Making educational decisions for my daughter is tough stuff. It wouldn't be so difficult if her birthday wasn't in September. But, it is. And, the date for enrollment changes next year to September 1. She will be 5 about a month after the cut off date for Kindergarten, which means they will enroll her in Transitional K. The next year she will start K. It boils down to public preschool for kids who turn 5 during the school year. At least, that is how it has been portrayed.So what if she has public preschool? What makes this difficult? My munchkin didn't go to preschool, and everybody talks about how important it is. What they don't get is that kids can acquire preschool skills at a really great day care. My daughter is socialized, can write her name, identify shapes, letters and numbers, cut, paste, and perform most of the other tasks required for K. I am greatly concerned she will not be challenged. If she isn't challenged, she's bored. Boredom leads to behavioral issues- even in young children. Beyond that, who wants to be told that their child has to complete two years of Kindergarten because they're a month too young to have just one year.
What's a mom who's a teacher to do? E-mail the principal of course. I laid it out there for her. How are the two years different? What will you do to challenge my daughter who has acquired the skills? Is it plausible that she could skip regular K if she is highly successful in TK? Then, depending on the answers, we apply for the school, or we wait an additional year and just start her in regular K. It's frustrating though because we know our daughter is ready, but will be denied based on being 1 month too young.
