Reply to Disappointed in K at ACPS. LCTA not what I hoped.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Is there no sadder phrase in the English language than "rigorous full-day preK"? Poor kiddo. [/quote]

I don't see the problem with this characterization. There is a big difference if prep level between a child who does a half-day play based preschool vs a kid who is with a nanny vs a kid who is in a full day preschool with an academic component and smartboards in the prek classes.

My child is not in K now, but attended St. Anthony's Day School in Old Town since he was 1.5 years old. I can confidently say that he was in a "rigorous prek program" where he learned to read and write and do math much earlier than his peers simply because of the situation. Now I have heard that SADS has smartboards in the prek classes, so kids leaving there are way ahead of the kindergarten curve and might be bored for the first several months in public kindergarten.  [/quote]

Gotta agree with PP and others on this forum. CHILL! It's kindergarten.  Is your child also advanced emotionally, socially, physically? Is he the leader in his class?  I doubt it. There is something every kid can learn in kindergarten, no matter how freaking rigorous his preK program was -- not the least that sometimes in life he will have to do things that are boring because the world doesn't revolve around exactly where he is at the moment.

People who are worried about their kids falling behind or forgetting things they learned in PreK in kindergarten, need to sit down and watch a copy of "Race to Nowhere" right away.  If you're worried about your child somehow becoming less smart than you don't have a smart kid, you have one with a lot of facts crammed prematurely into his head.  The point of elementary school is learning how to learn, how to get along with people and how to be responsible for your work, etc. not taking HS algebra in 6th grade.

I have kids in college, high school and middle school -- and I can tell you that what they learned in grade school or how advanced they were matters very little.  I'm sure if I had been constantly monitoring their work and how challenging it was, I could have worked myself into a fine state at some of the boring worksheets or coloring.  But I'm not the teacher.  So I chose to focus on what mattered and my kids are doing fine.

Public schools have to meet the needs of all kids.  When my oldest was in kindergarten in Boston, I think he spent most of his day watching Disney movies because the schools were trying to bring poorer kids whose parents couldn't pay for preK into the school system.  So half of his class was a year younger than he was and had never been to any school.  Was  he as challenged as he was in his private preK?  Probably not, but he's now at a top college doing great because he's bright, inquisitive and was always learning new things even if teachers weren't spoon-feeding it to him.

OP, it does sound like you might be better off at a private school -- but no school is going to do things 100% the way you want them to.   [/quote]

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