School Choices
I've talked a lot about having a child who missed the kindergarten cut off by a few hours. In Somerville these dates are carved in stone. You miss the birthday cut off, you're banned for an entire year. This also effects our ability to attend Somerville's totally awesome Free Preschool. He couldn't start there until he was five because he'd have to be four by the same deadline he's going to miss for kindergarten. So, either we suck it up and pay for another year of preschool at Oxford Street, or we send him somewhere else less expensive.
We love Oxford Street, but it's expensive and it's a lot of work. Having your kid in a parent cooperative means your kid gets great care, but you pay through the nose and you have to put in a lot of time.
So, as of a week or so ago we have a new option that we're pretty happy with. Eric got offered a spot at Saint Peters. Saint Peters is a Catholic school in Cambridge. It's pretty reasonable for a private school and they have a PreK that's very well respected. He'd attend for at least 2 years and if we chose, we could transfer him to public first grade at that point.
I just there was somebody who could tell me if this is a good idea or not. Eric is really interested in learning. He's trying really hard to read and is interested in basic arithmetic. But these days the trend is to start kids as late as possible. I suppose if he had been born in August like he was supposed to be, this wouldn't be an issue. But I worry there will be consequences to starting him "early." I worry there will be worse consequences to starting him "late."
Am I dooming him to a struggle to keep up? Will he burn out on too much school too soon? Or am I sentencing him to a lifetime of school boredom?
I've talked a lot about having a child who missed the kindergarten cut off by a few hours. In Somerville these dates are carved in stone. You miss the birthday cut off, you're banned for an entire year. This also effects our ability to attend Somerville's totally awesome Free Preschool. He couldn't start there until he was five because he'd have to be four by the same deadline he's going to miss for kindergarten. So, either we suck it up and pay for another year of preschool at Oxford Street, or we send him somewhere else less expensive.
We love Oxford Street, but it's expensive and it's a lot of work. Having your kid in a parent cooperative means your kid gets great care, but you pay through the nose and you have to put in a lot of time.
So, as of a week or so ago we have a new option that we're pretty happy with. Eric got offered a spot at Saint Peters. Saint Peters is a Catholic school in Cambridge. It's pretty reasonable for a private school and they have a PreK that's very well respected. He'd attend for at least 2 years and if we chose, we could transfer him to public first grade at that point.
I just there was somebody who could tell me if this is a good idea or not. Eric is really interested in learning. He's trying really hard to read and is interested in basic arithmetic. But these days the trend is to start kids as late as possible. I suppose if he had been born in August like he was supposed to be, this wouldn't be an issue. But I worry there will be consequences to starting him "early." I worry there will be worse consequences to starting him "late."
Am I dooming him to a struggle to keep up? Will he burn out on too much school too soon? Or am I sentencing him to a lifetime of school boredom?
posted by Margaret at 7:55 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Margaret: I think you should talk to the teacher at school now to see if Eric is emotionally ready to attend kindergarten. That was the trick for us. Ben was academically ready, we think. But emotionally he is still very sensitive and perhaps a year behind. I'm glad we waited.
The "problem" is that it's really hard to get a spot in a private kindergarten if you don't go to the PreK. So, our strategy is to enroll him in PreK at this particular Catholic school, and he'd stay for 2 years and attend kindergarten there.
they assessed him and thought he was a great candidate for PreK. But who knows where we'll be in a year. I really want to avoid "3 schools in 3 years."
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