Anonymous wrote:learn an instrument
learn how to do household chores
sports
intensive second language instruction - hire a tutor for 3 hours a day
develop really good beginner handwriting skills
Play math games
Read for 2-3 hours a day

Lol yes. Hold him back from kindergarten so he can do chores and read for 2 to 3 hours a day. Are you people for real?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1. OP seems to think K is all work, and not developmentally appropriate. There is a lot of play and attention to socioemotional development in the early grades at our school.

I've had one and a half children go through K (one's mid-year) and in FCPS it seems like a pretty miserable experience these days. Only a half hour of outside recess! Maybe we're just unlucky in the school we're zoned into.

OPs preschool sounds exactly like my pre-school (gosh, I wonder if it IS our pre-school, is it in Oakton?), and we will be facing the same decision another year down the line.

In previous years we've seen one family just move their child to a different, slightly longer pre-school. Another family found a part-time, private Kindergarten; their plan was to send the child to a public K afterwards. Otherwise, there's a *ton* of stuff during the day on Parktakes for kids five and under. Swimming, gymnastics, art, etc. Just search for classes at the rec centers & parks near you.

No, our preschool isn’t in Oakton but it’s not far. Thank you for your response. I can’t believe the hateful responses I’m getting on here, especially the ones calling me “unstable” - jeez, was not expecting that reaction.
Thanks to those who offered nonjudgmental and helpful suggestions.
-OP

Red shirting is for kids who have trouble following the curriculum. You should spend every minute catching your kid up to his peers.

So my first DS was born just a few days past the cutoff, and he did a Jr K year in his language immersion preschool. Looking back, he loved that year so much and it was so much better than public K that we might repeat this with our DS3 who has a summer birthday.

OP, the advantage of private Jr K program is that once your child completes that, you can opt to go directly to first grade. Children can mature a lot over one year so you might find that your son is ready for 1st grade in a year.

Anonymous wrote: Now that I’ve made the decision to red shirt my September DC, I’m trying to figure out how to stimulate him beyond the traditional morning preschool hours. The longest I can extend his day is until 1pm with lunch Bunch but he can still only go four days a week. I would love to find a program that gives him some more stimulation a couple afternoons a week, like nature/outdoor focused or something with music. Any ideas or suggestions for me? If others in the same situation could recommend programs or give me some additional ideas I’d appreciate it! Tysons/Vienna/Reston/Great Falls or even Loudoun Co.
thanks!

Look for Jr K programs in preschools affiliated with private schools.

learn an instrument
learn how to do household chores
sports
intensive second language instruction - hire a tutor for 3 hours a day
develop really good beginner handwriting skills
Play math games
Read for 2-3 hours a day

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just looking for recommendations on AFTERNOON PROGRAMS APPROPRIATE FOR THIS AGE. That’s it. Please and thank you.
-OP

Put him in a 9-3 preschool. Very few things will be for kids that age except homeschool groups.

+1 Your options are either a 9-3 preschool or to find a homeschool activity group he could drop into during the afternoons - if they would take him "part time". Start networking on homeschool groups, OP.

My child's kindergarten was 8:30-3:30, does an extra hour make that much of a difference? And they had at least two recesses and center time (which the kids could use to go outside and play) and snack time and lunch time. Plus specials (library, PE, art, and music) So they spent most of that time playing and not doing formal academics.

I doubt that the OP is interested in 9-3 if their child is not ready for 8:30-9:30 with at least half the day spent playing and eating.

+1. OP seems to think K is all work, and not developmentally appropriate. There is a lot of play and attention to socioemotional development in the early grades at our school.

My 5 yo is in kindergarten this year and has been miserable. It's almost all desk work, no centers, and very little play. They do a 3 hour block of reading and writing every morning entirely at their desks. The do a 1.5 hour block of math in the afternoon, also at their desks. At least my DD would have been much happier in a play based preschool for another year. In our experience, K really is what 1st grade used to be.

That's a crap kindergarten. Our experience was nothing like that--lots of centers, circle time with reading aloud, group/interactive activities, no homework. And our first grade still has the kids working at different stations and very little time just sitting at a desk listening to the teacher.

Ironically, many parents want their kids to have more academic experiences in preschool.

This is absolutely true. I was a first grade teacher. This is completely true.

Anonymous wrote:Uhmm...he's 4. He's stimulated by life. I actually think the time he spends sitting in preschool is one of the least stimulating parts of his day.

+100000000

It’s really obvious you should just send your kid to K. Not sure what you’re afraid of

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just looking for recommendations on AFTERNOON PROGRAMS APPROPRIATE FOR THIS AGE. That’s it. Please and thank you.
-OP

Put him in a 9-3 preschool. Very few things will be for kids that age except homeschool groups.

+1 Your options are either a 9-3 preschool or to find a homeschool activity group he could drop into during the afternoons - if they would take him "part time". Start networking on homeschool groups, OP.

My child's kindergarten was 8:30-3:30, does an extra hour make that much of a difference? And they had at least two recesses and center time (which the kids could use to go outside and play) and snack time and lunch time. Plus specials (library, PE, art, and music) So they spent most of that time playing and not doing formal academics.

I doubt that the OP is interested in 9-3 if their child is not ready for 8:30-9:30 with at least half the day spent playing and eating.

+1. OP seems to think K is all work, and not developmentally appropriate. There is a lot of play and attention to socioemotional development in the early grades at our school.

My 5 yo is in kindergarten this year and has been miserable. It's almost all desk work, no centers, and very little play. They do a 3 hour block of reading and writing every morning entirely at their desks. The do a 1.5 hour block of math in the afternoon, also at their desks. At least my DD would have been much happier in a play based preschool for another year. In our experience, K really is what 1st grade used to be.

That's a crap kindergarten. Our experience was nothing like that--lots of centers, circle time with reading aloud, group/interactive activities, no homework. And our first grade still has the kids working at different stations and very little time just sitting at a desk listening to the teacher.

Ironically, many parents want their kids to have more academic experiences in preschool.

This was our experience too. Actually, a bit of HW, but not much, and they gave it out a week at a time--kid actually liked it. She was one of the youngest and LOVED her K class--great teacher and had fun with classmates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just looking for recommendations on AFTERNOON PROGRAMS APPROPRIATE FOR THIS AGE. That’s it. Please and thank you.
-OP

Put him in a 9-3 preschool. Very few things will be for kids that age except homeschool groups.

+1 Your options are either a 9-3 preschool or to find a homeschool activity group he could drop into during the afternoons - if they would take him "part time". Start networking on homeschool groups, OP.

My child's kindergarten was 8:30-3:30, does an extra hour make that much of a difference? And they had at least two recesses and center time (which the kids could use to go outside and play) and snack time and lunch time. Plus specials (library, PE, art, and music) So they spent most of that time playing and not doing formal academics.

I doubt that the OP is interested in 9-3 if their child is not ready for 8:30-9:30 with at least half the day spent playing and eating.

+1. OP seems to think K is all work, and not developmentally appropriate. There is a lot of play and attention to socioemotional development in the early grades at our school.

My 5 yo is in kindergarten this year and has been miserable. It's almost all desk work, no centers, and very little play. They do a 3 hour block of reading and writing every morning entirely at their desks. The do a 1.5 hour block of math in the afternoon, also at their desks. At least my DD would have been much happier in a play based preschool for another year. In our experience, K really is what 1st grade used to be.

That's a crap kindergarten. Our experience was nothing like that--lots of centers, circle time with reading aloud, group/interactive activities, no homework. And our first grade still has the kids working at different stations and very little time just sitting at a desk listening to the teacher.

Ironically, many parents want their kids to have more academic experiences in preschool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just looking for recommendations on AFTERNOON PROGRAMS APPROPRIATE FOR THIS AGE. That’s it. Please and thank you.
-OP

Put him in a 9-3 preschool. Very few things will be for kids that age except homeschool groups.

+1 Your options are either a 9-3 preschool or to find a homeschool activity group he could drop into during the afternoons - if they would take him "part time". Start networking on homeschool groups, OP.

My child's kindergarten was 8:30-3:30, does an extra hour make that much of a difference? And they had at least two recesses and center time (which the kids could use to go outside and play) and snack time and lunch time. Plus specials (library, PE, art, and music) So they spent most of that time playing and not doing formal academics.

I doubt that the OP is interested in 9-3 if their child is not ready for 8:30-9:30 with at least half the day spent playing and eating.

+1. OP seems to think K is all work, and not developmentally appropriate. There is a lot of play and attention to socioemotional development in the early grades at our school.

My 5 yo is in kindergarten this year and has been miserable. It's almost all desk work, no centers, and very little play. They do a 3 hour block of reading and writing every morning entirely at their desks. The do a 1.5 hour block of math in the afternoon, also at their desks. At least my DD would have been much happier in a play based preschool for another year. In our experience, K really is what 1st grade used to be.

Uhmm...he's 4. He's stimulated by life. I actually think the time he spends sitting in preschool is one of the least stimulating parts of his day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1. OP seems to think K is all work, and not developmentally appropriate. There is a lot of play and attention to socioemotional development in the early grades at our school.

I've had one and a half children go through K (one's mid-year) and in FCPS it seems like a pretty miserable experience these days. Only a half hour of outside recess! Maybe we're just unlucky in the school we're zoned into.

OPs preschool sounds exactly like my pre-school (gosh, I wonder if it IS our pre-school, is it in Oakton?), and we will be facing the same decision another year down the line.

In previous years we've seen one family just move their child to a different, slightly longer pre-school. Another family found a part-time, private Kindergarten; their plan was to send the child to a public K afterwards. Otherwise, there's a *ton* of stuff during the day on Parktakes for kids five and under. Swimming, gymnastics, art, etc. Just search for classes at the rec centers & parks near you.

My child is at a Kindergarten in FCPS. His big gripe about first grade is that they only get one recess and last year they had 2. I know that he went outside at center time some days. He had PE 4 days a week. I would guess that they had 2 hours of physical play time. I know that they had snack time and lunch time, so at least 45 minutes for eating. They had 30 minutes of other specials on the days that they had PE and an hour of art each week. So at least 3 hours of non-academic time a day.

Yes, they spent time reading and writing and the like but his kindergarten teacher was clear that they did a lot of work in the centers and that the kids learned more playing at the centers. I am not sure how frequently they were used outside of the end of the day center time that I am counting above.

Each parent needs to make their own decision about their child's readiness for kindergarten. I don't know the OP or her kid. I can only imagine that she is doing what is best for her child.