This program is free through the public school system and, depending on the district, may be full or half day, four or five days a week.
Deadlines to register vary but usually occur in March. These programs often fill up quickly so contact your local school district or visit its website to find out about deadlines and applications. Preschool can start as young as 2 years and 9 months and goes through when a child enters kindergarten. There are many choices available.
Preschool is different from daycare. In preschool, the goal is to allow for the growth of children academically, socially and emotionally in preparation for their future schooling. There are many different thoughts on what this should look like so there are many different options. If you have questions, remember to ask your pediatrician. He or she can be very helpful in thinking through all these options. Things may have changed. Sorry if I seem to be meddling. I just love new KGers and used to love to watch them learn and grow.
Thanks to all for their thoughtful responses. What some readers have hit on strikes me as one of the more important ideas and that is how the curriculum has changed for kindergartners. Also, while there is a group which may wait on kindergarten, there is another group of students who go to private schools for kindergarten because they are not yet 5 on Dec 1.
Parents want to accelerate them and start them earlier. My understanding is that if you have completed kindergarten, they you go on to 1st grade, regardless of age. I haven't seen anything in writing by AAPS in terms of policy regarding this issue.
The decision is not an easy one and readiness should be determined on an individual case basis. I entered college at 17 Feb bday and my second child did the same Dec bday. For my child, I checked with the preschool teachers; had the child in a private kindergarten that accepted the occasional younger child and again checked with teachers about the child's readiness for first grade.
Cathy What has also changed since you went to school is the curriculum. What you did as a 6 year old and did just fine is what we now ask a 5 year old to do. For some kids that will be okay, not so for others. I am grateful we have choices as parents and If we are confident in the decisions we make for our children, I'm sure they will all turn out just fine. I was yet another one of those mid-November birthday, 17 year old college students, and I too have turned out just fine. The problem is not the 4 year olds, nor parents holding their children back a year.
Parents were choosing to keep their children at home for one more year back when I was in Kindergarten. What has changed, creating this problem, is that the 6 year olds who were held back by their parents were put directly into first grade, rather than Kindergarten, back when I was in school.
Kindergarten was optional grade level. If Kindergarten has become a required academic grade level than the obvious solution is to change the mandatory school age from 6 to 5. Part of the problem here is that everybody is so concerned about their own children, that they dont have any consideration for the needs of others.
My youngest turns 5 this September and will be attending our neighborhood school, which only offers all-day K. We thought long and hard about what would be best for him, and feel that he is ready for K - and he wants to do it.
If there were a young 5 program closer to us, though, I might have gone that route. I know the district has limited classroom space available, but there was no possible way to put my older child on the elementary bus in our SE neighborhood and then drive across town to Abbott every AM and still get my youngest to school there on time.
Maybe they could offer a 2nd location at the preschool center? Well-written and thought-provoking. Every child has different needs and it is wonderful that we have the option to make choices about where to place our children. I have one child with a late birthday entering kindergarten this fall who will do very well, and a teenager with a spring birthday that I wish I had held back a year, in retrospect. I can't figure out why there is so much antagonism in these comments - choose what's right for your own child and don't judge the choices that other parents feel compelled to make.
I agree the cutoff is ridiculously late. Also, each child is different. My son was much less mature than my daughter at 5. They have a great progam in Saline. In Michigan, the problem is the December 1 date.
In every other state I've lived in three the date has been Sept 1 or Oct 1. Some places the cutoff is June 1. All the kids that I've known who were "held back" fall in this Oct-Nov limbo. If kindergarten is for 5 year olds, then why not say you have to be 5 to start and stop having 4 year olds there. While any cut off is arbitrary, I think this simple change would make most of the problem of having kids almost 2 years apart in age, but in the same grade, disappear. Parents feel the pressure when they're sending a 4 year old in with all 5 year olds.
I think the cutoff date is part of the problem. Most other states have cutoff dates on or around Sept. Your November kid moves to another state and suddenly he's in with a group that's much older than he is because technically he isn't old enough to be in that grade in that state.
Then they want to know why you have "accelerated" your child. This is what happened to us. We also have one with a September birthday and we're not sure if we will start him or keep him in line with most of the rest of the country just in case we move again. We have a few years to think about it. People are just too mobile these days to have different start dates everywhere you go.
Michigan should change the cutoff date to Sept. Also agree with John and STB. My son started kindergarten last year. Every conference the teacher would tell me that while he was academically one of the top So I'm supposed to keep him back because of his social level, where he'll be bored out of his mind?
Way to focus on the social aspect of school and not the academic one. One day I happened to look at the class birthday list and most of the kids were turning 6 while in kindergarten.
Not just kids that met the cut off date for keeping kids in Young 5s, kids that were having birthdays in June and July. This year he will be going into first grade, many of the kids are already 7!!
So, I'm sure I will be hearing once again how his maturity level isn't matching the rest of the kids yet academically he'll be in the top 3. Young 5's is a trend that is making some of us have to follow the social herd even if we don't want to. An additional problem is that kindergarten is no longer an opportunity to experience a classroom environment and learn a few simple things during that process.
Now, kids are expected to read by the end of the year and they start "writing" stories early in the year. We have a twisted view of school these days, pushing and pushing kids. I also agree, however, that too many parents are holding kids back because they are so used to sheltering their kids that they cannot imagine their kids functioning in an environment that demands something of them. Our child was on the young side in K Sept.
A good number of his classmates were months older than he. It's hell for the teachers. I think schools should have kids start on time unless they receive an assessment that suggests otherwise. Speaking as a child that attended a young fives program back in the day, I believe that each child should be assessed to determine if they are emotionally, physically, and intellectually ready to attend kindergarten.
I myself attended a young fives program and feel that I benefited immensely from it. Yes it did stink somewhat being 19 when I graduated from high school, but I did extremely well in school. Now my husband on the other side of the spectrum did not attend a young fives program and did poorly in school. So much in fact that he was held back in third grade which he feels was detrimental to him on so many levels, even to this very day.
In my opinion it's a very difficult and delicate decision that should be made on a child by child basis by the parents with possibly the help of a qualified educator. I don't see what's so scary about it. I have a late november birthday and my parents put me into school at age 4. Obviously it depends on the child, but if they are mentally ready for kindergarten, then put them in! I think it's ridiculous the author held her child back even though they were ready. I agree with stb that it's the children who HAVE been held back that end up making it harder for those of us who entered school on time.
A: Enrollment is limited to 15 children in the Young Fives Program. The Young Five Program is intended to be a bridge between preschool and kindergarten Ideal candidates include children who:.
On the one hand, I was worried it wouldn't be challenging enough. On the other, I was worried that my daughter was not mature enough for Kindergarten. I was wrong about the program not challenging the students. It's structured and really allows the children to slowly develop as readers and writers. I'm so happy with my choice because I believe I gave my daughter a smoother transition into Kindergarten. She will enter as a reader and writer.
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