Starting K in APS next year or waiting

[Anonymous]

Option 3 - private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our son was in K, he had 27 kids in his K class with one to two aids (varied during the year). Option 1 absolutely did not happen. Don't kid yourself, Arlington will absolutely jam as many kids as possible in that it can, the kids will be all over the learning spectrum, and the teachers will do their best but there is limited focus on the individual kid in a 27 kid classroom.

This was in Arlington?

I've never heard any APS kindergarten class that huge. That sounds more like FCPS.

My kid is in K hybrid now in APS and there are 27 students. Half the day they are with the aid (who is AWESOME) and the other half they are with the main teacher. It is what it is. She'll be fine...I'm just glad she was able to get into hybrid and not remain 100% virtual.

What school? Definitely not the case where we are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Option 3 - private school.

Yeah, I’d think about breaking the glass and taking that option at this point (if possible).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Our daughter is turning 5 just before the September cutoff date for K.

We would redshirt her based on the pandemic, but she's on the cusp of reading, she writes all her letters and numbers well, she's doing math... she's ready.

Holding her back another year and putting her pre-K would probably be more damaging to her development than putting her in K.

We're in the same boat but decided to redshirt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Our daughter is turning 5 just before the September cutoff date for K.

We would redshirt her based on the pandemic, but she's on the cusp of reading, she writes all her letters and numbers well, she's doing math... she's ready.

Holding her back another year and putting her pre-K would probably be more damaging to her development than putting her in K.

We're in the same boat but decided to redshirt.

I have a DD with an early October birthday where the cutoff is 9/30, so we didn’t have an option to consider sending her “early.” But since her birthday is likely within a week or two of your late September DD, you may find my experience relevant.

I remember that fall when she was almost 5 and her preschool friends were going to K, I was really disappointed and wished she could have been just a week older so she could have been in kindergarten. She was reading, doing multiplication, etc. But once actually she started kindergarten on time the next year, a month before her 6th birthday, she wasn’t bored a bit. There’s so much to learn in kindergarten beyond academics, like navigating school and group dynamics, and the kids have fun with group activities. She was the classic DCUM kindergartener reading Harry Potter on the side, but I found that she wasn’t even close to the only kid in her class reading that well on her own. Beyond academics, the extra year in pre-K helped her really grow in confidence. She has tended to be a bit shyer and anxious since she was a toddler, but she’s a now natural leader in her class.

My view is that for the September and August kids, I would definitely hold back. My younger DS is a September birthday and I am certainly planning to hold him back when the time comes. After seeing what I did with DD, I see no reason to send a 4 year old to K.