What Do You Think Thursdays with Skinny Scoop: Full-Day Kindergarten

In five short days, my first born, my sensitive, sweet, extremely bright little girl will starting *gulp* Kindergarten*.

My emotions are a giant mixed-up grab bag:

Yes! She is going to have so much fun!
No! She’s going out into the scary world without me!
Yes! More me time and time with Thomas!
No! I am going to miss her!
Yes! She needs more social interaction!
No! I don’t want her to get hurt!
Yes! She needs more than I can give her!
No! I am going to miss her!

Whew! That ping pong match is exhausting, right? And to add another component to this conundrum, I had to decide whether or not to have Marie go to school all day. Our district offers a program called K-Plus, which is an extension of Kindergarten. The kids go to half-day Kindergarten and then go to K-Plus (or vice versa depending if they have morning or afternoon Kindergarten). You can also choose anywhere between 3-5 days a week to attend this program. In K-Plus, the kids have lunch, go to specials, and review more thoroughly the lessons learned in the regular Kindergarten class.

My first thought: “Absolutely not!” Kindergarten is supposed to be only a half day. Period. Marie is supposed to come home with me, and we’ll spend the rest of our day together before she goes to first grade.

My second thought: “Hmmm. Marie has trouble with transitions. That whole having lunch at school a few days a week might be good way to help her transition into first grade.”

I know my Babe. Transitions are hard for her. If I can have her go to school all day for a few days a week to get her ready, that might make next year easier for her. Going to lunch and adapting to different teacher’s routines will be good for her.

Also, this girl *craves* learning. She is already reading long books (think Golden Books or unedited versions of Disney Classics). I don’t know where to go from here. I could probably figure it out, but I have another one that needs my attention, too. On many different levels, it hurts to say this (and will probably have its own blog post soon), but she needs more socialization and direction with her education than I can give her. And Thomas is craving more attention now than ever.

So I am putting my selfish need of wanting her around and doing what’s best for her.

This is just another instance in which I have learned the importance of flexibility. I have these ideas of how I want life and parenting to go, yet I constantly need to reassess the situation and move forward in the appropriate direction.

With a box of Kleenex in hand.

What do you think about full-day Kindergarten?

View this question on Skinnyscoop

*I checked everywhere, and I could not get a clear answer if “Kindergarten” should be capitalized or not. I apologize if I should not have capitalized it.