When should I begin schooling my kid?

Dear all

My son is now 3 yrs and 9 months. He has been attending something like a pre-school for the past 2 mnths,although they don't teach him much there.He spends about 2 1/2 hrs there.My idea of sending him to this school was only to help him to mingle more with kids of his age and to understand English.

My hubby and myself want to now send him to a proper school.I've heard that here in the U.S,schooling starts only at age 5 and that schooling starts with kindergarten. There is no concept of a pre-school and most pre-schools are attached to daycare.Which means that typically in a preschool classroom,you will have kids aged between 3 and 5 yrs old.Some kids will spend time from 6 am to 6 pm there(if the parents are working) whereas some will be there only for 2 -3 hrs a day. In India,the system is more clear.A child goes to preschool at 2 1/2 for half a day,and then LKG and UKG at 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 and so on and the school timings are fixed and same for all children.

Here because of the system,we are a bit confused. Some schools start kindergarten at 4yrs and some at 5 yrs.We just don't know what to do.Should we wait till he is 4 yrs( that is November) to put him in a proper school and should we straight away start with kindergarten.And is it a must that the child should know all numbers,alphabets etc before going to school itself?

What are your views on this?

Hi Sunitha,

Yes the Dilema!! The US public schools start with kindergarten. Your child has to be 5yrs by the time he joins the school. Each school has a cut of date by which time they should be 5. You should check your local school for this information.
Private schools have Preschool, prekindergarten, and kindergarten. . My younger one is going to start with 2 half day pre school this fall. To enter the preschool in Private school , the child has to be 3 yrs. You can check with some of your private or montessori schools for this information. There are many daycare cum preschools, like the ones you have mentioned, but you should scout around if you are not happy. Also, the preschools here do not expect your kids to know ABCs, numbers etc....... It is not a criteria for admission. If the child knows well and good. But there is no stress on the kid to learn everything before going to preschool. With kindergarten, a few basics if known is good.

Also please be aware that the Standards in Private and public schools are way different in the first few grades. I have a link to some private schools in Ca, some where on my PC. Let me dig it up and send it to you.Hope this helps.
Good luck
Vandhana

Hi All,

We are planning to move to USA, NC, in the month of Oct-07, my son has finished 1st standard in India. I would like to know, is it possible for him to join the school for 2nd grade in NC, from Oct-07, since we don't have clear idea of when school's start in USA, please help us in this regard.

Thanks
Uma

Hello Uma,

Here is some information for you. Schools usullay reopen after summer vacation between mid august to first week of september. I would suggest that your son start with his second standard in India itself. When you come here, go to your local school (or if you know where you are going to be living in NC, that is the neighborhood in the city, you can find out the school from the web and contact through email) to register him.
Get from India, your son's First standard report card, also letter of recomendation from your school principal and his first standard teacher. Give all these to the school here. Usually schools have a cut off date for age as December first. As long as he falls into this age it should not be a problem to go straight to second grade here. Also sometime, they will give test to the child, and if he does well, then even if he is young for the grade, they will take him in the higher grade. So no worries, and you should not have any problems.

Rgds

Hi,

I dont know much abt schooling but I heard from SIL that her kid (he is 5 now) was rejected admission in some school(public school I think) since he talks a lot and good in English. That school takes only kids who dont know anything yet. Isn't totally different compared to India where parents have be graduate and kid should know so much stuff ??

Hi,

My son is 2.5years now and he is going to Goddard School which is daycare cum preschool for 3 half-a-days(4hours per day) a week.So once he is 3years old,he can continue in the same school.Though expensive,I liked the school very much in all the aspects from neatness to childcare(food,safety,toilet training) and development(,learning,cognitive skills,communication skills etc).I feel its worth.

And kids are eligible for school once they are 5years old.Some schools admit kids who are 5yeard old and born before september that year into their schools and Kids born after october are admitted only next year september.This time limit varies for school to school.

-All the best,
-Cheers,
Vaishu