Guest MelSpug Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I just found out that half-day kindergarten is available in my area. Everyone I had talked to said it wasn't, but then on a whim, I called the school county headquarters and they said by law, they have to offer half-day either in the morning or the afternoon (my choice). They said no one really does it though. Guess who's taking advantage of that? I am! I figure I could before-school my daughter in the morning and then she can do kindergarten in the afternoon, when they do the fun electives like music, science, etc. Just thought I would let everyone know in case you haven't really asked yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferLynn Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 That's great! 1/2 day K worked so well for us this past year. On the last day (Friday), we found out the whole district is going to staggered start for 1-3 next year because of larger class sizes. It means 45 minutes less per day for a given student, but then smaller class sizes for 45 minutes to focus on reading. I'm just happy for another block of time to either before-or-afterschool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LillyMama Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Funny, here standard is half-day and parents have to pay for full-day kindergarten. And half day is really barely three hours. Ah, budget cuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevandtara Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 My goodness, I remember when my oldest, 12, was first entering kindergarten and I had attended a few school board meetings to try to get a 1/2 day program offered. Their reply was a very strong "no", because they felt students needed a full day to get prepared for first grade. Five years later budget cuts came, and full day kindergarten was the first thing cut! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 We had Alternate Day Kindergarten, and it was awful! One thing to watch out for is that in our district the non-tuition Kindergarten ends up with all of the SAHMs like me, and then the families who can't afford the $3,000 tuition for full day. So there was a very bizarre social and economic difference between the two Kindergarten classrooms, which had a big impact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nart Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 My oldest starts P.M. Kindergarten in the fall. The students who have older siblings get priority for the AM kindergarten class so the afternoon class is made up of oldest or only children. In this school district of around 18 elementary schools, my son's school is the only one that has PM kindergarten. All of the other schools have full day or 3/4 day, and only three schools have half day kinder but just morning kindergarten. When I asked the principal why, he said it was because it is the highest performing school so they don't feel it is necessary. I think it works out well because the AM kinder teacher helps the PM teacher during language arts time for an hour so they can do group rotations (a parent volunteer takes one group and one group works independently). I was told that they are able to group kids according to their reading level. I don't have any expectations that he will learn much academically since he can already read and we are doing first grade SM at home, I am hoping that he enjoys going to school and making new friends. I figure I will have low expectations of the academics so I won't be disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MelSpug Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Someone gave me wrong information. It turns out my daughter could only attend 1/2 day K if she was deemed to have special needs. It looks like we will be joining a "cottage school" where she will go 2 full days a week and then we will homeschool her with the cottage school's curriculum. It is not free, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksr5377 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Just to see I looked around at local districts here and found that our district (city, poor schools) is the only one with full-day. The surrounding wealthier districts offer 1/2 days with the option to pay for full day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 It's interesting to me as a former K teacher, to hear about Kindergarten varies elsewhere. Thanks for sharing! Another thing I thought I would add is that in some states teaching Kindergarten is considered a full time job. In other states, Kindergarten is a half time job. So in CA half day Kindergarten was about 4 hours and that was a full time job for me. (Kindergarten teachers in CA were expected to do a whole bunch of extra jobs at school like run Student Success team committees etc. "help earn their keep".) In WA Kindergarten is only 2 hours 5 minutes and the teachers have two classes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 It's interesting to me as a former K teacher, to hear about Kindergarten varies elsewhere. Thanks for sharing! Another thing I thought I would add is that in some states teaching Kindergarten is considered a full time job. In other states, Kindergarten is a half time job. So in CA half day Kindergarten was about 4 hours and that was a full time job for me. (Kindergarten teachers in CA were expected to do a whole bunch of extra jobs at school like run Student Success team committees etc. "help earn their keep".) In WA Kindergarten is only 2 hours 5 minutes and the teachers have two classes. In our school K goes from 8:40am to 1:50pm, just an hour short of upper grades. We don't have an option for half day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.