Kaitlyn going to kindergarten?! Seems crazy, right? But it's something to consider. Anthony Wayne's cut off date is September 30th, which Kaitlyn misses by about 7 weeks. But why does age and birth date matter so much? I mean really, how much more ready can the kid be who's 7 weeks older? I can't say that Kaitlyn will go to kindergarten for sure next year, but at this point it's just something we're looking into. Academically, she's so ready...she aced her preschool evaluation...she probably could have passed it as a 2 year old. She does have a few social/behavioral items to improve, but she's by no means 'behind' on anything...we need to work on making decisions quicker and listening to directions better. Anyways, I sent a message to her preschool teacher, asking what she thought about sending Kaitlyn to kindergarten next year. She said she doesn't usually recommend that kids go early, but that she would think hard and heavy about our situation.
First, I know Kaitlyn thrives in a really structured learning environment, like kindergarten would provide. She's so into learning that I'm afraid she'll either be bored if we wait another year to send her or she'll lose interest in learning by the time she gets to school...and I definitely don't want her becoming a trouble maker due to boredom. Secondly, I think the routine of going to school every day would be good for her, especially right now in this stage of chaos. She's being bounced around between me, Wayne, Aunt Ruth and Grandma Mary...I'm sure some days she has no idea if she's coming or going and with whom. The third thing that makes kindergarten appealing right now is that she would likely go to Monclova Christian (where she attends preschool), who has a MUCH more regular schedule than Anthony Wayne does. AW has full day EVERY OTHER DAY kindergarten, where as Monclova offers EVERY DAY FULL OR HALF days...I feel like the every other day that AW does is crazy, not only for a kid who thrives on routine, but also for working parents. In the back on my mind is also the slight possibility that Kaitlyn and Aundrea MAY end up in school together (and probably the same grade if we wait to send Kaitlyn 'til she's nearing 6), if her mother uses Wayne's address to get her into a better school district...and honestly, the last thing either of the girls needs is to have to explain to their peers how and why they are related. No child should have to explain this situation...it's embarrasing to talk about as an adult, so I can only imagine how mortifying it would be to say, an 8 year old and their classmates.
I do have a few concerns with sending her early...mostly, I don't want to send her unless we're pretty certain she is ready...from all sides. I don't want her to be the 'baby' of the class or the kid who cries at school (because we ALL remember THAT kid!) or the kid who buddies up with the teacher because she's a little scared...and I certainly don't want her feeling 'lost' if she doesn't understand what she's supposed to do. And of course I don't want her teacher feeling like he/she has to 'babysit' her. So...lots of things to think about. At this point, we're waiting to see what her preschool teacher thinks. She's going to do the 4/5 year olds evaluation on her in the next week or two so see how she does on it. I think she'll be ok on the academic side...I'm guessing it's letter sounds, writing letters, basic addition/subraction, patterns, etc...all of which she does fine. We do need to work on her address and phone number again...the knew those a while ago, but we haven't went over them in sometime so I'm not confident that she remembers them well enough to 'pass' the test.
So, we'll see...I want her to be challenged at preschool and right now, I don't think she is. Another option is to send her to kindergarten at Monclova this year and then, if she's not ready, have her do kindergarten again at AW with her 'class' by age the following year. Lots to think about!!
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