I live in Fl and our K still takes naps, we even have to buy nap mats for our children when they start school. It is for an hour long. After lunch they play for an hour then nap for an hour then get up play , story time then home.

I don;t know any kindergarten that will allow rest time or nap time even for 5 year old kids?! I suppose only daycare centers will do that. My boyys stopped napping when they were three (maybe earlier!), but they slept by 8 O'clock. I do agree with physical tiredness of the kids at that age.

great points both Janette and Ra.

My daughter had half her class falling asleep after lunch during full-day K. It took a week or two before most could make it the whole day. For many kids, it's just too much--especially late birthday kids who are often a year to 18 months younger than the kids in the class with them.

And Ra, my son was like that. If he napped, he'd never go to sleep, so when he'd start getting a little tired at dinner time, I'd redirect until we'd eaten and he'd had time with his dad, and then he'd still not sleep until 9 or 10. But with a nap he'd outlast both of us!

For some kids it might be too demanding, but for others it might be exactly what they need. Like my son. Yes, he goes to bed early most days. But that's good. And generally, he's better behaved on the days he's been to school a full day and come home than he has when he's been home all day long with not enough activity to keep his busy mind and body occupied. And he does NOT nap. If he naps, he's up until 3 AM! No naps for my boy.

Some kids need a lot of demand during the day and some kids don't. Each person needs to keep that in mind when they're thinking about this topic.

The biggest issue for me is that kindergarten is physically and emotionally exhausting-- even for kids who have been in day care since they were babies, even for kids who can already ready, even for kids who gave up naps years ago.

My older kids did great academically, but struggled with the physical demands of half-day kindergarten. They would be so cross and whiny! The first few weeks I was literally putting them to bed at 6:30.

My youngest did full-day K. They had a rest time, but he was pulled out of that for speech so he didn't often get his rest time. Almost every day he would fall asleep on the way home-- and I was putting him to bed at 6:30 just like I did with his older siblings.

So if you are looking at full-day K, I would advise finding out about their rest policy. If they don't allow a rest time or naps, they do not know much about 5-year-olds and I wouldn't want my child there.

WE have full days here and I think it is great for the kids, they have a whole day to play, learn, and they take a nap so they still get there growing/rest time. I am a SAHM. and I say to all the parents that will miss their lil ones as they go off to school you are allowed to go and volunteer, I do it all the time . My kids love it and the school does too.I know it is hard to watch them grow up, but it is good for them .

The district my daughter attends for 6th grade (which is not the one in which we live) gives us a choice.

I would choose full-day. Not because I work, and not because I am lazy. As a matter of fact, I used to be a full-time homeschool parent. Now I just augment my children's studies with homeschool learning.

However, the school is fantastic, and my son, who is still in preschool at the moment is a highly active child who needs *way* more than I can even begin to give him. His need for interaction with peers, and various ways of learning is so much more than I can provide.

If he doesn't get a lot of physical activity during the day, which I no longer can provide due to my having Multiple Sclerosis, he acts out negatively at home. The same can be said for being able to interact with friends too!

While I could teach him, I couldn't provide him the ability to run around wild and crazy on the playground with his friends.

I couldn't provide him the other wonderful activities that his schools are able to provide. He's in full-day preschool and it's made a huge difference already.

Some kids need it, some parents need it, and sometimes like in our case, we all need it.

There are pros and cons to half day vs full day Kindergarden classes. I am a FT student at a branch here in Las Cruces, NM and technically a single mother with very little people that I can trust around my son. Yes, full day Kindergarden would be great in the respect that I could get my studying done and be able to spend less time worrying and more time with him when I pick him up from school. Although, on the other hand, I agree with the fact that learning and interaction within the family unit is VERY important. So, fr the best interest of my son I would have to go with putting him in on a half day schedule and putting my needs aside. My son comes above all else

Half day or full day K depends on the child more than any study, friend, relative, etc. I personally chose half day for my children. My reasons were as follows: I didn't feel a 5 y.o. needed to be in school all day. I am an at-home mom and we do lots of educational and fun activities during the day. I also wanted my children to wish they could stay longer than to wish they could go home. The full day program is often just the same as the half day only longer amounts of time to do the same work. Plus lunches and recess which we did not have for the half day. A child who would need to attend daycare or who may have less at-home stimulation may benefit from all day K, but that was not my situation. Both my children have always been at the top of their class so I feel I made the best decision for them. Someone else may choose otherwise. I feel it should be an option, but I see half day K fading by the wayside as working parents see it as a viable (and cheaper) option to daycare.

jpb123, I saw your earlier comments, which somehow disappeared and now have reappeared above mine. (You can edit postings for up to an hour after they've been made, so that's what I've done.)
I agree with much of what you've said, but I'm puzzled - is it mandatory that kids in NY attend Kindergarten? I thought the federal laws only state that children must start to attend school by age 7, but while most parents do enroll their kids in kindergarten, it's not required.

I am a mother of 2 and in the Military. I was stationed in Alaska and the Kinder there was half day. I didn't like it at all not only because I work all day but because with it being half day I don't think the kids got the attention they needed. Think about it can a teacher really teach 13 kids all subjects in 4 hrs? The kids didn't have a recess and they ate lunch in their class rooms. I maybe got 2 crafts from school that my son did; I remember when i was in Kinder I bought home all kinds of crafts for my mom especially during the holidays it was not like that in this school and honestly i have to say that i am afraid that when he starts first grade he will not be as advanced as the other kids his test scores were average he struggled during most of the school year and we even did activities at home together to help him with reading and math. I have to say that I think Kinder should be all day at every school.

The school in Taylor, MI has both full days and half days. There is a lottery pull and the children names that were selected will be in all day class while the other children will have half day classes. If you did not want full day, then you don't enter the lottery pull.

I am waiting to see if my son was selected for the full day classes or half. Either will be fine with us because he has a late in the year birthday. He will be 5, 12/31/09 but this is his first year in school.

I am a bit torn on this issue. My son just completed his first year of kindergarten (k3) and his school was a half day Montessori school. He is a late birthday child, July 28th, so he will be 4 entering his second year of kindergarten. This year he will be attending a full day, and I am hoping he is mature enough.

Part of my motivation for sending him to a full day program is because I work full time, and day care bills were killing me! I know we all want what's best for our children, but I could not afford another year of child care expenses. Fortunately the new school he has is an arts school with a great environment for his creativity. I will see how this year treats him, he is not as mature as my daughter. As a benefit to a working parent, all day is great. But if the child is not ready I don't think it is the best thing. Each child is different, and the birth date plays a major role in how much the child can handle.

so many schools are only half day and while i'm sure it is great for the teachers who only want to work half day, it's hard to guarentee that every child will be ready for first grade with only half day.
I an a kindergarten teacher at a private kindergarten and it is full day. We start class at 8:30 am and go until 3:30 pm. we have a rest time or nap time for those who take naps, and before and after school care for theose parents needing to work a full day. i can't imagine having trhe kids for only half that time as still haveing everyone ready for first grade. My afternoon curriculum is set up so i can have one on one time with each student. The students and parents seem to like the personal attention. Also if you want to cover all subjects math, science, language, social studies, including music and art and dance and theater you need a whole day to do each subject some justice. We also have an hour of playtime during the day and then an hour after 3:30 dismissal.

We also offered 3, 4 or 5 day programs. so those who only wanted part day could have part week instead. That really seemed to work well.

Full day

aruthanne, you are absolutely correct about the quality of time spent at home if the child is in a half day KG. It'll depend upon what that child will do at home after he/she comes back. Parents who want to have a half day are the parents who feel that their children will benefit more if they stay at home with them, as opposed to getting that enrichment at school.

I am a teacher and have taught both half day and full day Kindergarten. It seems to depend on what the child would be doing if they were not in the "other half" of full day Kindergarten. A few would actually benefit from being in an excellent preschool with less intensity, many benefit from having a focused and committed parent at home---not just sitting in front of a TV or playing video games, a few benefit from being at home because they are not developmentally ready for full day Kdgn. However, most children do benefit from Full Day Kindergarten instead of a Half Day session. Why? Because the pace is slower and does include the appropriate movement, art, music, stories, and choice time that most half day sessions do not have time for. Most Full Day Kindergartens teach core academics in the AM and practice and reinforce those skills and concepts in the PM. Having taught an experimental Kindergarten for a University with all accelerated students, it was discovered that even those children need repetition and practice and the result of the study was to continue with diverse classes. However, it is easier to individualize instruction with the freedom a teacher has with the gift of the "other half" of the day that Full Day Kindergarten provides. Most children do not take real naps anymore by Kdgn. age, but many are tired at the end of the day at the beginning of Kindergarten. I have always felt it would be ideal to dismiss Kindergartners an hour earlier than other grades but since that is not practical for many reasons, most teachers slow things down as the afternoon progresses allowing some quiet time, more stories, and enrichment activities especially in science and social studies. Standardized Test scores seem to show a definite benefit to Full Day Kindergarten judging from the test scores. Check out your own school, visit with teachers there, and discuss the quality of your options with other parents.

MagnetMom and healthy, I share your opinion on this topic. Again, it comes back to the parents who work full time and would rarher have a fall day than half day school (and that makes sense for them!). I on the other hand stopped working for a while just so I could bring my son home...he was having a hard time even going to the daycare a that time...I think my staying at home did wonders for him!

Whether or not "academically" its advantageous, I believe that a kinder gartner is simply too young to be at school this long a time given that he would probably spend at least 16-24 years of school life anyway! I just don;t think that time makes any difference academically. There are so many arguments to that though and I heard so many at the PTA meeeting...Cheers

eccentric,

Wow, you hit the nail on the head in regard to my feelings on why parents want full-day kindergarten. I'm one of the not in favor of full day kindergarten because to me it seems like an excuse to avoid paying for a babysitting service. However, parents who've had their kids in day care, then preschool, and then pre-K from their infancy feel like the kids are spinning their wheels if they aren't in something very academic (and full day as soon as possible).

As far as actual data, I don't know of any. In my case I went against everything and put my daughter in full-day kindergarten because the difference in curriculum was that half day still got the same amount of reading and math, leaving little time for anything else. And the full-day kindergarten had the experience that everyone remembers as kindergarten including art, music, games, etc. And my daughter would fall asleep in the car every day on the way home--and she was one of the older kindergarteners.

My son who is 10 years older than his sister was in half-day kindergarten with a for-pay component for the second half of the day, and we tried that for a month and then went back to half day--happily.

As an active mom with plenty of tricks up my sleeve, I do think I can provide as much enrichment as an active kindergartener needs--including play, level-appropriate reading, and other activities.

But school districts like full day kindergarten because they've pushed first grade curriculum into kindergarten. They now have spelling tests. They are nearly all reading before Christmas, and are reading full books by June.

I'd still prefer half-day, but I'm in the minority. And I'm a work-from-home mom who's active in my kids' education, so that puts me in an even smaller minority.

You might want to post your question in the Kindergarten Parents Group at community.greatschools.net/groups/11535

My son was "a ball of energy" and I knew it would be very difficult for him to stay inside and try to pay attention to a teacher for 6 or 7 hours at a time, so we opted for a half-day kindergarten program. If the schools recognize that young children need frequent breaks, and they provide plenty of opportunity to go outside and run around, I suppose it could be fine, but if the emphasis is strictly on "academics" then I would be disappointed. I think young children can learn a great deal more from seeing/doing, than from having a teacher tell them, or using worksheets.

With my son in a half-day program, we would often spend the other part of the day engaged in fun activities where he'd be learning without even realizing it, like bike riding, walking in the park to identify plants and birds, gardening, cooking, going to museums, etc. I realize that few parents have the time or energy to do that with their children, even if they are "stay-at-home" parents, so between parents who work full-time and those who just let them sit in front of a TV or computer when they are home, I guess that's why more and more schools are providing all-day kindergarten programs.