When i came here and found out that preshool is not a requirement i thought it was weird. Everyone back home goes to preschool before kintergarden. But today i heard something even more crazy. Someone i know is pcsing to hawaii. As she is doing her outproccessing paper work she was reading about hawaii's school becuase her twins will be in kintergarden next year. Well guess what apparnetly in hawaii its not required to go to kintergarden its a privliage. She says the only way her children can go to kintergarden is if she pays extra for it or something. Just thought it was a little weird that kintergarden isnt required in hawaii. IDK if its true i never did reasearch on it but just what she told me. Anyone else think that its weird? 

Preschool isnt required in Texas, Massachusetts or California either, dunno about other states, those are the only I've lived in. Kindergarten is kinda funny too, its easy to skip depending on the childs maturity and skill level. 

Kindergarten is not required in Kansas either. I am in Hawaii now and my youngest goes to kindergarten at the elementary school and I didn't have to pay for it or anything. All you have to do is go to the school and enroll them. They even have a junior kindergarten program at Wheeler elementary for the kids that don't turn 5 in time to start kindergarten. So I am not sure where she got her info from but she should check into it. If I can give her any info just let me know. 

Preschool is not required in Missouri either...although where I'm from they do half day kindergarten due to the number of children that attend and the lack of teachers. My youngest is finally in kindergarten and I'm happy it's not a half day thing. She likes it way too much. 

We just came from hawaii and i can say the school system sucks!!! I came from a state with a low rated shcool system and i was shocked how far behind hawaii was 

I dont know my kids seem to be ahead of where they were in kansas. Maybe its just me but normally they go over what they learned last year at the begining of the next year and none of them had already learned what they were going over. 

although where I'm from they do half day kindergarten due to the number of children that attend and the lack of teachers.


I was opposite. Where we are from Kindergarten is half a day. My son started this year and his school is full day Kindergarten. I had no idea that most places it is full day. It boggled my mind for a while. 

I was opposite. Where we are from Kindergarten is half a day. My son started this year and his school is full day Kindergarten. I had no idea that most places it is full day. It boggled my mind for a while.


Yeah my oldest did kindergarten in a DOD school overseas and it was full day, my middle one did it in NY and it was full day..full day here BUT my niece and nephews had half day kindergarten back home where most of my family are homebased. It baffled my sisters when we were talking about our kids going. They thought that everywhere was half day. 

We are in NC and I sware these kids NEVER go to school... they get out at 2:45 every day except wednesday... they get out of school at 1:55. You guys were eating lunch and my kiddos were coming home. lol. Apparently this is the norm here... we had to adjust the baby's nap time and everything... HOWEVER, this school reminds me of my elementary days. They do written book reports and all - so maybe it works out just fine in the end. idk. 

Ive only ever lived in iowa other than ks. And ive never heard of kids not going to kintergarden for sure or preschool. altho if i could i would send my kids back to iowa for the school year. i belive they have (or atleast in my home town) one of the best school systems. If you were in the cities in iowa daisy kids get out at 230 or they did when i went to school when we lived in the city i belive its 2:45 now. but thats only for middle schol and high schol but then again hey also start at 730 instead of 830 like the elementary kids do. in my home town where i went to high school at all schools started at the same time and got out at the same time 8:25 get out at 3:30. 

oh yea and kintergarden being half days. I think it use to be that way in alot of places if not all places. Maybe thats where your sister thought that. I know iowa use to be half days until my sister had kids. Now i dont know if it was when my neice was in kintergarden or my nepthew but its either been full day kintergarden in iowa for 12 years or for 7 years becuase thats how long ago my neice and nephew were in kintergarden. i want to say its been since my newphew was in kintergarden. I just thought it was weird that kintergarden wasnt required. I mean some kids can skip it and be fine and i know a child who will soon be 3 that already knows his colors, abc, numbers and is familiary with what letters and numbers are if they are written out ( thats letter A or letter M or thats number 8 ect), shapes, and already knows how to spell some 3 letter words out like cat, car, dog. the only thing he cant do is write which im sure by the time kintergarden comes around he will be able to do that. So i can understand it depends on the childs level but i know my kids they had no interest in mom helping them learn i tried. They went to cdc for less than a month and caught on quick. when they went to cdc they were 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 they only knew how to count to 10 and say abcs. they didnt know colors or shapes, animals nothing. Im glad i got them in tho becuase if i didnt then my daughter would be way behind in kintergarden. I still try to stay on top of that suff with my son to keep refresh is memory since he is no longer in cdc. 

Oh my, when I was reading the attendance policy for Westwood Elementary, and it said, Kindergarten is optional, BUT attendance is mandatory if you do enroll them.

My boy did half day headstart, and when I was in Kindergarten...Looooooong ago in California, it was half day.
After doing the whole half day thing at headstart I have to say, that I am much happier, as is my son, with the full day. He has learned SO much already. I'm so proud of the things he's doing I could almost puke, hahaha! I'm Loving it! 

Yeah, when my niece and nephew came back here to KS from Ohio they were struggling a bit with housing. My sister found out my niece didn't have to attend Kindergarten, because it's not a requirement. I think it is a bit odd...IMO kindergarten is great for kids to get into the swing of things 

I think it is a bit odd...IMO kindergarten is great for kids to get into the swing of things

With the Curriculum they have in Kindergarten, I don't know how a child who goes straight into first grade makes it. It's insane. Hopefully the ones who opt to skip kindergarten work really hard with their kids before 1st grade. It's so odd to me. 

With the Curriculum they have in Kindergarten, I don't know how a child who goes straight into first grade makes it. It's insane. Hopefully the ones who opt to skip kindergarten work really hard with their kids before 1st grade.
Definitely agree with you on that one! My nephew when he came here was in 1st grade and has ADHD (struggles a bit in school). The teacher was sending him home with stuff that he had never learned (which is odd, considering every other school we noticed is BEHIND Ohio - learning wise). The bad part was she'd send it home and have ZERO directions on there. One paper I was helping him with was number with 'problems' and one had 4 different shapes (all completely diff, so it wasn't no which are similar or same sides type thing) and NO directions on what he was supposed to do. The next day after we spoke with her she sent home a worksheet putting every little DETAIL on there (like where to write his name, what a particular shape/number was -in writing-...pretty much being a smart*** !). Once they went back to Ohio they've been doing so much better; IMO their curriculum is a bit better. 

So far here, with Headstart down, and starting in kindergarten... All the things I've been working with him on, numbers, letters, simple math and especially writing he has picked up so well especially with writing. Which with me he seemed to just not get. He's Adhd as well. So I am sure that was an issue with him learning in the home. But after coming from Texas, where their curriculum was was advanced when I was in school, I was surprised, and quiet happy with how well he is doing already. But I couldn't imagine him or any other child, learning disability or not, moving to a different state with completely different styles of learning. That has got to be super hard and confusing for them. That's one thing I think as a school system every state should be more on the same page. Especially with the large amount of military families, who don't stay in the same state for a child's entire school career. 

I definitely agree with you there too BM. It can be a struggle for any child to switch schools, especially in a different state, BUT even harder for a child with learning disabilities. It would be great if all states had the same (or very similar) curriculum. 

when my child started kindergarden they said its differant that it was 20 years ago they said its the new 1st grade. so in that sence 12th grade should be the first year of college/vo-tech 

That surely isnt the case in Texas. Kindergarten consisted of learning a new letter each week and a color. Gimme a break, what 5 year old doesnt know that stuff before Kindergarten?! So happy to be out of that state and their slow education system. Sucks too that they had my son in the G&T program but Kansas doesnt recognize it, that should tell you something too.
I think most school is a joke these days, kids are not smarter now than they were before. I enjoyed going to school in California, but I'm sure they've dumbed down things there too. 

That surely isnt the case in Texas. Kindergarten consisted of learning a new letter each week and a color. Gimme a break, what 5 year old doesnt know that stuff before Kindergarten?! So happy to be out of that state and their slow education system. Sucks too that

Thats pretty offending becuase my daughter is 5 just started kintergarden. she never knew her letters prior to starting kintergarden this year. And it's not becuase im a lazy parent, its because she was never interested in learning what letter is what. She could write her name but she can't tell me what the letters are in her name. My 4 year old dont know his letters either. They do know all the other things they learn in kintergarden colors, shapes, animals stuff like that but like i said they are not familiar with their letters or numbers even tho they can count and say abc's. To be hontest if they never got in part day preschool last october at cdc they would have never known their colors or shapes either becuase like i said they were never interested in me teaching them. They love school and love other people teaching them but they dont like us teaching them. I tried making learning fun such as using candy (m&ms) to learn their colors they tell me what the color is they get it. If i have to tell them the color then i get it. That never even worked. Now that my daughter is in kintergarden any work sheets she gets for homework such as letters i am going to scan so i can work with my son on them becuase i really dont want him to be like she is when going into kintergarden as of right now he cant even write his name. 

And my children are not the only ones that are not or were not familar with their abc's and numbers prior to starting kintergarden my friend has 5 kids the older 2 that are in school never knew theirs. I have another freind who has 4 kids her older 2 never knew theirs when they started this year. Just saying 

Sorry, I only know the experiences in my family, and then with my kids. I guess what annoys me about it is that when you do have a kid that knows something, the last thing want to do is keep going over it, they want to learn more new things while still keeping fresh on the basics. If you spend too much time on the simple stuff and dont challenge them, they will lose their interest in learning at all. I just wish school maybe could be a lil more personalized, dont punish the kids that know, and dont neglect the ones who need the help. 

Colros, numbers, abcs and shapes are not the only thing they learn in kintergarden.

Im not going to type the whole expectationn list but here are some things outside of the those things that they learn.

*Identify all letter sounds
*Identify 3d shapes (such as cube, sphere, cylinder, cone)
*Identify upper and lowercase letters *Reconize and make rhyming words,
*Give 1st and last sound in a word
*Syllable segmentation
*Sound blending and sound segmenting
*Read high frequency words(40 words) *story comprehension
*Retell a story in sequence
*Recite the days of week months of year,
*and simple addition and subtractions of word problems.

So its not all about colors, shapes, and letters.

Thanks for the applogy. I do know kids that go into kintergarden just reviewing but i also know alot going in not even knowing how to say their abcs If you chose to teach your child these things prior to kintergarden then yes they will be bored in kintergarden. Maybe it should be the parents choice to send their kids to kintergarden based on what their child knows. 

I'm enjoying school so far here in Kansas, at Ware specifically, we are going on our second year. What I'm liking is the fact that the kids get out of their class room and go to others based on their skills. So the ones who still struggle with reading get more attention than the ones who seem to have it down.
And I was just talking about our kindergarten experiences in Texas, I know its different here. From the work he was bringing home daily, and my talks with the teacher, I felt bad for my child.
I dont try to teach my children stuff, like I dont spend any part of my day on education... but it seems they get to a certain age and they just want to know stuff, they start asking questions so I answer them. 

What I'm liking is the fact that the kids get out of their class room and go to others based on their skills

Thats how it is in Iowa too. you have the ones that can read and comprehend things better than what other can so they split them up into groups depending on their level of education they know. 

I went to school in Iowa and I was in kindergarten 20 years ago and it was full day. Some schools back then had half days, but mine and most others in my area had full days. Our preschool was only half days and only 2-3 days a week. 

What part of Texas were you in, notsue? I'm just curious because our daughter went to an elementary school in Killeen and the curriculum was actually quite advanced--and I am very hard to please when it comes to the level of difficulty of schoolwork, lol. We were also in California and I thought the work there was quite challenging as well.

Our daughter will be entering her 10th (yes, 10th) different school this year so I've seen both ends of the spectrum, but I've said it before and I'll say it again: it is our responsibility as parents to compensate for what our children are not learning at school. If a child does not have a special need or learning disability and he/she walks into the first day of 1st grade without knowing things like their colors, how to count, how to spell their names, word identification, etc--that isn't Kindergarten's fault. It is the parents fault for not preparing their children for life. Our daughter is in 11th grade and I know she isn't getting extremely hard work at Junction City High School, but guess what? I know that she could easily handle college-level courses right now because I give her a ton of work to compensate for what she isn't getting. If more parents did the same, we wouldn't need programs like No Child Left Behind.

Sorry; rant over. 

Southeast... town had a population of 632 or something and next closest town was 20 minutes away, or 30 minutes depending on which one you chose. 

That surely isnt the case in Texas. Kindergarten consisted of learning a new letter each week and a color. Gimme a break, what 5 year old doesnt know that stuff before Kindergarten?! So happy to be out of that state and their slow education system. Sucks too that they had my son in the G&T program but Kansas doesnt recognize it, that should tell you something too.


I definitely would not base this, on a small town of 632 people (or something) on the whole states curriculum. Because let me tell you, in a pre-k program my son was in, in a rather large town (I'm not military so no base town) he might as well have been in kindergarten.

When I moved to Texas and started high school, at that time, my school was the 3rd best academic school in the state. I had moved there from California, and I was considered behind on credits because California's school system was too "eh who cares, pass em anyways".

While I agree that some smaller towns, could have a dated learning system, don't make the whole state sound "dumb".