Going with Kindergarten:
Pros:
— Will won’t be bored.
— He’ll be with kids the same age.
— He’ll do the summer program and will have had a little French already.
— We’ll be going with the way the system is structured, which we feel is sort of part of committing to the way the learning environment works.
— The kids will be spaced 3 years apart which gives them only one year of overlap in college (okay, that is really not in our considerations.)
Cons:
— Will he be ready to sit at a desk and do math, science, homework, and the like in 18 months (1st grade is serious stuff)…?
— Will he be at a disadvantage without having the extra year of French before 1st grade?
— Are we cutting his childhood playtime short? Does he need more time to play?
— Is he still going to need a nap in 6 months?
Going with PreK
Pros:
— One more year of playtime.
— Naptime continues one more year (Kindergarten-ers don’t have nap.)
— Two years of French immersion before 1st grade.
— If he continues with this grade progression, he’ll be “bigger” physically compared to his peers later, which I understand is a plus for athletics and social issues for boys?
Cons:
— He’ll be the oldest in the class (I’m not sure if this is a pro or a con… but Will doesn’t do the alpha kid thing and I don’t see him being one to set the example… I see him more adopting whatever behavior seen in the other kids. This may not be a good thing.)
— He’ll be in class with 3-year olds who may be in very different places developmentally.
— He may be bored?
Thoughts/suggestions welcome!
Emmy | 11-Mar-08 at 6:04 pm | Permalink
The Alliance for CHildhood (google it) has great info about the importance of play. However, Will is really only 2 months shy of the cutoff for kindergarten anyway. I would look at how Ecole structures their kindergarten program and see if it’s a true kinder program, or watered down first grade.
Cold Spaghetti | 11-Mar-08 at 6:57 pm | Permalink
Thanks for the AFC resource — I hadn’t thought of checking there. I’ve been googling things like “ready for kindergarten” and “first grade developmental skills” but hit on mostly ‘Parenting’ magazine type stuff. (And I really don’t like Parenting magazine!)
EB’s Kindergarten is truly kindergarten in so far as I understand it… group tables, games, recess play in the morning and afternoon, etc. The biggest difference between the Kindergarten and PreK was that the Kinders don’t nap — they have a longer lunch break, but no nap. At least, this is how we understand it with our limited scope of what early childhood education should entail. Audubon, for example, was much more structured and Socratic in style (kids listening to teachers). Frankly, I thought Audubon was sort of frightening all around in terms of how the kids were treated and taught, so I don’t know if it’s even a good comparison.
At EB, First grade is where things get really different. Desks, homework, etc. I’m really more concerned about that transition than the Kindergarten.
Emmy | 12-Mar-08 at 3:53 am | Permalink
To make your decision, consider how dramatic of a change this would be for Will. It sounds like EB has a true kindergarten, in which case, the big difference for him would be no nap, and possibly a greater expectation for sitting (bc of direct instruction). I’m sure they are used to this sort of thing, and it’s a capacity-building process. Ask them what the expectations are in August vs. May.
Unfortunately, what you saw at Aud. was probably more the rule than the exception. I’ve been pretty surprised what I’ve seen at many schools for Kinder. The most comforting thing I saw in the ISL kinder was a play kitchen. Yay! Fantasy play. Check out the environment at EB, and see if it respects where kids are at that age. It sounds like it’s a pretty good fit for Sir W.
Leigh C. | 12-Mar-08 at 5:38 am | Permalink
That transition depends on his maturity level. If he’s ready to have that structure, then, by all means, let him go. If he’s not ready for that structure, then he’s gonna have a hell of a time, and you’ll be tearing your hair out as well.
Only you can really assess this.
My guy is five and in pre-K. He started out much too caught up in his emotions at the beginning of this year – but he turned a corner about mid-year. Probably had to do with him turning five in December!