Kindergarten... full or half day??

[maymom96]

Our school offers 1 half day program and that is what we choose for our daughter. She is 1 of 11 in the class with two aids plus an amazing teacher. The class get art 1 day a week, gym twice a week, music and library twice a week.
I feel like she is missing nothing compaired to the students who go all day. Yes the half day program is a bit faster. But my daughter is handing it great. So what if she doesn't eat lunch at school (she could if she wanted) or go for recess after lunch. The school makes the ful day K lay down for a rest period so she is avoiding that. She still gets to play and paint at school and be the typical K student.
When she went for K roundup last spring, the school gave reasons why you would choose half day or full day. My daughter didn't need the extra help and I am willing to work with her at home on things. I am a stay at home mom so we didn't need daycare. Plus she had never been away from me for more than 3 hours. Our decision worked out best for our family.

 

[Sheaboys]

Cost aside, it depends on the child.

We have 1/2 day program here. DS#1 would have been perfect in a full day kindergarten class, you would have handled it perfectly. DS#2 would never had. He is in second grade now and is a giant piece of junk when he gets off the bus, never mind if they have outdoor recess. It is not a matter of academically what they can handle, because they are just about equal, it is the being there all day, he requires at least a full hour of down time right after school. Whereas, ds#1 can jump right into doing his homework.

Good luck!

 

[Laurabearz]

I am facing the same choice.. Full or Half Day...

My boy turns 5 in May, so right in the middle of the cut off. I do think he would benefit from full day, but since he is my baby, not sure I am ready to let him go for that long

 

[EverythingDisney]

I wish we had mandatory full day here. We have a single full day class and if you want that, your childs name gets put into a lottery and 20 kids are chosen for that 1 full day class. All the rest are 1/2 days - you can suggest if you prefer morning or afternoon.
My daughter turns 5 in two weeks, and kindergarten registration is in 4 weeks. I am going to try for the full day, but if not, I prefer afternoon 1/2 kindergarten.

 

[reenie1]

I had the option to go into a lottery for full day for my son this year, but opted against it. He is one of the older ones in kindergarten. He loves 1/2 days and I think it's perfect for him. I figure he has many years of full day school ahead of him (probably at least 16), so I wanted to let him just be a little boy playing at home with his mommy as long as possible! We have a wonderful time during our mornings together before school. It's quality, one on one time with a parent and I don't think there's much better than that for a five or six year old if you can do it! He has playdates and other activities before school as well. My daughter did half days, too, and she's at the top of her class now in third grade. I don't think you can go wrong either way, you just need to decide what works best for your family.

 

[jodifla]

Our school offers 1 half day program and that is what we choose for our daughter. She is 1 of 11 in the class with two aids plus an amazing teacher. The class get art 1 day a week, gym twice a week, music and library twice a week.
I feel like she is missing nothing compaired to the students who go all day. Yes the half day program is a bit faster. But my daughter is handing it great. So what if she doesn't eat lunch at school (she could if she wanted) or go for recess after lunch. The school makes the ful day K lay down for a rest period so she is avoiding that. She still gets to play and paint at school and be the typical K student.
When she went for K roundup last spring, the school gave reasons why you would choose half day or full day. My daughter didn't need the extra help and I am willing to work with her at home on things. I am a stay at home mom so we didn't need daycare. Plus she had never been away from me for more than 3 hours. Our decision worked out best for our family.

This is a good point. DS has a communication disorder, we knew he'd be getting speech therapy and OT, and to pull him out of a short kindergarten class wouldn't give him enough classroom time.

But if you put your child in a fast paced half-day K class and they can't keep up, there's not much time to offer them extra help.

The afternoons in my son's K class are spent reinforcing the morning's lessons, so anybody who was having trouble gets more practice in the afternoon.

 

[drivencrazy]

Well, we went and signed him up for full day... won't know for sure if he gets in till March 21st, but since it is our home school and they are offering 2 full day classes, most likely he will get in!

I was talking to my 5 year old and asked what he thought. I told him that full day would be long (he see's his sisters go to school and get home so knows how long it is...) and other things... he was leaning towards going all day.

It's not that he needs extra help, or we need daycare... after talking it over with my hubby and my son and reading input here......... I think that full day will be good for him. He is very smart and willing to learn, he can handle the whole day thing (no naps for a long time here)........ so I do feel that it will be best for him.

Now that being said, I do feel sad that he will be going full day. I will miss the time before or after school when it would have been just the 3 of us (little sister, him and myself) and miss him... he is my baby boy and just the thought of him being away from me ALL day kills me, I have till next school year to come to terms with that though!

I have NO dought that whatever, half or full day that he will do wonderful and it's probably me more than anything else!

Thanks again!

 

[zoemurr]

We have 1/2 day here which was great for us. I stayed home and we did lots of playdates, gymnastics, library programs, etc. Kids are both in gifted now so I guess we were ok.

Anyhow, a friend of mine paid for full day K. They told her that after a lunch, rest and recess, they really aren't doing any more "learning" than in a 1/2 day program.

So, if you want him to go for social reasons then I say do it. If you have lots of fun stuff you do together, and he is getting lots of social activities elsewhere I would use that $ to enjoy your last year together.

 

[drivencrazy]

We have 1/2 day here which was great for us. I stayed home and we did lots of playdates, gymnastics, library programs, etc. Kids are both in gifted now so I guess we were ok.

Anyhow, a friend of mine paid for full day K. They told her that after a lunch, rest and recess, they really aren't doing any more "learning" than in a 1/2 day program.

So, if you want him to go for social reasons then I say do it. If you have lots of fun stuff you do together, and he is getting lots of social activities elsewhere I would use that $ to enjoy your last year together.

I did ask about the day... there is learning ALL day. I first thought that they would rest and play outside more, but was told that they may take a rest time the first week or two, but after that they won't. They do go out for recess before lunch and on really nice days will have another short recess in the afternoon. But will have more time to spend doing the "work" and just not be as rushed. They also get to cover more stuff.

I spoke to one of our friends up at the school (she was our oldest daughters teacher a couple of years back) and she thinks that full day would be best for him and is going to help fill us in on what else we need to know about the teachers......... it's good knowing people!

I am still having a hard time knowing he will be there more time than he NEEDs to be when he could be spending that time with me!! Sounds selfish I know, but I am having a hard time with it... I know we could do lots of fun things if he did only go half day, but also know that most of his days there will be pretty fun, that's just how K is!

I guess I have the last few months of school and the summer to get ready for it all!

Thanks again!

 

[crisi]

My son did half day. A year later my daughter did full day. (Now my district is another one that only offers full day).

Here is what I noticed.

My son's friends overwhelmingly had SAHMs (which I am not) - the WOHMs were all eagar for full day to cut daycare expenses while the SAHMs were less eagar (and perhaps a little less ready). That had some strange socioeconomic impact - my daughter's friends were more likely to be single parents. My son's friends all had intact families. Hence, my daughter had a very difficult time getting playdates (many of her friends are at Dad's on Saturday), while my son not only got playdates on weekends, he got invited over on off school days because the SAHMs were eagar for someone to play with their kids. My son's kindergarten friends played soccer and baseball and did those other "suburban kid" things that were less accessible to single parents - and therefore my son did more of those things with his friends (my daughter played soccer in kindergarten too, but didn't know anyone on the team).

Academically, there was little difference. My daughter got to do more enrichment stuff (music and gym was part of the full day program, not part of the half day program), and had more time to be - as someone said earlier - kindergarteny. But since my son had half day daycare with his half day preschool, he got half a day of fingerpaint and creative play in that environment.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

No choice in GA public schools. Full Day only.

 

[pooh4evr]

No choice here either all full day- which I would choose anyway!

 

[pyrxtc]

well, we have a choice here in my town..... 1/2 day or no kinder. Kindergarten is not required in the state of NH. Some places are starting to offer full time but most towns you have to pay for Kinder if they want to go. I am very lucky that I get it for free.

OP, what you state your child can do is something that our kids are taught in 1st grade. Kinder is abou socializing mostly and then name, letters, and numbers. Forget counting and reading!

 

[drivencrazy]

well, we have a choice here in my town..... 1/2 day or no kinder. Kindergarten is not required in the state of NH. Some places are starting to offer full time but most towns you have to pay for Kinder if they want to go. I am very lucky that I get it for free.

OP, what you state your child can do is something that our kids are taught in 1st grade. Kinder is abou socializing mostly and then name, letters, and numbers. Forget counting and reading!

To tell you the truth, I don't think that they HAVE to go to school here till 1st grade... but I don't know anyone who hasn't sent their child to Kindergarten.... but I don't know, maybe things have changed.??

I have been told that he could "fit right in with the first graders" but that isn't something I would want to do... since then he would be the youngest in older years when then it might be harder. Also, if we opted to skip K he would have to do all kinds of testing and I just can't see doing that to him... there is plunty of time for "school" in the years to come.

Around here they do learn quite a bit. By the end of K they should be reading, or at least have so many sight words... write their name, know their phone # and address... he does know all of this already and as for the socializing, he is pretty good at that as well. He gets along and will play with others, he helps out little ones... I really have no worries about him, but it is still hard for me to think he will be gone ALL day!

If I were a working mom, I do think it would be easier to say full day... but I don't work........ at least I will have my baby girl home with me! And she will keep me busy while the others are at school.......... but still!!!

 

[klj27]

Honestly, I would choose half day. I know someone very well who taught full day kindergarten and the curriculum wasn't much different at all from full day. By the time they had two recesses, lunch and rest time they were getting the same curriculum as the half day kids. If your child is never around any other kids socially they may need this extra interaction, but my kids have always been involved in other activities so I will always choose half day. The majority of the families here who use full day do so for childcare arrangements. I think it is FABULOUS for kids who would be going to daycare after half day school, but that also doesn't pertain to us.