At a daycare meeting yesterday, I learned, kind of offhand, that after the current class of Preschool children graduates (within the next two weeks) that Rosie will be the oldest child in her Center.She has a November birthday and didn't make the Fairfax County cutoff for public school this year, so will have to wait until she's practically six before entering Kindergarten. I knew this, but was rather taken aback that the handful of kids with Sept through early Nov birthdays (who also didn't make the cutoff) were getting taken out of the Center. Not only this, but children younger than her by a month or two were entering other programs as well! There are only two other children from her current class that are continuing with her.
Does this seem odd? I really believe strongly that her Center is high quality and that their Kindergarten-prep program is top-notch. However, she has been in the K-prep program for the past year and will be taught by the same teachers in the same room for the next 12 months as well.
I did investigate moving her to a preschool program at a private school or a Montessori program, but I just couldn't swallow this issue: the programs were only 9 a.m. to Noon (or occassionally 9 a.m. to 3) and cost the same amount as our 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. childcare center.
The only benefit I could see was the variety in location and curriculum. Drawbacks include that I would be inconvenienced by the hours (which I know are typical of public school but I'd rather not deal with it if I don't have to) and potentially would have to pay MORE for before and aftercare. And, Dash is still in the same Center, so we'd have to make separate drop-offs.
Ouch.
One other issue, and I hope this is just a phase she's going through, is that in the past few weeks, Rosie has been telling us that "school is BORING." and, "do I have to go back to boring old school today?" We're trying to encourage her to go and find something else that's interesting to do if she's bored. (You know, you do make your own reality!)
Would she have benefitted from a change? I guess we'll never know. I made the decision, enrollment is over, and will be sticking with it until next September.
we were in a similar boat with BC, as she's a december baby. she continues to be one of the oldest kids in her class, but for her, it has been a good thing. she started out pretty tiny (don't let the filled-out chick you know fool you -- when she started kindergarten at age almost 6, she was still wearing plenty of 3Ts and 4Ts -- she was TEENY!), and it was great for her to have that feeling of being "the big kid" even though she wasn't really the biggest kid in her class.
ReplyDeletewe wrestled with the idea of BC being in her 4s room for a second year, especially since all of her buddies were leaving in sept. as luck would have it, we found a certified K at one of the federal agency daycare centers, and it turned out to be a godsend for her. i can't say enough about the teacher and how much she learned -- but even so, we started her in K again in our local school. but boy oh boy, girlfriend started that second year of K with confidence.
that being said, honestly, the most important thing i think a kid can walk into public school is the whole socialization thing, which miss ro has gotten in spades from daycare. if she gets another year at her current daycare, it won't harm her.
if she's bored, though, can you talk to the teachers there and ask them if there are ways in which they might "supplement" her experience -- maybe some special reading time or writing time or other more "grownup" things for a girl of her stature to do?
just thinking :)
Clearly, this is her opportunity to "add value" to the daycare center as well as develop her mid-level management skills: harrassing younger kids, sucking up to teacher, assigning overtime assignments on Friday. She'll be Lean Six Sigma-ing and kaizen-ing that class in no time!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter also shares the title of oldest in her classroom. In her case she is also one of the biggest. I wondered whether I should push to have her enter kindergarten a year early but decided that it wasn't worth pushing or losing sleep over. We were in a montessori program which means that she stayed in the same classroom with the same teacher for 3 years and it was actually a benefit -- teacher knows your kid and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteI'd look for some appropriate curriculum books from the book store and bring them to school. Tell the teacher about your daughter's proclamation of being bored. That way she might steer her toward the activity books you brought in. If she is bribable (I'm not above that myself) we are offering prizes for completing a chapter.
I'm a working mom too and I MISS the all-day care that was available before public school so take advantage of it while you can! Good luck.
Thanks Sher & Peggy for sharing your experiences. I will tell her teachers that she's been talking about boredom and suggest that they engage with her more. I was pretty angry with them a few months ago when I first noticed that she wasn't participating in class projects; the teachers told me straight out that they were concentrating on the kids who were going to be graduating and since Rosie would be with them another year, she wasn't a priority.
ReplyDeleteGrrrr.
I have some books that I can bring in. She really enjoys the workbooks! And for socialization, she really does have that under her belt.
To Monkey: the teachers suggested that she could run next year's graduation ceremony; it'll be her 3rd at the Center.