Welcome to Gaia! ::

She is in school already.

Kindergarten is this summer.. we are trying to decide if she is up to Kindergarten yet... They expect kids to already be able to write their full name, and all the numbers.

She was just tested for placement, and I think she will end up going to full-day class (which means we have to pay) but they include music, art and other extras (BabyBipper loves to sing)

Our options are: Traditional, Traditional Plus (full day) , or Developmental Kindergarten

We were not given a choice here. All that was available was full day kindergarten. Of course, this district also has MAJOR issues. It is the third largest in the country, and I don't especially find that something to brag about. His class at one point at 43 kids in it, with only one teacher and an aid once a week. It exhausted me when I helped out. Over halfway through the year they FINALLY hired another teacher. This brought their tally down to something like 34. Which is STILL a lot of kids for one adult to handle. I really feel for his teacher.

Apparently there are laws in place for first and second grade class sizes. I've read to a few second grade classes, and at 12 or 13 kids a class, it's heaven. What I want to know is, why don't they do this with ALL grades? And why not with kindergarten, where the foundation is laid for the rest of their schooling?? It really irritates me.

But the district as a whole handles things badly. They seem to be mis-spending money left and right. My son's school can't even afford yard duty people for during lunchtimes. What's the deal here? One of the teachers implied to me that it was due to not enough people paying taxes (meaning illegals... which is a major issue here), but that doesn't make sense, since Nevada doesn't have state income tax.... they put taxes on bought items instead. So even the illegal immigrants are paying state taxes, which would be what should go directly to the schools.

So I'm at a loss. ::shrugs:: Anyway, his cut-off date for enrollment was the end of September, which was good, since his birthday was the first of September, and there was NO WAY I was keeping him back another year.

I'm looking forward to next year and it's smaller class size... I just wish this school's principal would move on and go somewhere else. I dun like her at all. ::grins:: Okay, my own rant is done. smile

Not sure about the entire state of Michigan, or even the county we are in, but our school district offers half day kindergarten as the standard. Full day includes quite a few other things and will cost us $1800 if we choose to send BabyBipper there.. I don't like the idea of being away from her that long EVERY weekday, but I know she will enjoy it and benefit from it, so I think we are leaning that way.

Right now, preschool is three days (M-W-F) and only two and a half hours. There are 20 kids, one teacher, one aid, and almost always one parent, which isn't really a great ratio (my perspective) but when they have a routine and orginization, they really get a lot done! (I have been amazed watching one teacher get and keep the attention of the class, when I have trouble keeping the attention of one four year old.)

Last day of preschool is May 19th. It hasn't registered with BabyBipper, but when it does... I see trouble.. I know she will be upset when school is out for the summer, hopefully, we will be able to keep her entertained.

Wow, it's good to get such good feedback from other moms! Now I have more questions I can ask. 3nodding

When does Angel turn 5, Sunny? I'll add her to the birthday calendar as well.

Good to see you posting Tal!

Well Jade's kindergarten roundup went well, and was pretty exciting, maybe because I've never had a child start school before! Yeah, I got a little emotional at times, but it's the same happy crying feeling I get at weddings and graduations because it's such a big life event and means accomplishments and growing up.

Her kindergarten does offer half-day as a choice, but usually everyone picks full-day, and there isn't even a half-day bus offered because the lack of half-day students. And their max classroom size by law is 20 kids, and they require another aid after 15 students. I was thrilled to see a few kids there that Jade already knows! I never knew what part of town they were in or what district they would be in, so I'm really pleased and even added a note that Jade and Evelyn are friends and might feel more comfortable starting together in the same class.

Now gotta look into setting an appointment for her many vaccinations. They said do it soon because it's going to be a busy summer trying to fit everybody in!

I needed a place to rant about ANOTHER little girl thing that's frustrated me lately, and that's lip gloss!! gonk Today I found smears of pink lip gloss that WON'T WASH OUT on 3 of Jade's new outfits (were going to be for school) AND on my white puffy chair in the living room. rolleyes Also yesterday I found smears of a different lip gloss on the wall (again! I keep reminding her NEVER to wipe things on the wall!) but that one washed off easily. The pink one that's not washing out of her clothes in the laundry or off my chair is a Barbie Mermadia lip gloss (I'm surprised it's "name brand" and not washable!) so I found all the Mermadia makeup and threw it out. sweatdrop Remember the lip gloss on the bathroom mirror which I asked for tips on removing, as it just smeared all over? Well, after using lemon juice, vinegar, ammonia, bleach, and WD40, it still didn't all come off. Although most if it's off! I think we'll eventually replace my white chair with something less stainable (it has raspberry strudel filling all over it too), and probably the mirror too. neutral (still.. I'm glad I don't have a boy! I think I have a mess phobia!)

My boys are outnumbered by the Purkle girls! LOL. At least I don't have to deal with lip gloss being smeared on things - I just have to deal with matchbox cars scratching up the furniture! rolleyes .

My son also is 5 (his bday is at the end of May) and will be starting kindergarten very soon. I believe the age cutoff here for kindergarten is September 1st, but the kids are not *required* to attend school until they are 6. It's a half-day program, with paid 'day care' available for those parents who need it. There are likely other options available as well, if you opt for private school.

The schools in this part of the county are fairly good, and he was accepted to the "A-rated" elementary school down the road (Florida has "school choice"), but he won't be attending. We'll be homeschooling instead. I'm just waiting for the 3 year old to start preschool again (3x/week) to have that uninterrupted time to start edumacating my eldest. wink Fortunately, our county is really (suprisingly) good about providing governmental support (not fiscal, though) for homeschoolers - there are a lot of options available and a lot of support and co-op groups around here.

I'm not sure about student/teacher ratios here for kindergarten, but do know there are some rather strict rules for preschool... for a group of 2 year olds, there must be 1 teacher/assistant per every 6 kids. For the 3 year old groups, I believe the ratio is 1:7, and for 4 year olds, it's 1:8 or perhaps 1:9. These kinds of ratios make complete sense to me, since the younger the child, the more one-on-one attention they need and the less self-control and self-initiative they possess. Anything less than 'manageable' numbers of adults to kids just seems like throwing the kids to the wilds (of each other!) to me, and I honestly don't see how any of it ends up benefitting the kids at all...

For those of you wrestling with these issues, I wish you luck. That is partly why we made the choice for education that we made, although our local schools don't seem to be so wildly out of balance as some of yours sad . {{hugs}}

LMAO! I actually forgot about that... or was it that I'm trying to forget it...? Yeah, that was fun... *permanent* red marker on light leather sofas! rolleyes Thank you 3 year old...