That's the polite word. ;)
Last week was so far my least favorite week of the year. Let's hope it stays that way and that there aren't any more like it.
Friday afternoon I got a call from the kids' school. Due to lack of enrollment, they will not be having the AE (pre-K) class this year that Emily was supposed to attend.
I was devastated.
For reasons I have not gone into (and won't) on the blog, we really wanted Emily at the school this year. I spent the weekend stressed in the background over this (in the midst of Showboat at the Muny, base ball Saturday, and peach picking--64lbs!!--Sunday) and just didn't feel good about the whole thing. Yesterday I called the preschool to see about getting Emily set up with her new teacher (she has to move up). They did have an opening with the teacher we feel would be best suited to her, but I still didn't feel good about all of it.
So I Googled "missouri kindergarten law" and look what I found:
"Section 160.053, RSMo, states that:
A child is eligible for admission to kindergarten if the child reaches the age of five (5) before the first day of August of the school year beginning in that calendar year...
Exceptions
Pursuant to statutes 160.054 and 160.055, RSMo, the St. Louis and Kansas City School Districts may establish a kindergarten/first grade entry date if a child reaches the age of five (5) or six (6) no later than the first day of October."
Emily is old enough to go to kindergarten as she turns 5 at the beginning of September and we live in St Louis!
So I called the school principal, who was concerned about Emily's speech. She went down to the preschool and talked with Emily and was stunned at how much her speech has progressed since the spring. :) I talked to the school administrator and preschool director, who was concerned that Emily can't read. But none of our kids have been able to read going into kindergarten. They all agreed to talk about it, and the consensus last night is that Emily is going to kindergarten.
Added bonus: they had exceptionally large enrollment for kindergarten this year, so there will be two classes and Danielle and Emily will each be in one, with the same teachers they already thought they would have.
We do expect Emily to probably repeat kindergarten next year. She's nearly a year and a half younger than Danielle and will be younger than all of her classmates as well, but this will get her into the school and we feel will be the best environment for her at this time.
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1 comment:
YAY!!!! We did the exact same thing with Maddie last year...with the plan for her to repeat Kindergarten this year. Honestly, I have to say I think it was a stroke of brillance on our part. Not only did it take a ton of pressure off of her performance-wise, she was able to take Kindergarten truly at her own pace. She was introduced to all of the things that every kindergartener is introduced to, they worked her speech/language into the phonics lessons, and by the time the year was over she was starting to read. Just the kind of solid foundation we were looking for! :)
We're excited to see what this year brings. She has the same teacher, which we feel will be good for her - the teacher knows her, knows her tricks and I think it helps bonding a bit to have the same provider. She's a bit sad to see her friends move on, but I keep trying to tell her that she'll make new friends and she'll be able to help all the new kids during the first few days. She seemed to like the idea. ;)
Congratulations Emily! :)
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