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.

Love it when the jealous racists come out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SOunds a little boring...?

As opposed to what?

Watching Stranger Things.

Interesting reading the thread (but yeah, the competitive parenting in here is depressing but also par for the DCUM course).

My DD is in PK4 this year which is the year kids turn 5 in my school district. They are doing most of what is described in the show and a little more. I'd actually be totally fine with what is described for both PK and K -- I don't feel the rush to master academics and I think the social-emotional stuff is actually more important and foundational at this age. I don't mind that my kid is getting more academic instruction though. She likes it and it is really, really cool to watch the pre-literacy process unfold. She's recently gone from being able to just recognize first letters and sounds of words to starting to decode whole words and it's so cool. Just yesterday she asked me out of the blue "what sound does an 'x' make in the middle of a word" because she knew what it sounds like at the beginning of a word and at the end, but was trying to decode the word "Exit" on a sign. It threw me for a loop because it was one of the first times I noticed her trying to read outside of when we read books together.

But I also think she could learn that a year later and it would be totally fine. I worry sometimes that the earlier focus on academics makes it harder for kids to learn what they need to learn about interacting with others, taking care of themselves, etc. When I talk to other parents they are only interested in the academic stuff, even for ECE, and I just don't get the sense that there is as much focus from parents on non-academic learning. Fortunately the teachers clearly know kids need it, but like anything, if it's not reinforced at home, kids don't learn it as well.

Anonymous wrote:
I am not a fan of the NCLB K which is why I chose to leave my son behind for a year (pun intended). We sought the advice of his preschool teachers, pediatrician, etc and everyone agreed with this decision. So, he got the old fashioned K experience in a Pre-K class and it was a decision we will never regret. I don't care if all the kids look the same by whenever. We did it for his own development and to let him enjoy being a kid and focus on social skills and all of that. Once he entered K he truly was ready to sit still (to some degree) and his mind was ready for all the academics. He had a great year. I feel strongly this would not have been the case if we had sent him earlier.

Every child is different. I highly suspect few of us red-shirting parents do it for sports or to increase our kids chances of AAP, TJ or Harvard. Many of us do it because it is what our kids need and we believe there is value in the old fashioned K experience.

Most of the people I personally know who are redshirting do so because they want their children to be the “leader” physically, academically, and socially.

Oh, wow, I just added this to my HBO queue. I work with ES kids and I treasure the moments when I can just sit back and observe preschool or kindergarten kids playing and interacting.

I stumbled on this thread as I've recently discovered the show with my future kindergartener. Here is a reunion that happened fairly recently.

https://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2021/10/08/life-after-hbo-kindergarten-stars-20-year-reunion-nyack-ny/8264514002/

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.

FOOOOOOOOORRRRRKKKKK YOU.

Oh my god, the amount of "my kid is so smart and so much better than yours" on this thread!!!

My child was newly 5 when she started Kindergarten and it was overwhelming for her. She came from a preschool that taught her basically what OP is saying the HBO Kindergarten class did (she knew her letters and letter sounds, numbers, she had the appropriate social skills, she's a smart little girl) yet Kindergarten was tough. She was newly 5 and not ready to read (it's only just now clicking in first grade and even then she is "behind"). I WISH we could go back to the way school used to be. I feel like my generation turned out great - I am an analyst by trade who has a foundation of strong reading, writing, math, and science skills from a good midwestern school system in the 80s. I don't think my child is getting nearly as good of an education as I did.