What's your opinion on full-day kindergarten?

My nieces and now my nephew have been through full day kindergarten and they loved it. They are also in a year round school which they love as well. I'll probably try to find a school that offers it when my daughter gets to be that age.

full day doesn't have to cram so much information into just 1/2 day of class. they can cover the material in a more realistic pace.

for my daughter it gives her more time around kids her age. She gets a full day of education and interaction with other children. She learns so much really during her day. She looks forward to school everyday. she wakes up on the weekends asking to go.

My thoughts are, she isn't having any major set backs for the stuff she is learning since she is learning at a nice easy pace. she loves the kids in her class.

Katrina Mommy to 3:
Sabrina (4/9/02), Aja (6/13/05), Osiris (10/05/07)

I think that it is finally being realized by educators and parents that children can adjust and learn a lot more in a full day class. I know that the kindergarten curriculum has changed a lot over the last 30 years because I remember a lot of things I did in Kindergarten and those were all covered in Preschool or even at home for my kids. Since kids today are learning more at an earlier age especially with educational TV and computer games they are ready to learn more complex things like learning to read in Kindergarten. The curriculum today is probably much harder to fit into a 2 1/2 hour day than it was years ago. However I understand that some parents don't want full day yet for their kids because they believe the kids aren't ready to sit still etc. I am not opposed to having a 1/2 day available, but I think most would choose the full day given the choice. As it becomes more common, I hope that the parents who don't want to send their kids to full day will begin to see the benefits because I think they would be at a disadvantage to start at 1/2 day when most are going full day.

I think they should have all day kindergarten I feel they would learn more.

Two out of my three children attended all day kdg. If the kids are on the older side its a good thing. Even with my oldest who is always on the go found that all day kdg was a bit stressful to begin with. By the time she came home from school she would have meltdowns and it would be rough. The middle child hated it. And the last child is in a half day program right now. I really don't know how the teacher is doing it but she has made great strides with the kids. You also have to understand that the all day programs include a lunch time, play time and in most cases a rest time the first half of the school year. Which is where I struggled because I could offer all that at home. Why should the kids spend a whole day at school and spend 2.5 hours of it eating/sleeping and playing, so reallistically out of a 6.5 hour day spends an additonal 2 hours of learning verses the half day program. I can supplement that at home and have done well with the last child( I know that there are parents out there that don't and won't work with the kids at home but I have to consider what is best for my kids-not all kids) It is nice to have him continue to be home half days until first grade. I would say that all three of my kids were not ready for all day kdg the first half the year. Come the second half of the kdg year I think they are more ready. What a difference a half of a school year makes. All my kids do well and the older ones have continued to be honor roll kids. They spend so much time at school to begin with why put them in it longer. Let them be kids and do kid things- you can supplement them at home with good experiences. I have to say that they move so fast in school to keep the youngsters attention that the added two hours of learning is questionable to the amount of stress it puts on them and they need the down time to regroup and collet themselves to avoid meltdowns because they are so busy, moving so fast. I believe that the average time spent on a activity is 20 minutes max, in order to keep kids attention at this age.

Ok so I am confused a little bit. I thought that at one time or another the governer was trying to push All Day Kindergarten. Did that happen? Then once it did happen then all of the school would have to have all day kindergarten and you would not have an option. Don't you think that it would be a good idea to make Kindergarten Manidority first before they make it all day?

Mommy of Aaron