The kids got to meet their new teachers last night. KK doesn’t want to admit she is excited to go back to school, but she was so excited about meet-the-teacher night that she wanted to be there as soon as it started. We were waiting for Kenny to get home from a visit with Bigama and they were running late so she suggested going without him. We really couldn’t do that seeing how he needs to meet his kindergarten teacher!
I cannot believe my baby is starting kindergarten. I am trying to be strong, but when we went to his class and found his seat, he sat down and began to cry, then I almost began to cry too. Our schools have all day kindergarten but they still offer half-day if a parent request it. I asked for half-day last year during registration but I had a pang of guilt, maybe I am doing harm to him? Maybe he will fall behind in 1st grade?
Hubby and I had very lengthy discussions on this, we asked all our teacher friends what they thought of full-day vs. half-day. We read many articles on the pros and cons. A lot of research went into this because this year Arizona began requiring schools to offer full-day classes for all kindergarteners. The state government offers some good arguements on all the good it does, but it I think I know what is right for my child. He has had 2 years of part-time preschool and did very well. He can write his name and can read small words. I just don’t think he is ready to take on the challenge of being in a classroom for 6 hours. The biggest pro for the half-day arguement was one I didn’t think of until we were standing in his new classroom…the teacher/student ratio! There are only about 15 kids in his class compared to twenty something in the all-day classes.
I am confident I made the right choice for us. He won’t have another chance for a half-day of school until his Senior year in high school. That will be a lifetime for him but only a blink of an eye for me! I miss him already.
