Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here... her private school did not move to virtual this spring when public did. That’s why I have a good amount of optimism that they will stick with in person learning.

Where are you located, OP? That makes a difference in how I'd answer.

Midwest

Private PreK even if there was no virus. That is what I did. The extra year is helpful in high school for making college decisions. Also, kindergarten is the old first grade.

Anonymous wrote:OP here... her private school did not move to virtual this spring when public did. That’s why I have a good amount of optimism that they will stick with in person learning.

Where are you located, OP? That makes a difference in how I'd answer.

Private K for just a year is silly. We mostly skipped DL for my first grader and he is fine - this young, school teaches things that no one - not even a fancy private - can teach over the Internet.


Read to your kid and let her play. If you are that worried she will be behind, go with 3.

Anonymous wrote:Send her to school with the kids who you plan on having her be with.

Spend the $ you'll save on private for part-time child care.

+1. At this age it is about social and emotional development, following routines, the actual academic work is not rigorous. I’ve taught more at home with free education seminars than she received in school. And she went to private through K, then transferred to public because it just wasn’t worth the cost to me. I think private may be more valuable with older kids. Unless you’re buying into a network of connections from a young age. Also agree would be good to get a sitter to help support or with studying.

OP here... her private school did not move to virtual this spring when public did. That’s why I have a good amount of optimism that they will stick with in person learning.

I would do public. If public is doing distance learning, chances are private is too...so you may get stuck paying private school tuition plus a babysitter to assist if you do private and it moves virtual

I wrote above that you should do the private K.

I agree that being new in 1st grade is no big deal. Even in a normal school year, 1st graders don't have tho sort of defined friendships that develop later. It's daunting to be new but not really difficult to find playmates.

Since public is likely to be at least virtual and most kids will be home, you can make an effort to have her play with neighbor kids, as long as it is considered safe in your area.

You are going to have to spend money if your jobs do not allow flexibility. You will have to hire someone to watch her, change your hours to be home during the day, or pay for private. I would do private K if they are going to be open. But I would imagine whatever rules the public schools follow, the privates will do too. It will be fine to be new in 1st - especially if some of the year was done virtually and kids did not get much time together

I would do #2 if it's not a great financial burden.

OP here... for those saying to send her to public... how do you suggest I handle virtual learning when I have a job (plus DH) that makes it not particularly feasible?

Begin as you mean to continue. Start her in private kindergarten if you intend on keeping her in that school. Even if school is reduced to virtual at some point, you become part of the school community and your child will know her teachers and classmates.

If you can afford it do option 2. My DS is in 2nd grade now. He had 7 new kids in 1st grade!!! He started that year close with a friend from K, but also became really close with 2 of the new kids. Our school really shuffles around the classes and in 1st grade alot of the kids may have been at the same school for K, but didn’t really get to know each other yet.

All our friends in private school have had a vastly superior experience with virtual learning.

Send her to school with the kids who you plan on having her be with.

Spend the $ you'll save on private for part-time child care.

I have a DD who will be starting kindergarten as a young 5 this fall. We made the decision, with her teachers' advice, to send her on time way back in January. Her teachers strongly recommended not doing another year of preK even though she's the youngest (tall for her age, smart, well spoke, pretty mature). Her current preschool is also a private elementary school, but we'd decided to send her to public so she could start her core group of local/neighborhood friends. We were content with that decision, no second thoughts at all.

Then Coronavirus hits ... we are no longer in DC, but some of the recommendations that have been leaked for our state about what public school could look like this fall are really disheartening. Particularly troublesome for us is that we both work full time and do not have jobs that would effectively allow us to homeschool a kindergartner assuming they do partial virtual learning. Nor do I want to or think I'd be any good at it. Each district can make their own decision on what they want to do after the state issues guidelines/recommendations, meaning this school is on their own to do what they wish. They've made it clear that they would do everything in their power to do full time in person learning. DD is currently enrolled in both public and private kindergarten for the fall at the moment.

We are back to having 3 choices, now with the Corona virus factor:

- Send her to public, knowing it is highly likely to have some alternate schedule or shut down in the winter for the "second wave".
- Send her to private kindergarten, knowing it would be the most consistent situation (and superior education), but is $$$$ and we would pull her out to go to public for 1st grade, meaning she'd be the "new kid" next year in her grade
- Send her to an additional year of private preK, also $$$, but then she could start in public kindergarten with her peers next year

Thoughts??