Kindergarten

amyjoy18 · June 2012

How long is your DC's kindergarten? We're still a few years off for kindergarten, but I was kind of shocked that it is only 2 hours and 20minutes/day. I think her "preschool" session at daycare is longer than that.

DH and I are both close enough to work/school/daycare that we will be able to make the pickups/dropoffs regardless of morning or afternoon, but this could be a logistic nightmare for some families.

AmandaJLewis · June 2012

Yea, ours is a half day program too- and like you having a daycare kid going from that to a couple hours of Kindergarten seems so silly. I was surprised that half day programs still existed, our old house was in a district with a full day program. Still not sure how we will balance getting EJ between school and daycare- but we have until next fall to figure something out.

Jcubed2003 · June 2012

Several of my co-workers are going through this business right now. However, it isn't Kindergarten that scares me. It is what will I do with him in the summer after 1st grade? Then we have to hire a babysitter??? Oh boy. One CW said I thought it was supposed to get easier as the get older...I totally agree with her.

bride2003 · June 2012

we send to catholic school so she goes all day - 8:30-3. There is still half day and they go from 8:30 - noon or close to it. I would think 2.5 is not enough time especially when you throw in snack time. Most people that I know that work with half day districts either send private for the first year or do wrap around with day care & after school programs. My friend's kid went to before school program in the am, then afternoon kindergarten. That's hard though b/c some of those kids are so tired by the time the afternoon rolls around its hard to concentrate.

gwennythepooh · June 2012

I recently found out ours is full day. I don't know the specific hours (we have awhile:), but it is the same as the rest of the elementary school, I believe.

MrsAmers · June 2012

Ours is full day, 9:10 to 3:50. When we get the bus schedule we'll figure out if H will need after school care or both before and after. There is a program for before/after care in her school. I don't know if it is awesome...but it is convenient and reasonably priced.

egpitt22 · June 2012

full day, thank God! I"m not sure of the exact hours, but I do know they offer before and after school care, so at least I won't have to worry about that. Now the summer, that's a whole other concern!

leiann2003 · June 2012

Hayden's was from 8:00 - 2:30.

lala5507 · June 2012

Ours will be full day. But that sounds like such a long day for a 5 year old.

amyjoy18 · June 2012

lala5507:
Ours will be full day. But that sounds like such a long day for a 5 year old.

I guess since DD has been going to daycare since she was a baby and is used to that structure and the long day, it seems like it would be a step backward, and disruptive to go from daycare to kindergarten and back to daycare if she was in the afternoon program.

Luckystar2 · June 2012

AmandaJLewis:
Yea, ours is a half day program too- and like you having a daycare kid going from that to a couple hours of Kindergarten seems so silly. I was surprised that half day programs still existed, our old house was in a district with a full day program. Still not sure how we will balance getting EJ between school and daycare- but we have until next fall to figure something out.

Ditto. I'm annoyed ours is half day. Our district has after kindergarten program so we may do that or have her bussed to her current daycare and do after school there.

Luckystar2 · June 2012

amyjoy18:
lala5507:
Ours will be full day. But that sounds like such a long day for a 5 year old.

I guess since DD has been going to daycare since she was a baby and is used to that structure and the long day, it seems like it would be a step backward, and disruptive to go from daycare to kindergarten and back to daycare if she was in the afternoon program.

Ditto. I really think kindergarten should be full day. I think most people do pre-k nowadays so kids should be used to at least a few hours so I feel like kindergarten should be a step up from that. And likewise dd has been at daycare full day since 12 weeks. She is starting the preschool room and obviously there all day. So half day kindergarten feels like a step backwards and disruptive for sure.

lishie · June 2012

J starts public school in the fall in a public montessori program, which is "kindergarten" for 3, 4 and 5 year olds.

It's from 9:15 - 2:30 each day. We're paying for before/after school care as well.

lala5507 · June 2012

Luckystar2:
amyjoy18:

lala5507:
Ours will be full day. But that sounds like such a long day for a 5 year old.

I guess since DD has been going to daycare since she was a baby and is used to that structure and the long day, it seems like it would be a step backward, and disruptive to go from daycare to kindergarten and back to daycare if she was in the afternoon program.

Ditto. I really think kindergarten should be full day. I think most people do pre-k nowadays so kids should be used to at least a few hours so I feel like kindergarten should be a step up from that. And likewise dd has been at daycare full day since 12 weeks. She is starting the preschool room and obviously there all day. So half day kindergarten feels like a step backwards and disruptive for sure.

I totally get where you guys are coming from. My dd has never been in daycare so she'll be going from 2 days of preschool to 5 full days of kindergarten. It just seems like such a huge step. I wish there was an option.

MandyMilller · June 2012

Ours is also only half day. It's definitely going to suck because her bday is 6 days from the cutoff. So we'll still have to worry about childcare for her at least part time for the next two year.

northhillsbride · June 2012

Gavin is starting Kindergarten in the Fall and (one of the reasons) we chose to send him to Catholic school (at our Parish) is b/c they offer full day, with after-school care. So, he'll go 8:30-3ish, and after school care until we pick him up (probably around 4:30).

Due to school district/tri-county logistical nightmares, our district will bus him to and from school (from our house) but not to our daycare. He will have to get on a bus at 6:45a, but we can't do much to change that right now. He's up by 6;15a every morning for d/c right now anyway.

Our school does offer a half day program option as well.

DomerJenC · June 2012

half-day. I think it's less time than his preschool will be. I'm kind of glad, as he's in Montessori, so I think easing into a traditional classroom setting will work out better for him this way.

waltsgirl102503 · June 2012

Ours is full day, which I think is so much better. Kindergarten involves a lot of work now and half day doesn't leave a lot of room for specials and fitting in all of the things that they need to know.

And for those of you concerned about after/summer care - our daycare runs an afterschool program. Noah takes the bus there after school and they give him a snack and do homework. And he's also there all day during the summer. I think it goes through 5th grade.

egpitt22 · June 2012

I just looked because I was curious: North Hills district is 9am-3:30pm, with before care available starting at 7:30am, and after care available until 6pm. It will end up being around $300/month for both the before and after school care (which is at the elementary school)

Kindergarten

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