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My town does not offer full day Kindergarten but my son is registered at the local Y . With all the taxes we pay ALL of NJ towns should have full day Kindergarten classes whether or not you choose to send your child there. As a mother I would love to have stayed home , but it's NOT an option. Not everyone can afford to stay at home with their children and I don't understand how some people just do not understand that.
BRI419 you should also look into private schools. Good Luck!
I completely agree with you JerseyG!!! Can you tell me the name of the private school you use? My daughter is reading and writing and beyond this 2.5 hr BS.
full day kindergarten can cost a district as much as 40mil extra a year in the budget . A town next to me just axed their plan when they got a look at the price tag. A town like Old Bridge is going to get very little help from the State to start a full day program. I'm thankful that our town went to full day years ago.
OMG! 40 million for what? Did they have to build a new school just for 5 year olds?
Thank You all!
MG! 40 million for what? Did they have to build a new school just for 5 year olds? LOL
How do you attach the message that you are replying on? It's not working for me
I have a 5 yr old going to Kindergarten in Sept at Virgil Grissom school. Not only do they not have full day, but they are only offerring mornings from 9-11:30 with no after school program! I actually have to leave my job. I just can't believe that in this day and age when BOTH parents HAVE to work, and kids are used to being in Childcare/Preschool for at least 6 hours a day that certain Public Schools only offer to 2.5 hrs of Kindergarten. It's as if my child will be forced to regress when she goes to Kindergarten. Something needs to be done about this. Where are all of our tax dollars going? I don't know what we are going to do without my income If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Thanks
A lot of the area districts, such as East Brunswick only offer half day kindergarten. It is nice to have, but not a requirement.
Most districts will have transportation take your child to a babysitter or daycare facility as long as it is on a transportation route -i.e. in town. Lots of daycare facilities offer after school programs in towns with half day K, you should call around. I assume your child was already in a facility if you were working - do they offer Kindergarten classes?
Half day Kindergarten is perfectly adequate, from an educational perspective. If you can't manage it, then find a full-day daycare for him that has a Kindergarten program, there are plenty of them around and you'll probably pay the same amount that you are paying now, assuming he is in daycare now. Then transfer him in first grade. Many parents do that in our town, which also offers half-day.
Half-day does not cause regression, in fact, half-day Kindergarten is developmentally appropriate, including in length of day.
It is not the school's job to ensure that you have day care for your child.
Most towns cannot afford to implement full-day Kindergarten right now, and I know for sure if they tried to get it in my town, I would fight against it during these economic times.
The 2.5 hours of morning/afternoon kindergarten accomplishes about nothing. Get into class, settle down, sing a song, have a snack, go to a reading circle, have a potty break, do an art project with a lot of glitter, have another potty break, pack up and go home. A colossal waste of time.
This is just not true. A 2.5 hour Kindergarten program is absolutely fine. I'm sure you went to a half-day program
And then, as an added bonus, you can actually work with your own child in the other time on their reading, which is the most important thing they are learning at that age and is best learned one-on-one anyway.
Half day Kindergarten is perfectly adequate, from an educational perspective. If you can't manage it, then find a full-day daycare for him that has a Kindergarten program, there are plenty of them around and you'll probably pay the same amount that you are paying now, assuming he is in daycare now. Then transfer him in first grade. Many parents do that in our town, which also offers half-day.
Half-day does not cause regression, in fact, half-day Kindergarten is developmentally appropriate, including in length of day.
It is not the school's job to ensure that you have day care for your child.
Most towns cannot afford to implement full-day Kindergarten right now, and I know for sure if they tried to get it in my town, I would fight against it during these economic times.
Exactly. People are even stating outright that it's babysitting that they need but don't want to pay for.
This is just not true. A 2.5 hour Kindergarten program is absolutely fine. I'm sure you went to a half-day program
And then, as an added bonus, you can actually work with your own child in the other time on their reading, which is the most important thing they are learning at that age and is best learned one-on-one anyway.
Yes I did! I also went to what was called "nursery school" back in the day, not "pre-K". But I could read before I went to Kindergarten.
Does that 2.5 hours lend itself to as much learning as 6.5 hours does? Not in my opinion as someone who taught pre-K and Kindergarten. Do 5 year old kids stand up just fine to full days? Yes they do. Is it about baby-sitting? Not for me, I'm a stay at home mom since I had baby #1 and there was no choice, that's what the school offered that I send my kids to. Pre-K 4 was also full day but with an option for 3 days a week or 5.
My kids were reading/writing/spelling waaaaay before my friends kids who were in 1/2 day. Did that kind of seal the deal for me? Yes, it did.
Does it all work itself out in the wash eventually? Of course it does. Nobody goes to college and blames their lousy reading/writing skills on 1/2 day Kindergarten and no one goes to college and places out of all college level English and writing courses and thanks their lucky stars that they went to full day Kindergarten.
So I still stand behind my opinion that 1/2 day Kindergarten is pretty much a waste of time. Give them 4 hours or 3.5 hours. Really make it a full 1/2 day. THAT would make a huge difference for students and teachers alike.
Yes I did! I also went to what was called "nursery school" back in the day, not "pre-K". But I could read before I went to Kindergarten.
Does that 2.5 hours lend itself to as much learning as 6.5 hours does? Not in my opinion as someone who taught pre-K and Kindergarten. Do 5 year old kids stand up just fine to full days? Yes they do. Is it about baby-sitting? Not for me, I'm a stay at home mom since I had baby #1 and there was no choice, that's what the school offered that I send my kids to. Pre-K 4 was also full day but with an option for 3 days a week or 5.
My kids were reading/writing/spelling waaaaay before my friends kids who were in 1/2 day. Did that kind of seal the deal for me? Yes, it did.
Does it all work itself out in the wash eventually? Of course it does. Nobody goes to college and blames their lousy reading/writing skills on 1/2 day Kindergarten and no one goes to college and places out of all college level English and writing courses and thanks their lucky stars that they went to full day Kindergarten.
So I still stand behind my opinion that 1/2 day Kindergarten is pretty much a waste of time. Give them 4 hours or 3.5 hours. Really make it a full 1/2 day. THAT would make a huge difference for students and teachers alike.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but the fact that you are a teacher may play into your opinion on this. Of course teachers think that MORE time with teachers is good for children.
Half-day K is perfectly adequate, both educationally and developmentally. Just because so many people are sending their children to full-day care from the day they are born now doesn't mean that full-day K is necessary. I think we're mixing up the cause and effect there.
In any case, it's the parents that make the difference, not teachers. I loved half-day K for my child. I was able to spend more time with him, some of which we spent working on his reading one-on-one, something that he wouldn't have received at school had he been there for six hours a day.
And as far as using your children as the example, the plural of anecdote is not data. My child was way ahead by the end of half-day K. So what?
Finally, the law only requires half-day K, and that is all that should be provided in these hard economic times.
As to your comment that half-day is a complete waste of time, wow! I can't believe you just wrote that. Actually, I might agree with you on that, but I think 6 hours is a bigger waste of time.
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