Jr. K and K

[lea_lpz]

I posted this in the preschool / kindergarten board but thought I would repost in order to get more views / opinions.

 

If you have a boy who is eligible for jr.k or has a summer birthday and turning 5 this summer will you be doing k or jr. K?

 

My son is turning 5 June 1st. We live in CA and the cut off date will be September 1st as of the 2014-2015 school year. Because of the, California has started a jr. K program for kids born between June 1st thought Nov.1. Kids born between Sept-Nov. get priority as they are not eligible for k, but June 1- Sept. 1 can opt to enroll in with jr k or k with parents approval.

 

Now obviously as a homeschooler it really doesn't matter. We can work at whatever pace we like, but we are enrolled in a public charter home school and so I can chose to place him in k or jr k.

 

My thoughts:

 

For -

 

1. His fine motor skills and attention spam seem at this point like it would be difficult to do phonics and formal math instruction

 

2. He's kinda goofy. Normal for boys from what I hear but when he is uncomfortable socially he gets goofy.

 

3. He has these perfectionist and gets upset if he can't get it just right. He'll cry or throw a fit.

 

4. If we do need to enroll kids in ps, he will be one if the youngest boys

 

Against-

1. Although he has difficulty writing, he already recognizes half his letter sounds and names, all his numbers, shapes, and colors; he catches on to a lot if what I read to sister too, like he can explain the water cycle, condensation, evaporation, and other complex science concepts- wonder if when his fine motor skills and maturity catch up to his mental capacity will he be bored

2. Will he be upset to be a senior at 18? We he be resentfull?

 

Most people I talk to say if you can chose jr k for a boy, do it! My dh is a December baby. He and his brother (twins) missed the cut off by a couple days and he says he's happy to have been an older k'er and couldn't imagine having started k at 4 at all. He doesn't think our ds will be resentfull at all.

[Ellie]

So, he could enter kindergarten in the fall of 2014, right? Then this year he would be "jr. K" (which I put in quotation marks because it just sounds silly to me, but that's another thread, lol).

 

My very strong opinion is that when it's necessary to put a grade-level label on a child, it should be based on his age and the compulsory school age cut-off in the state where he lives. Children are not compulsory school age in California until they are 6 by September 1 (beginning in 2014). Kindergarten is not mandatory, but children still have to have their fifth birthdays by the cut-off date to enter kindergarten since they would be going into first grade the following year.

 

I would not base his "placement" according to his maturity level. If he were in school next fall, his classmates would be all over the board in their maturity levels. Eventually it all works out.

[2_girls_mommy]

If he is going to be aware of his grade level I would call it is Jr K. year.  If he isn't even aware of it, what does it matter?  I had to have "grades" for girl scouts and Sunday school and my kids were always aware of the level and when they moved up with their peers and such.  Otherwise I wouldn't have worried about a grade level when they were that young.  I would just do the work where they were (which I did anyway.)  

[Wilma]

Do you do standard kinder after junior kinder, or is it instead of junior kinder? If it's a choice between one or the other, and he'll do first grade the following year regardless, I'd choose junior. But if doing junior meant he'd do kinder the next year as a six year old, I'd choose plain kindergarten.

[sunnyday]

Most people I talk to say if you can chose jr k for a boy, do it! My dh is a December baby. He and his brother (twins) missed the cut off by a couple days and he says he's happy to have been an older k'er and couldn't imagine having started k at 4 at all. He doesn't think our ds will be resentfull at all.

 

Wait, where does "starting k at 4" come into it? I thought you said your DS would be 5 in June 2014, and the decision is whether to start labeling him as kindergarten-aged that fall (when he's 5.25) or the following fall at 6.25?

[wapiti]

Do you really need to make a decision anytime soon?  If you are not planning to use the K program at the PS, then there is much less reason to redshirt.  If you are homeschooling, I'd simply write the ordinary grade for age on any required paperwork, making any alterations only if/when such student enrolls in PS.  Many kids change a lot between 4.5 and 5 y.o.  Moreover, as hard as it is to predict how much a student will change in 6 months or a year at this young age, it's even harder to predict what such child will be like at 18 y.o.  Keep in mind that, while on the one hand, it may be easier on a student's perspective to grade-accelerate in the future as opposed to hold back a grade later, on the other hand, after a student is enrolled in PS, it can sometimes be extremely difficult to convince the PS to grade-accelerate if that should be desired by the family down the road.  With hs-ing there is the ultimate flexibility, but with PS, there can be little to no flexibility.

 

If you are planning to use the K program at the PS, what might work best may depend on several factors, such as what the K program is like.

 

[NASDAQ]

We did JK and SK in our house. So JK was the year he turned five (my son also has a June birthday) and SK is this year. Basically I used the JK year to ramp up to some basic academic work, so we could start phonics and some arithmetic in SK. There was mixed success on this.

[Spy Car]

Kindergarten may not be "compulsory" in CA, but those who skip it thinking they can jump into First Grade without the foundation of a year of academic preparation at good schools would be fooling themselves, and placing their children in a terrible spot.

 

Like it or not, the expections for Kindergarten are what previous generations expected from First Graders. Half the incoming class of Kindergartners at my son's school start knowing how to read at a basic CVT level (or better) and the rest aren't far behind. It is no longer about knowing colors and the alphabet.

 

A parent using a public charter is wise to consider if her summer boy is ready to start K as a young 5 year old (or not). We were in this boat too, having a summer boy. We started on track because he was academically ready (was reading well and doing First Grade level math at home prior to starting K). But if he wasn't ready I'd have held him out, and done pre-school or K Jr (were it available).

 

I don't think most homeschoolers realize what the expectations are for today's Kindergarters, or (if they do understand the realities) just disagree with the academic advancement and ignore it as a "standard of expectations" in their homes, which is possible to do if one is outside a "school system," but public charters are not outside of demanding conformance to public school expectations.

 

So, it is a good question to ask oneself if a child (especially a summer boy) is "ready" if one is tied to public school standards.

 

Bill

[kiwik]

I don't live over there but would it be fair to say JK is what K was 30 years ago? Since they want to teach 1st grade in K they need to stick in another year of education to teach the skills they used go reach in K?

[lea_lpz]

Do you do standard kinder after junior kinder, or is it instead of junior kinder? If it's a choice between one or the other, and he'll do first grade the following year regardless, I'd choose junior. But if doing junior meant he'd do kinder the next year as a six year old, I'd choose plain kindergarten.

He would be doing jr k at 5 and k at 6. The idea is is too have two years to complete a standard k year. However if we end up completing a k level curriculum in 1 year we can go ahead and reclassify him as 1st.

 

We are able to chose the curriculum we want. With our homeschool charter, we are able to use a stripened to buy curriculum from approved vendors so long as it's secular but can use non secular material as long as parents are purchasing it. Funds can also be used for extra curriculars like music lessons, gymnastics, horseback riding, YMCA sports and other classes, etc. The charter school is for homeschooling parents but yes, as Bill stated, I am expected to meet public k standards which are in fact much more like 1sy than k, and I agree this is why CA had to push back the cut off date and create a jr k program.

 

Right now for preschool we are doing Rod and Staff workbooks, HWOT and mfw preschool toys for our specific one on one preschool time. He tags along with big sis for core.

 

Next year if we do jr k what we might do is continue with the preschool stuff we are doing into the first half of jr k and then after winter break begin doing mfw k Lang and math portion at a 3 day a week pace which will take about 3 semesters at that pace and then have a day freed up for co-op type stuff and another for nature walks and journaling or field trips which seems pretty cool.

 

I don't plan to make a decision until the end if summer.

 

Just thought I would invite some feedback and see if others were considering this option.

 

Sunnyday- my husband was born in December 4 and missed the original public school cut off date of Dec 1, back when k was still k. He is happy with this outcome and feels he wouldn't have done well in k at 4 1/2 years old.

 

Jr k is optional, as is k.

 

 

I have a dd, 6, in 1st who did k at 5. She had an April birthday and she struggled to do k. She is very active. It was ok because we used a very Charlotte Mason hands on, gentle approach to k. We used mfw k. It was fine and we had no problems with the charter school following this program, but she did move at a slower pace than public school k'ers, and happily so. I don't agree with the ways schools are making k more like 1st and eliminating / reducing physical activtiy, recesss, hands on projects etc. This is big reason we chose to homeschool. And this was fine with the ES from our charter school. It's fine if students work above or below grade level as long as they make progress.

[coffeegal]

My plan, with my summer birthday daughter, is to do Jr K at 5, and K at 6. Unexpected issues can arise that interfere with academic development. Throw into the hat the rising expectations for young children, and it's a recipe for disaster. Having a year of grace can be a relief, and eighth grade is an easy year to skip if all goes well. :001_smile: