Kindergarten Confusion!!! (Cambridge, Chelmsford, Harvard: day care, movies, preschool)

[arun_junta]

Hi,
I'm moving in from India at the end of this month with my family. My daughter would 've just turned 5(Dec '03). I've the following questions:

1. Does she qualify for kindergarten or for normal school?
2. Do public schools themselves 've kindergarten sections or do I need to find private schools for this?
3. Will public schools take her midway into the year?
4. What is the avg cost if I 've to put her in a private kindergarten?
5. can somebody provide a link that gives me enough idea on the nitty-gritties of the US schooling system?

Thanks.

[smarty]

1. Does she qualify for kindergarten or for normal school?
Probably not until Sep 08.
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/kindergarten.asp

2. Do public schools themselves 've kindergarten sections or do I need to find private schools for this?
Most public schools do have kindergarten. It is only for 1 year instead of 2-3 years in many other countries. Some towns have full day and most have half day.

3. Will public schools take her midway into the year?
Yes. But she is not qualified due to her age.

4. What is the avg cost if I 've to put her in a private kindergarten?
It varies. From $3000-12000

5. can somebody provide a link that gives me enough idea on the nitty-gritties of the US schooling system?
Too open ended question... not sure what to answer. Try department of education website.
http://www.doe.mass.edu/

[airedaly]

In this area, when we send our children to school before Kindergarten, we call it "Pre-school" or "Nursery School". Some of these schools are academic and some are not. My children attended "Nursery" school at a local church and did not learn to read or write there. They mostly learned to interact with other little children and did lots of crafts, cooking and music, dance, etc. At age 3, they went to school 3 mornings every week, and at age 4, they went 4 or 5 mornings.

Many school systems have all-day kindergarten until 2:30 or 3:00PM. My town has morning-sessions only, with an optional afternoon session which you pay extra for.

[Parsec]

I remember you asking questions on here earlier this year. Are you finally making the move to the Chelmsford area? Your daughter doesn't qualify for kindergarten, so you would send her to pre-school once you move here. I would look for a private pre-school since most (except the competitive ones) will accept children mid-year. If you want something that's reasonably priced, look into Catholic preschools (you don't have to be Catholic to enroll). I was just thinking, you might even want to send her to a private kindergarten depending on her skill level.

[arun_junta]

Hi Parsec,
LTNC. Yup!!! I'm finally making the move now that all my work in India is done. I went to the doe website -courtesy smarty, where the age criteria per town is given. Does 'Age on' mean completed/current age?

She's in 2nd level montessori at her school here in India. Do private pre-school's acknowledge proficiency of students frm other countries? I hope they take her at her current level since she's made tremendous progress in the last 6 months.

What are the 'competitive' pre-schools in the area?

Airedaly,
Thanks so much for your reply. I'm counting on folks like you to help me settle down :-).

Smarty,
With reference to my open ended question on US schooling, I wanted to get a link which I can use as a starting point to gather information on the US school system. Though I know a bit about the school system, I didn't pay much attention to the gory details till recently :-). Thanks for the link.

Btw, some more questions to all you folks:
1. Do all these pre-schools also 've day care too?
2. Any daycare/pre-schools that I can right away avoid?
3. Any forum which discusses exclusively about day care(s)/pre-school(s)?

[smarty]

She's in 2nd level montessori at her school here in India. Do private pre-school's acknowledge proficiency of students frm other countries? I hope they take her at her current level since she's made tremendous progress in the last 6 months.

I have no idea what 2nd level montessori at her school would be equivalent to. I do not think there is a standard for montessori school. Most private school will do a test before admiting. If she is advance, you can talk to the private school to see if she can be accepted into higher grades.

I would look into montessori schools in the area you plan to live. It is not something where you want to drive 30-40 minutes just to drop her off and pick her back up in 2-3 hours.

BBN in Cambridge is a very competitive school. It is harder to get into their pre-Kindergarten program than into Harvard. I heard something like 5-8% of kids apply gets in vs Harvard U's 9%.
http://www.bbns.org/
BB&N Tuition Rates 2007-08
Beginners $ 17,040
Kindergarten, Grades 1 - 3 $ 22,180
Grades 4 - 5 $ 25,180
Grade 6 $ 29,920
Grades 7 - 8 $ 30,940
Grades 9 - 12 $ 31,440



1. Do all these pre-schools also 've day care too?
Most do not.

2. Any daycare/pre-schools that I can right away avoid?
My kids are older... but GOOD daycare/preschool are hard to come by.

[CaseyB]

Most of the towns require a child to already be 5 years of age before school starts in September, usually they must be 5 by Sepember 1st. Like your daughter, I have a December birthday, but the requirements were different "in the old days", and I was able to start school at age 4 because our school system used a January 1st date. I believe some of the school systems in New Hampshire still use January 1st.

As far as I know, if a student completes a grade in another state where the age requirements are different, they will not have to repeat that grade once they enter Massachusetts public schools. Whether that would apply to your daughter if you should have her do private kindergarten for the rest of the year here, I don't know. You might want to check this out in advance with the school systems in the towns you are looking at. Check to see if they have a written policy. I'd hate to see you waste your money if they wouldn't let her in to first grade next year.

[capecodcathy]

I ran into a similar problem when we moved. My daughter had already completed kindergarten. They new school did an assessment on her and decided she should be in first grade. That's been a double-edged sword. She's the youngest in her class and sometimes the maturity factor was an issue, more so in middle school.

[CaseyB]

Agree, that was my experience. We moved to another town where I had kids in my grade who were a whole year older than me and it really starts to matter when you hit the teenage years. Your friends can get into certain movies and you can't, I couldn't get my driver's license 'till senior year. Some of the sports leagues have age requirements instead of what grade you are in. It will probably be even harder for a child who is moving here from another country.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

Agree, that was my experience. We moved to another town where I had kids in my grade who were a whole year older than me and it really starts to matter when you hit the teenage years. Your friends can get into certain movies and you can't, I couldn't get my driver's license 'till senior year. Some of the sports leagues have age requirements instead of what grade you are in. It will probably be even harder for a child who is moving here from another country.

I can relate to that. I have a December birthday too and was always one of the youngest in my grade and didn't get my license til my senior year. I also finished 4 semesters of college while I was still 18. Anyway, I would recommend letting her repeat kindergarten in Sept. 2008 no matter what grade she ends up attending this year. She'll be more prepared both academically and socially in her teen years and beyond.

Arun: "Age on" means your daughter must be a certain age on that specified date. Most likely, it will say she must be 5 years old on September 1, 2007 to enroll in kindergarten this year. Some preschools have daycare, but most do not. The best thing to do is find a checklist online about what types of questions to ask a prospective preschool, and just call to interview about a dozen in your area. Then when you get here, you can visit each one that meets your criteria to see if it's well-organized, clean, safe, etc. and you can choose one after that.