TK question for future

Hi! I am sure that TK will still exist- it is a great thing for schools, IMHO. My answer also goes a bit beyond what you asked to address other general questions for kids with Fall B-Days. I am Mom to 2 sons, born in October (11 yrs old) and November (14 years old) who are both now the oldest in their classes rather than the youngest. With my older son, TK did not yet exist and we had the option of sending him to start Kinder at age 4. We resisted, yay!!! and we have absolutely no regrets. Read up on this and you will find that kids who are a bit older have more capacity to thrive in school. The way that we teach school, for the most part ,in this country is not conducive to most young children's desires (-: so being a bit more mature is going to benefit them through 12th grade. My oldest went to a Spanish immersion preschool for 3 years and then started Kinder. My youngest was with a nanny at home 3x a week, then at 3 yrs old started at a 3x a week neighborhood home-based daycare, then at age 5 went to TK 3x a week, then on to Kinder the next year. As long as they are in a good place, with loving caregivers/teachers, and their home life stable, I don't think that this is too much change for them. Young kids are resilient, yes? My youngest son had a great experience at all of those places. Now, at that time, the biggest concerns were voiced from my in-laws: by keeping our sons from starting Kinder early, they were going to be bored in school. You know what? Your kids are gonna be bored at times in school no matter what, weren't you?? Ha ha. But what I found is that the other kids looked up to my sons as they could already write, spell, read and the other kids loved this and it made my sons feel great to be sought out to help. I volunteered in their classrooms for a total of 8 years, and I have seen so many amazing kids!!!! But you know what? In Kindergarten, it was very easy for me to pick out which kids were the youngest. It had nothing to do with intelligence. They were most always very smart little guys and gals...but they were incapable of the amount of focus and self-control needed to be successful in Kinder. 3 of those kids ended up repeating Kinder, again, not because of intelligence, but because of immaturity. It's ok to be a little kid who flies around and has a lot of energy!!! Why do we have to mold them into little adults too soon? Anyway, that has been my philosophy. I have a late August birthday and was always one of the youngest in my grade and although I got A's, I always felt "behind the curve." Looking back, it had more to do with physical and emotional maturity. Also, again what is our big rush to grow up our little ones? The outlook for their generation is not super rosy after they graduate high school or college, right? Why rush them through the system. OK- one last tidbit- parents of 3 and 4 year olds, pace yourself! This is a very long journey, enjoy it!

Cathy,

Unfortunately without knowing the states budget for two years out, no one can be for sure. A couple years ago the TK program had been threatened to be eliminated due to budget cuts. However, the success of TK was so great there was such a big push to keep it and thankfully it's still around. With that in mind, I think it is safe to assume it will be there for your son. As far as if it is eliminated, what happens for those children with late birthdays, I'm just speculating here but I would assume the CA state law on the cut off date would be shifted as it is in many other states. So instead of your child needing to be born on/before Sept 1st of that year to enter kindergarten it would be moved to something like mid Nov. And those who are past that date would probably do another year of preschool.

Now as far as your school- not every school has a TK program. In fact there are usually only 1-3 schools within the entire district that offer TK. So yes, sadly if your assigned school for K doesn't offer TK you will switch in the first two years of public school. Now this is a reason why some families skip TK and keep their child in preschool/daycare until K starts. However, unless you are in a lottery system, keep in mind that all those children in your area that are TK students should go to the same TK school with your son and then switch with him during K. Which means your child will have some classmates/friends from TK that enter K at the new school with him making the switch of schools a bit easier.

I will say great job at looking so far ahead. Due to the limited amount of TK schools they fill up fast. Since TK is not required by the state, those who enroll late risk missing out on a spot. I definitely suggest reaching out to the school around this time next year to learn when they start enrolling for TK so you don't miss out. Good luck to you and your son!