Bridge-K Programs in El Cerrito area
Hello, we have a 4 year old boy with a summer birthday, who was born over 3 months premature, so we are strongly considering delaying K for one more year. He is good at sitting, paying attention, listening to directions etc. but is a little bit delayed in terms of fine motor skills. We live in El Cerrito and we are looking into private TK programs since I am not sure he will be eligible for public WCCUSD TK, even though he was supposed to be born in November. Nomura's Bridge K program is on the short list, and I would love to hear reviews from other parents who have enrolled their child in that Bridge K class. Any other recommendations for Bridge K programs convenient to El Cerrito?
Also, have any of you enrolled your child in kindergarten with the expectation that he would do 2 years instead of 1? That has been brought up to us as an option but I wonder if that is going to be difficult for our kid, making friends and then having them move on while he repeats. I would love to hear from other parents who have been in this situation. Thanks so much!
Parent Replies
I am a parent of a) a fall birthday boy who made the cutoff to enter K by one day, and b) a fall birthday girl who went to TK at Harding last year. You are 8 months out from starting kindergarten, and lots could happen in terms of your child's progression in that time. "A little bit delayed in fine motor skills" = no big deal, in terms of what I saw in the cohorts of both my son's kindergarten and my daughter's TK. Being able to sit still and listen to directions is HUGE. 50%+ of the kids in TK/K classes are still working on that. (and most of them are boys) I found TK & K to be very comparable in terms of academics & preparation for grade school. My advice is to register your child for K at your neighborhood school in January as usual. Then around May, make a preliminary decision about his readiness. If you still feel like he won't be ready on August 20 for kindergarten (and if he can sit still, follow directions, and recognizes the letters of the alphabet and their beginning sounds, to me that is ready), start calling the WCCUSD Preschool Office and asking to get on the list for "out of range" TK placement for fall. I did this for my fall birthday son, in a panic, and was offered a spot in the TK at Stege (not our neighborhood school, but that's where they had a spot) for him the week before school started; however, by then I was calmed down, placed him in kindergarten at age 4 (5 weeks before his 5th birthday), and we haven't looked back. Here is a tip. Kindergarten teachers are used to boys who can't sit still. If you have a boy who CAN sit still, even if he's otherwise young/immature, they will adore him, and that is a helpful start to a school career. Now that my older child is in 3rd grade, I detect in him and his friends a slight stigma about kids who are "too big" for their grade, either their parents held them back or the school did, and they look different (older). Not their fault, but it is apparent. So I personally would not plan to have my child do 2 years of K; try very hard to get into TK if it looks like that's the best placement, regardless of which school it ends up at; you can always return to your neighborhood school for K.
Our kiddo is the same age as yours (Aug 27, 2012). We have her at Nomura, and there are two classes that are substantially similar, though one class is the Bridge-K. We are considering having her stay at Nomura for another year, even though it won't be much of a jump from what she is learning now. We're also concerned that she's shy and not quite ready - but for 5 days, she'd be unquestionably in the next grade. We really like Nomura, and there is a lot of time for her to play with children of all ages on the playground. We LOVED the outside space, which is why we chose Nomura over other preschools.
We're asking similar questions to other parents and also to our adult friends who are August babies themselves. What seems to be the case is that most people don't regret what they did for their children. My cousin held back both her August babies (one in kinder and one in 6th grade) and it seems like it might be easier to just have them in preschool one more year because preschool gives them another year of more play-based time, versus a year of a more academic-model. Our adult friends are split. The shy and introverted folks seemed to hate being the youngest and found it harder to make friends, and the extroverted ones were totally fine with being the youngest and didn't care. This is a small sample group, but I think it's helpful to think about your child's temperament, too. Good luck!
I can not say enough good things about the Bridge-K at Tehiyah Day school. It is everything a BK should be and I couldn't be happier that my son had the gift of his year there! Tehiyah is a Jewish school but there is a diverse community of families including those who are not Jewish. Feel free to contact me via my username, I'd be happy to talk.