math levels so she was in K and then moved to math2 in grade 1. So she was adding/subtracting into the thousands and doing fractions and some geometry. Time and money was taught in K. She finished 5th doing Math 7 and moved right to Algebra 1 in 6th grade. They no longer have those options. ALL kids learn math at the same pace in MCPS until grade 4-5 when they can possibly go into compact math.

As far as reading, they do not encourage you to read past certain levels. So my 1st grade daughter already hit the end of 2nd grade reading level at M and is not allowed to advance past that until 2nd grade. Whereas my other daughter's reading group kept going and going and they even moved kids around in groups to keep them accelerating. 2.0 is about learning the basics. It helps kids that have had no prior learning but it seriously hinders kids that learned in preschool and learn at home.

That is completely different from how my child was taught in McPS in K. She was a level O in K and had peers in her class. Teacher did not cap her level. And in first grade they are adding and subtracting over 100. Of course only some are. Many are not, and that is fine too. Clearly different schools handle this differently!

Wow that is slow. Our private, where most kids are missed cut off kids are doing three digit addition and subtraction and they are working now on carrying over/larger numbers. All the kids are progressing well and getting it. That's way to slow.

What school? Because what you describe is not at all consistent with what I saw at Sidwell or Sheridan. They were behind what the kids in my kids mcps class were doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is this your first child? I'm asking because I know you don't want advice, but consider the social side of this. My first grader just learned about intercourse from a classmate. Do you want that stuff a year earlier?

LOL! I'm not the OP, but what does this have to do with anything? Your first grader could have learned about intercourse from an older kid on the bus. Or at recess. Or from an older cousin.

FTR, I have nothing against a 6 year old learning about intercourse, so my perspective differs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My child is in the middle of 1st grade and the furthest they have gotten is adding/subtracting up to the sum of 6. She did that in preschool. They have not learned any time, money, fractions or simple geometry yet. It is all VERY basic adding/subtracting with number lines, groups etc.... It is extremely slow. My oldest was actually EEK in Sept and at that point they had math levels so she was in K and then moved to math2 in grade 1. So she was adding/subtracting into the thousands and doing fractions and some geometry. Time and money was taught in K. She finished 5th doing Math 7 and moved right to Algebra 1 in 6th grade. They no longer have those options. ALL kids learn math at the same pace in MCPS until grade 4-5 when they can possibly go into compact math.

You have posted this at least three times in the last few weeks.

According to the first-grade curriculum guide, she should have been doing the following during the second marking period:

Number and Operations in Base Ten: Place value and representation—decomposing and composing 2–digit numbers.
Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Meaning of equal sign; problem-solving strategies—1- and 2–digit addition and subtraction; adding three numbers—sums to 20.

Is she doing this? If she is not doing this, why haven't you talked to the teacher and principal about it?

Time (analog, digital, hour, half hour) is taught in the fourth marking period of first grade. Money is taught in the second marking period of second grade, after hundreds place value in the first marking period.

+1 I have a 1st grader as well and the homework at the moment is adding 3 numbers with sums up to 20. I think PP either isn't looking at her child's work or her child is in a slower math group for some reason (which is FINE).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Call the school and ask. Ours was not very friendly so we didn't bother and we ended up going to a small private. If you do private for K and 1st, you can supposedly transfer to 2nd in public without an issue.

Not the OP, but thank you for that info! We had been wondering that. Our DS also has a Sept birthday and we're hoping to try for EEK, but good to know this might be an option. We'd be paying for an extra year of preschool anyway, so if we could get into a private K that'd be worth the expense.

PP, private kindergarten isn't enough. You have to do k and first to be guaranteed a spot in the class you want. If you do private k and transfer, your child transfers into public k. Then after about 6 weeks you can ask for an assessment to have your kid moved to first grade. But, there are no guarantees and you have to wait out the period of time until you can request the assessment and the decision is made, which is longer than 6 weeks in a lot of cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Call the school and ask. Ours was not very friendly so we didn't bother and we ended up going to a small private. If you do private for K and 1st, you can supposedly transfer to 2nd in public without an issue.

Not the OP, but thank you for that info! We had been wondering that. Our DS also has a Sept birthday and we're hoping to try for EEK, but good to know this might be an option. We'd be paying for an extra year of preschool anyway, so if we could get into a private K that'd be worth the expense.

PP, private kindergarten isn't enough. You have to do k and first to be guaranteed a spot in the class you want. If you do private k and transfer, your child transfers into public k. Then after about 6 weeks you can ask for an assessment to have your kid moved to first grade. But, there are no guarantees and you have to wait out the period of time until you can request the assessment and the decision is made, which is longer than 6 weeks in a lot of cases.

Thanks for clarifying. From the other post, I was thinking you can do Private K and Private 1st and then transfer back to public for 2nd grade. I'll obviously talk to the ES about this.