Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HOly cow! My kid's kindergarten last year was writing (stories and poetry by the end), learning time and money (and adding coins, etc), intense reading instruction, science lab, etc. K is this area has definitely changed. I think this is why kids are turning 6...this is pretty intense for a 4-year old (anyone with a Sept bday in VA). I don't think a single kid in any of the 5 classes turned 7 (it would have been a kid that had a May/June bday) this just is not done in our public school system. Maybe it is more common and encouraged by privates.

My son's Kindergarten was pretty intense too. I loved it and I approve. My son soaked it all in and is going into first grade a strong and eager reader.

He has loved learning and i've been astonished at how much he was able to absorb last year.

If you think public school is intense, you haven't seen ANYTHING. I looked into sending my son to a very very academically strict private school. He would have been one of a handful of white kids, as all of the seats were filled with Asian and Indian children. The stuff that that those kids were doing was insane. All of the pre-K kids could read. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. They could all do basic math. By the end of K, they were working on their multiplication tables.

At the end of the day, I simply was "too American" to send my child to that school. The kids were drilled and for sure the school was pumping kids into Thomas Jefferson, but at the end of the day, I did want my son to be able to have a little more down time.

Anonymous wrote:I sincerely do not get the outrage, it’s completely misplaced. The only people shortchanging kids’ childhood are the working parents who send them to day care from three months until kindergarten, 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. That’s flat out kid jail, albeit brightly colored

Most kids are ready and interested in learning, and most teachers know how to make that learning age appropriate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anybody know where the kids who were filmed on the show "Kindergarten" are now? The show was filmed in 2000, which means that these children are now between the ages of 16 and 18, so some are probably about to graduate from high school. I think it would be a great idea for these teenagers to be filmed now, just to see how they are doing and what their thoughts are on the show and their old teacher Jennifer Johnson. Maybe they should all have a small get together with Jennifer and talk about the positive impacts and memories of their kindergarten experience, given that they were exposed to many different types of learning through hands-on activities. After watching this show I realized how creative and fun Jennifer was as a kindergarten teacher. I really wish she had been my teacher when I was in kindergarten, because her teaching allowed her students to apply their learning in real-life situations, such as brushing your teeth well and knowing how to take care of a pet.

I just did a search for Jennifer Johnson because every now and then I wonder where she and the kids from that class are. My son was one of the kids from the show (Nat), and I think it would be awesome if there was a reunion at some point. He'll be 22 in January, so I'm thinking when they're 25 it would be great. We live in South Carolina now, so I have lost contact with the other families, but I want to see if we can make this happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also agree with the idea of bringing the kids back to do a "where are they now?" special.

NP here. This was the concept behind a series called "7 Up." It starts with 7 year-olds, then returns to document them every seven years after that. The original series was in the UK and the subjects are now 58. They were last documented two years ago, here's a New Yorker article from when it came out. http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/what-56-up-reveals

The spinoff series in different countries are listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Series#Similar_documentaries

Anonymous wrote:I also agree with the idea of bringing the kids back to do a "where are they now?" special.

Anonymous wrote:Does anybody know where the kids who were filmed on the show "Kindergarten" are now? The show was filmed in 2000, which means that these children are now between the ages of 16 and 18, so some are probably about to graduate from high school. I think it would be a great idea for these teenagers to be filmed now, just to see how they are doing and what their thoughts are on the show and their old teacher Jennifer Johnson. Maybe they should all have a small get together with Jennifer and talk about the positive impacts and memories of their kindergarten experience, given that they were exposed to many different types of learning through hands-on activities. After watching this show I realized how creative and fun Jennifer was as a kindergarten teacher. I really wish she had been my teacher when I was in kindergarten, because her teaching allowed her students to apply their learning in real-life situations, such as brushing your teeth well and knowing how to take care of a pet.

Anonymous wrote:PP who let her child skip homework, I would probably do the same thing. But it would still really anger me that homework was expected in K. Because if you allow the child to skip homework that's expected, that sets a bad precedent. But, I think it's WORSE to make a tired child who has already sat through a very long day sit there and drill more work at home. Some parents report their children "love" homework, while others do not.

I'm opposed to homework in most grades. It is even too much in high school. It is time for this "tradition" to be changed. Children are in school for a long time. They have plenty of time to learn in school. I'd love to see children doing inspired homework (in older grades) that involves context and creativity, but that's not what most kids get.

I DO think we are burning these children out. I'm not going to do it. I'm just not.

Anonymous wrote:Does anybody know where the kids who were filmed on the show "Kindergarten" are now? The show was filmed in 2000, which means that these children are now between the ages of 16 and 18, so some are probably about to graduate from high school. I think it would be a great idea for these teenagers to be filmed now, just to see how they are doing and what their thoughts are on the show and their old teacher Jennifer Johnson. Maybe they should all have a small get together with Jennifer and talk about the positive impacts and memories of their kindergarten experience, given that they were exposed to many different types of learning through hands-on activities. After watching this show I realized how creative and fun Jennifer was as a kindergarten teacher. I really wish she had been my teacher when I was in kindergarten, because her teaching allowed her students to apply their learning in real-life situations, such as brushing your teeth well and knowing how to take care of a pet.