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My kid is Oct 2016 born and will not be 5 this August when the new wake county school session starts. This leaves us at following options.
1) Enroll her in a pre KG program at public\private school.
2) Go for Early KG program which requires psychological test for kid followed by parent interview & observation of kid under KG setting.
I have following questions:
1) In my mind I am certain that my kid is ready for KG. Has anyone gone through early KG evaluation process? What do we need to do to prepare my kid for evaluation ? 2) Is it possible to enroll my kid for KG in a private school and then transfer to a public school for 1st grade ? Does private school also enforce similar conditions ? what are downsides to this approach ? 3) Do we have any other options?
We briefly went through a similar thought process a few years ago with our late September born child when we signed her up for pre-school the year she turned 5.
We didn't go deep into the process, but from my recollection you can sign up for Kindergarten at one of the non-public schools (be it private or one of the pre-schools that offer Kindergarten) and then your child will need to be evaluated by the school system to determine if they are ready for 1st grade or will need to repeat Kindergarten at the regular school system.
Non-public schools have less stringent criteria for age entry into Kindergarten.
I didn't bother researching the Wake County entry rules but looks like there's a website that has more info on it.
I'm not sure there are really any other options other than home-schooling.
My daughter is an October birthday. She likely was “ready” to move to K earlier from an intellectual standpoint, but we decided to give her a full year of “Kindergarten Prep” at one of the private preschools she had attended since birth. We did this as we wanted to ensure she was super prepared, particularly from a social-emotional standpoint, and to also ensure she wasn’t always the youngest in her class, as both my wife and I were growing up. That has some real advantages, and we were fortunately in a position to spend that extra $. She walked into her first day of public Kindergarten fierce and prepared, and hasn’t looked back since. Was able to accelerate (SSA) in Math and go into the Academically and Intellectually Gifted (AIG) program in WCPSS. She could have skipped a grade in Elementary, but we decided against it for her emotional well being and to keep solid friend peer group. She is happy and well adjusted, with a love for learning, moving into a G&T Middle School. I’m very glad we made the decision we did.
We also saw a large number of potential Kindergartners get held back by their parents (even ones already over 5) in this past year’s cohort due to COVID. Expect a bumper crop in K this coming school year, which may strain some resources, and even have major impacts in college applications/enrollments over a decade from now.
I know 3 families personally with the same situation as you who enrolled in Thales Academy in Apex and then switched over to Wake Co schools.
(And then they were cursing themselves once again when Wake moved to all remote and Thales had in-person classes all during the pandemic. They are not as mad now since Wake Co back in school).
I would do pre-K. Better to be on track IMO. I say this as the parent of a bright girl with a November birthday who is a rising high school senior. She will be 18 when she graduates and right on track for college. If you try to send your kid to K now she will be 17 when she leaves home and goes to college. That can be fine for some but is really pretty young to be on her own. My advice would be to keep her on track. I have a friend who skipped her kid early on and she is having a terrible time with anxiety and social issues. She's a bright kid, too, but I think she would have been better off to stick with her age mates.
There are preschools that offer Transitional Kindergarten for kids you miss the cut off. Greenwood Forest Children's Center has a great program if you are in Cary.
There are preschools that offer Transitional Kindergarten for kids you miss the cut off. Greenwood Forest Children's Center has a great program if you are in Cary.
How Can I confirm that wake county public schools will not deny us admission in first grade after completing KG program through a private school (considering my kid is October born) ?
How Can I confirm that wake county public schools will not deny us admission in first grade after completing KG program through a private school (considering my kid is October born) ?
It's doubtful they will deny you. Their goal is to get kids through their schools as efficiently as possible. And who knows, you may want to stay in private school.
How Can I confirm that wake county public schools will not deny us admission in first grade after completing KG program through a private school (considering my kid is October born) ?
That's not how it works. Transitional kindergarten is meant for kids who miss the cut off or are held back intentionally for whatever reason. The program preps kids for kindergarten and may offer more than a traditional pre K for 4 year olds. After TK, kids go on to kindergarten, they do not skip it. These kids are usually highly prepared for kindergarten when they do go.
That's not how it works. Transitional kindergarten is meant for kids who miss the cut off or are held back intentionally for whatever reason. The program preps kids for kindergarten and may offer more than a traditional pre K for 4 year olds. After TK, kids go on to kindergarten, they do not skip it. These kids are usually highly prepared for kindergarten when they do go.
He's talking about seeing if a private school will take his not-of-school-age child for kindergarten this year and then switching to public for first grade. Not PK. His first battle wlll be getting the child into a private school for kindy. Of all years, it may be impossible this year for many reasons. I would not be surprised if all spots are filled for private kindergarten this year. You have to register in JANUARY and WCPSS was still closed then and a lot of people were already fed up and continue to be fed up with the district.
Second battle is kindergarten readiness tests were probably held in the spring.
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