
My son is going to be in kindergarten next fall and it is an all day program. He currently attends preschool 3 mornings a week which seems like the right amount of school for him. My concern is that all day kindergarten might be too much for him. His preschool doesn't have a kindergarten program so I have no choice to send him to a local public school. Is it required for him to go all day? Has anyone sent their child for just a half day to a full day public program? |
Where do you live. I would imagine that you would have to make a special needs request. Maybe you could say that he needs a nap.
I think that it might require a meeting with the folks in charge. Sounds like the home schoolers may be able to help with this one. It looks like truancy if you have no plan to supplement. |
Or you can move to Loudoun Cty. ![]() |
In our jurisdiction you'd probably be asked to leave. Taking a child out of school 50% of the time basically amounts to unexcused absences and if you rack up that many of them then you really don't belong in school. Unless this is to accommodate a special needs child (who has an IEP or is on a 504 plan) then the school will probably view it as taking up resources that could go to another child.
Having said that, it's probably pretty early to try to plan this, much less worry about it. There's a LOT of growth and development in pre-schoolers between November of one year and September of the next. If by then the child really isn't ready for Kindergarten then maybe it's best to just "red-shirt" him for a year. Google it, there is a lot of information on line about red-shirted kindergarteners (especially boys). |
OP here. Thanks for the advice. I will have to talk to the school's principal about it. I am not even sure school attendance is mandatory here until age 6 so that might help. I am sure he might still need a nap a few afternoons a week (since he needs one just about everyday now). I went to morning K and took a nap every afternoon when I came home. |
OP, I agree that the nap is valuable, and probably underestimated by many "experts".
I am in your position, I have NO plans to redshirt my very bright son. There is no "maturity" issue either. We will just put him in a Montessori Kindergarten that has promised that when I ask them to nap him for how ever long, they will. I will stop asking them to nap him when he says that he is ready to take the whole day on. Funny enough, he is a November birthday, but still needs more sleep than younger kids. |
I guess my son could mature over the next 9 months but I really don't want to have to chose between holding him back a year and making him go the whole day. My neighbor's daughter is in K this year and I think they mostly have "specials" in the pm which I don't care if he attends or not. I just know that he will become a behavior issue in the pm if he has to go all day everyday. So I am thinking about half days mostly for him but partly for his future K teacher. I don't want to hold him back b/c then he will be surrounded by younger kids and he will start acting the way they do. |
I used to work in a public school before I became a SAHM and from my understanding these would add up to many unexcused absenses. You could get into some legal trouble... but I am not sure which county you are in and what their laws are. I taught in Montgomery County. You may have luck with adjusting his/her bedtime... and there will probably be an adjustment period for about a month... |
In Arlington, you sign a paper and child can attend half day. I can tell you, though - I've never heard of a single child taking that option.
I would think it would make for a strange year - the teacher isn't likely to do all the "important stuff" (however you define it) at a certain time every day, which means, your kid will always be a bit out of sinc from the rest of the class. A certain "special" - art, music, gym, computers..." may always be on a certain schedule, so your child would never go. |
I second the posters who said that there's a lot of development that goes on before kindergarten begins. I'm a dad and I think a bit of tough love's in order. Unless a child is special needs, there's no reason a 5-year old can't handle all-day kindergarten. I'm not saying there won't be adjustment issues, but kids can handle more than we give them credit for. It seems to me that it's the OP who has the issues, and not her son. At our son's preschool, there were lots of moms like OP fretting about sending their kids off into the world for a full day (except for a special pre-K track that not all pre-K parents selected, preschool was a half day).
We happen to be in Arlington and I can't imagine the schools would ever approve a request for half-day. I know from our son's K schedule that there's no way it would work. There are substantive subjects taught in the afternoon at his school, not just "specials". I do know that in VA, the law is that a child has to be in school at the age of 6 and, if I'm not mistaken, you have to inform the school that you're not sending your child at 5. I don't know if that means that a child has to go right into first grade or can start in kindergarten even at the age of 6. |
I'm the first Arlington poster - I seem to recall it was the law here that a kid could not be REQUIRED to go a full day. The "opt out" had to be approved. Again, no one did it.
The dad has it dead on. OP, your son will be able to handle this. You may be surprised at how well he does - he may even thrive! He can nap at 3 if he still needs to nap. |
FWIW, my son turned 5 this fall and missed the Montgomery County Sept. 1 deadline for kindergarten. He's presently in fullday pre-K at a Catholic school. He's in school from 8:30ish until 2:45pm. They have a mandatory rest time, but my son doesn't sleep. His pre-K is essentially what kindergarten used to be back in the day -- they're working on the letters and numbers (in addition to weekly classes for art, music, PE, library, etc.), developing fine motor skills, etc. He LOVES it. While I worried that maybe he wasn't ready for fullday school since he didn't turn 5 until the fall, he certainly proved me wrong. I'm so glad that I found a great fullday pre-K program for him b/c I think he may have been bored in a half day program -- plus, now he should be equipped to transition to the MC fullday kindergarten next fall.
FWIW, I've heard from friends that their little ones are initially tired after first beginning kindergarten in MC, but that they adjust quickly. They may come home and crash or nap for the first few weeks, but after that they seem to adjust to the new routine very well. |
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My son is in a half-day program in Fairfax (there are still a few left - the budget issues prevented ours from converting to full-day this year). My understanding is that the same amount of material is covered in the full day as in the half day -- but the half-day is accelerated (less time and more ground to cover). Full day also has rest time, recess and other breaks throughout the day. Quite frankly, I was very disappointed that our child didn't get the benefit of full day kindergarten. I absolutely would not recommend taking your child out of school for 1/2 of the day of the full-day program. They'll miss 1/2 the material. If you really feel your child isn't ready, consider private school for kindergarten, home-schooling or some other options. |