talk to me about your K experiences or plans

We got our K registration packet. :woah: Registration starts next month!!! Yikes!!! We will have to register early if we want the program we are looking at....soooooo

I am not looking to start a yes/no debate on starting old or young, but rather I am curious to what other options are in different areas and what people are looking (or chose) for their twins.

Backstory: my DD will be 5 in Oct. They are eligible for K this fall as 4 turning 5 since MI cut-off is Dec 1st. Currently, they are in PreK (free program). They can not do this program next year. They will most likely not qualify for 'Young 5s/ 4K/ Developmental K, etc. due to appropriate'academic abilities' (it is based on age AND not passing the K screenings). Our area has mostly all day K and a few 1/2 day classes-- both with same curriculum. One of my DD has an IEP for gross motor needs. Both DD are at or above academic & social expectations for going into K. Right now, we are planning on sending them to 1/2 day K, but the program may or may not be available due to budget cuts. If we 'wait' a year they simply stay home since we can not afford to pay for private PreK----it seems like a back step to the wonderful PreK they are in now (1/2 days 4 days a weeks). So we *may* only have all day K as an option. UGH!

What options does your area offer? What will you choose? Why? What factors played into your choice/potential choice? Did you split them? What would you do/have done differently?

Thanks---DH and I are really agonizing over this because they are young/Fall B-day, but I cant imagine them staying home a year---plus one DD will already be totally ready for K next fall, if we waited a year she is the personality type to cause serious trouble if she gets bored. Other DD with have lots of support from Spec.Ed and they suggested to go ahead with K. but they will be the youngest in their grade....it just doesnt seem 'right' for old 4s to be in with possibly 6 yr olds (most will be 5) when school starts. We also plan on keeping them together in K since that is the only option (unless we do one am and one pm, but NO WAY am I doing that!!) if you do 1/2 days---if we have to do full days we may split them (more classrooms to choose from).


**Mods-- this sort of goes in 2-4 (kids going into K) and ALSO in 5+ (kids already been through K), and maybe in educational....so I stuck it here! Move if you need to, but it is directed at 4 + to older twins so that is a big span **


ETA: my girls are currently 4y 3m....they would be 4y 11 m when school started.

 

We're pretty boring on our choices. The state of Kansas pays for 1/2 day of kindergarten so that is what is offered for free. Some other districts subsidize full-day through "at-risk" money they get. Our district doesn't get enough to do that. So, if you would like all-day, you can pay about $350 a month for 9 months per child for all-day.

We went with the 1/2 day. A big reason was the money. I've been a sahm who home-schooled preschool. We didn't have any daycare/preschool expenses and adding several thousand $$'s in cost didn't make much sense for us.

The second reason we went with the 1/2 day is the full-day was starting this year. At the info. meetings we went to, they had no idea what the curriculum differences were going to be between it and 1/2 day. They had no idea what kind of twin policy they were going to have. (It was a lottery to get the spots in that class. They didn't know if one twin got in by the lottery if they would let the second child in.) Almost every question the parents had was answered by, "well isn't that a good question. We have to think about that and get back to you." It was sooo painfully obvious this was the first year.

The third reason we went with 1/2 day is they fully admitted the reason for adding 1/2 day was because of parents problems finding daycare for 1/2 days. We have an awesome district, one of the top in the state, but this move was not to improve that. It was to offset daycare complaints by parents.

We wanted the kids together, and as it turns out, that was our only option. We wanted them together because this would be their first day-in, day-out experience of being away from me. They have had other classes and nights at grandma's, but this was different enough we wanted them to have some support. And that was a good thing. Alot of the kids in their class went to preschool together or play sports together. Most live within one block in the south part of the neighborhood. Without each other, they wouldn't have known anyone, while everybody else knew someone. And as it turned out, there is only 1 full day class and 1 1/2 day class at their school. To seperate would have meant one child in full day and one child in 1/2.

So I guess in your situation, I would visit the programs, talk to counselors, therapists. Find out what the kids start the year doing work-wise and expectation wise. The more I learned, the easier the choice got because I had a really strong feeling of what I DIDN'T want.

Marissa

 

Its a hard choice...

My twins have November birthdays (and they were born at 33 weeks...) and our cut-off is Dec. 2. The twins were 4 1/2 when they started K. We did the k screening and our daughter passed but our son did not. After agonizing about it for months we decided to send the kids (here is 1/2 days but the kids were in the TLC daycare program: went to TLC at 7am til 10:45 then K from 10:45 til 2pm). We went in with the idea that if they didn't do well that they would just repeat it the next year. After all is there really any difference between 2 years of preschool and 2 years of K? Plus we really couldn't afford another year of preschool (gotta love the twin finances).

We were still stunned when they ended up being in the advanced part of their class. Even when we sent them off to 1st grade we couldn't believe that they were actually moving on. We were really ready for them to repeat. They are in 2nd grade now and still in the top half of their classes. My son (the one who supposedly wasn't ready) has straight A's and reads at a 6th grade level and my daughter is carrying B's but is doing 3rd grade math.

Any decision is a good decision. Do what is right for your family. Ignore those that criticize (got lots of this from people who were all for "red shirting").

 

My girls birthday is 8/30, and the cutoff here is 9/1. They had been to the 1/2 day Pre-K offered through the school. Like you, I didn't have the option of repeating that, since they met the requirements for K.

It is a grueling decision. Neither of my girls had any delays, and did fine being the youngest in Pre-K. I did talk to their Pre-K teacher and she agreed they were ready for K. I also had a discussion with the principal, to find out if "red-shirting" was prevalent in our area. I know they will be the youngest in the class, but being a few months younger than some, and being over a year younger than most, are two entirely different scenarios. The principal put some of my fears at ease, and I decided to start them.

We are just halfway through the year, but both of my girls are doing fine. I did seperate them, because the principal recommended it. They were together in Pre-K, and were fine together. They are fraternal with very different personalities. They probably wouldn't play together if they were the only kids in class! Anyhow, they are fine seperate, too. Both situations have their advantages/disadvantages & totally depend on their personalites.

Full Day K is the only option (through public school) here. I would've rather had 1/2 day, but they adjusted well, even though they are pretty young.


Kindergarten is so exciting! I'm sad it's half over

 

Mine will miss the cutoff (Sept 30 where we live) by 6 weeks. I would send them to K next year if I could, though I don't mind another year of preschool either (other than the $24K a year it costs us for both kids).

I'm definitely going to send them full day (BTW, "full day" is still not really a full day for a working parent -- don't get me started :laughing: ), but they're used to that since they've been in FT daycare all their lives. If they'd been home with me most of the time and in a part-time preschool, I'd consider the 1/2 day K because (from what I've heard) K is a really big adjustment, so matter what background they come from.

In your situation, I would send them to full day if that turns out to be the only option. For one thing, as I mentioned above, full day is usually really more like 9:00-3:00 (you didn't say what it was in your district), so it's not like they get no down time at home. More importantly, as you said, if they wound up having to stay home for a year that would seem like a step back. I wouldn't worry about the academics, but about them being bored, missing their friends, etc.

Don't know if this is helpful at all -- good luck with your decision!

 

Your post just reminded one of the few benefits to having January born kids-- we don't get to make a choice! I would be so stressed out trying to figure it out. Good luck! Looks like you are getting some good insight here.

 

I would send them, for a couple of reasons. One is that their teachers say they are ready, and the second is that your daughter with special needs will continue to get her therapies (if you choose not to send them, she may not be eligible to get them). You can always, like a PPer, know in the back of your mind that you will have them repeat K if needed.

 

It was pretty cut and dry for us.

My kids have an October birthday so they miss the September 1 (I think it is the 1st) cut off date.

They are in their second year of preschool. The first year they went two days a week (1/2 days). This year, they go three days a week (1/2 days).

My only concern is that K is full day in our town. That is going to take some getting used to!

 

We just made all these decisions this last week. We had to hash it all out because registration is coming up. I home-schooled for preschool and it would be my choice to continue doing so. But, DH believes they need to be in school, so off to school they go. Their birthday is Sept 21st and our cut-off in Kentucky is Oct 1st, so it was up to us whether to send them or not. For my kids, I can't imagine not sending them. They are already on-level with where Kindergartners are at this point in the year. I'm already terrified they will be bored! So, for us there is no question they will be going in the fall even though they will be the some of the youngest in the class.

As for where to send them, that was harder. Private school isn't an option because we don't have the money, but neither was our district. We live in a suburb of a city that is mostly inner-city and the schools have all the problems that you normally associate with inner-city schools including drugs, violence, and the lowest test scores in the state. Even my BF who teaches at a school in our city said she would kill me if I even thought of sending my kids there.

So, we called three different schools - my old school, DH's old school, and the one in the city that we are right on the border of. We asked about tuition and that definitely helped narrow it down! My DH's old school wants $125/child, the one up the street wants $150/child, and my old school wants $3,866/child! :shok: Guess where they aren't going! So, we prefer the one up the street since it is closer and costs about the same (we'd pay the difference in gas to go to DH's old school), plus it has better test scores. But, since it depends on space we won't be upset if we have to go to DH's old school.

We also chose half-day because they will be going from being home all day with me to being gone and a transition for a half-day will be big enough.

As for keeping them together or separate, we still need to talk to the schools and find out how they handle that. But, our preference is to separate them. Anna already has a hard time being away from her brother because of limited opportunities to do so. Helping them gain independence by learning to make friends of their own and be separate is one of the few pluses I see in sending them to school rather than teaching them at home. It will be really hard at first, but I think it will pay off in the long run.

 

we are right there with you too! school visits are the first week of february (another don't get me started issue for working moms). my kids are august 16 birthdays and oct 1 is the cut off. red shirting is VERY prevalent in our town, but we are absolutely sending them next year - partly because i don't want to pay for another year of preschool, and partly because i think they are ready and will thrive on it. and i truly believe that in a couple of years it will all even out. i know some people who are red-shirting because their sons are small, but my kids are both tall for their age and cameron is very athletic so i think he'll fit in with older boys just fine. right now they are in a 3 full (9-2:30) and 2 half (9-12:30) schedule - so i think the transition to 8:30-2:30 (or whatever) will not be an issue for them.

if you read my other post, you'll see that i'm thinking of keeping them together - i think they will do better with the adjustment together and since they are b/g and have shown independence in preschool (where they are in the same class) i think that will be best for them - but i'm going to ask their teacher what she thinks as well. it also might depend on which school they go to - some are really big and i think would be overwhelming, whereas others are much more intimate and they would see each other more even if they were in separate classes.

the big issue for us is that our school has a magnet school system - there are 6 elementary schools so we have to visit each one and then rank our choices - and i need to do my best NOT to get caught up in the competitive nature of this town / area and keep reminding myself that it's just elementary school and any of the schools will be good for them!

good luck with your decisions - can you believe it's already time to start thinking about this?!?!?!?!?!

 

We are going to be registering our kids for K next month. Our town started offering a full-day program this year at a cost of $3,700 per child/year in addition to the free half day program. We are going to send them to the 1/2 day program. I have heard that the full day program really doesn't offer any more learning time, almost more like a day-care program. I just can't see paying the extra $ to have them go a full day when I am home and am paying preschool tuition for Liam.

As for separating them, I am not sure what my options are in that regard, but I do want to keep them together for nextyear.

If their teachers think that they are ready, I would go ahead and send them.

 

After having taught Kinder the last few years, I wanted to chime in...

Just because your girls will be on the younger end doesn't necessarily mean they are not ready. Our kids have all kind of grown up together on these boards and if memory serves, your girls have been pretty ahead of the game for awhile. Sounds to me like they will be more than ready! (You teach right, or taught? Go with your gut...you know they are ready!)

B&H will go to the school where I teach (which happens to be their neighborhood school). It is half day, and I am glad. Granted, if full day were our only choice, I know they would be fine. But those first couple of months are rough on a lot of kids and a half day is about all they can take.

Mine will definitely be separated next year. They are incredibly dependent on one another and need to learn a little autonomy. I am already prepping them for this reality!

 

Thanks-

I have taught, but it was Spec.Ed and I worked with kids K-5 with disabilities (mostly 3-5 Learning Disabilities) so my 'perspective' on where they need to be is a bit skewed since I worked with very few K/1st graders and then the kids I worked with (in the areas I worked with them) were behind grade level. It does not help my K teacher friends all say to WAIT a year- blanket statement for all younger Bdays. It makes me think about it more than I probably would because I am not as familiar with K curriculum.

I am about 90% sure we will send them barring any medical complications ( we have a few medical issues going on), and if we have 1/2 day as an option that is my 100% choice.

In order to do that , they have to stay together. They are together now and it is not a problem (they each have their own friends & activitites) so I am hoping that will help ease the transition a bit.


It is kind of fun to see our 2005 babies all get older together!