Search Results for: blog how long is too long for kindergarten

Get Ready for Kindergarten

Now, that my daughter is in preschool, kindergarten seems years away. But, in reality, it is only a few months down the road. This will be my first child entering Kindergarten, so I didn’t know much about the process of getting her enrolled for school. After talking to a friend yesterday, I had a little panic session. I live in an open-enrollment school district, meaning that I can apply to enroll her into any kindergarten classroom in the school district. Preferential treatment is always given to people living within a school’s boundaries, but it does leave some room for some … Continue reading →

Caution: Long and Winding Road Ahead

Over the weekend we took a walk down to the mall through the snow to pick up some Christmas packages. It was the first day of snow, and it was an exciting walk. We looked for animal tracks in the snow and we crunched it – all two or three inches of the stuff. We walked through the forest and through the neighborhoods where we used to walk way back in the spring, when my daughter first started walking to preschool. We walked by the preschool that we devoted so much time to over the last two years. It is … Continue reading →

Tools to Teach Kindergarten

Homeschooling your Kindergartener will come with challenges, frustration, joy, and so much fun. Kindergarteners are naturally curious so this can make learning both difficult and easy. Difficult because the child often gets distracted and wants to veer off to the left of your straight path. Easy in the sense that you get a student ready, willing, and able to learn anything and everything she sees. It’s up to you to find the proper tools to guide your little student down the right path. I hear “What curriculum should I use for my Kindergartener?” all the time. It is reasonable that … Continue reading →

Entering Kindergarten

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I must admit it: I have a bad attitude. Although I attempt to be enthusiastic about my child’s upcoming educational career, I grieve the end of our close relationship. Yes, I work outside the home, but I am home with my daughter a fair bit as I only work part time during the day. We have adventures, we sleep in upon occasion, we go to fun classes, and our days are pretty much our own. This is the luxury of having a preschooler, and an only child at that. It’s a joy to be with my daughter, and I really … Continue reading →

Full-Day Kindergarten: Yay or Nay?

Caution: lots of steam ahead! We had a bit of a shock yesterday. Our provincial government has long been debating the merits of full-day kindergarten, with the government trying to figure out how to foot the bill for this program. This means that five-year-olds in our area would go to school from 9-3 from the age of five. Some children would be four when they started the program. Yesterday, our government decided to move ahead with the plan, adding extra funds to ensure that nearly all children of kindergarten age would be able to attend. Now, I realize that for … Continue reading →

How Old Is Too Old For Kindergarten?

My five-year-old is the youngest kid in her kindergarten class. The rest of the kids are six (or will be by the end of the month), and if I read the birthday list correctly, one of her classmates will be seven in May. A seven-year-old in kindergarten? Am I the only parent who thinks it strange that a seven-year-old is playing with paint and glue with a bunch of kids he towers over? Never mind how I feel about the situation. I wonder how he feels about being called “the giant” and “Big Buddy?” According to most schools in the … Continue reading →

Preschoolers Need Lunchboxes Too

At least that’s what my daughter maintains. Long before we started counting down the days until her first day of kindergarten my young daughter insisted that she needed to have a lunchbox. Mind you she was not enrolled in school at the time. She simply could not resist the aisles upon aisles of colorful lunchboxes and bags we passed at practically every store during the months of August and September. Last year when the back-to-school items went on sale I finally gave in to her pleas and bought her the Hello Kitty lunchbox she had been drooling over for weeks. … Continue reading →

Kindergarten Teacher Arrested for Trashy Move

Hmmm… guess I’ll file this one under: Another reason I’m glad my daughter is attending half-day kindergarten this fall. In addition to not having to take a nap on the classroom floor (though, part of me would have enjoyed being a fly on the wall when my anti-nap drama queen went up against a woman who had 18 other five year olds to cajole into remaining silent for an hour), my daughter will also be skipping lunchtime in the school cafeteria. Subsequently, I will not have to deal with the same situation parents of a Connecticut kindergartener were forced to … Continue reading →

How Long is Too Long for Kindergarten?

My baby begins kindergarten in the fall. Half-day kindergarten. For roughly four hours or so each day, my loquacious daughter will be chatting the ears off of some woman, who probably looks nothing like me, and a gaggle of kids who probably act just like her. Four hours. I’m not sure what I’ll do with myself. NOT! (Can you say three jobs and a never-ending battle with dirty clothes, the dishwasher and dust bunnies?) Still, when I think of how long kids in one Canadian province might have to spend in kindergarten, I’m liking the sound of four hours more … Continue reading →

Tools for Teaching Charlotte Mason

In my recent series on Charlotte Mason, I discussed terminology that is used within Charlotte Mason circles. Now that you know all of the terminology you might want to know how to go about teaching a child using the Charlotte Mason Method. While there is no such thing as a prepared Charlotte Mason based curriculum, there are several websites and books that can serve as a guide. Simplycharlottemason.com: The Simply Charlotte Mason website serves as a guide to teaching using this approach. It helps you locate books, organize your homeschool, and stay in touch with other Charlotte Mason Homeschoolers. Amblesideonline.org: … Continue reading →