Fwisd Really Bites!!! My Little One Was Denied Pre-K!!!
Lounge By briansbaker Updated 23 May 2006 , 12:48pm by Pootchi
I guess I never really payed attention to the rules and regulations about pre-k because I never had trouble getting my other kids into Pre-K. Brian is 4 and ready for Pre -k. I go to the school on registration day.. Get there at 9am they started giving out numbers at 8:30 and I am number 83. I wait in the cool morning air for about an hour.. then someone comes out and gives detail about how the numbers will be called. Numbers from 76-100 will start being called at noon.. I go home, clean and do some laundry.. go back at around 12:10 and my number has already been called. I wait my turn and i get in around 12:30. They start to check that I have all needed forms, I get sent to a table and read and sign all school forms.. I finish and get sent to another table to have the forms re checked.. I get sent to another table and the nurse checks shot records. Now I am waiting to meet the Principle who is by the way at lunch and doesnt see me until around 1:30. So she looks at all the forms and says " I'm sorry, but your child does not qualify for Pre-K". I was like "WHAT!". why not???? Because it is a Federal Funded program and there are two ways you can get in, 1 your childs first language cant be English and 2 you must not make more then 56K a year with a family of 8. ( I have my niece and nephew living with me too).. I was so freaking mad.. I shoudn't have said what I said But I did ..hmm cant repeat what I said, but i also added this. do you know that it takes 65K to feed and support 8 damn people". She said " I'm sorry you feel that way, but I have no power over the rules". I was so freaking pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (sigh) on top of that I just got a part time job, working on my hubbys days off.. and was going to work around Brians school days, to make some extra cash. now that's blown out the freaking window!!! man I am so upset!!!! I have a ??? for all you preschool teachers out there.. can someone help me start a Home program to help teach Brian the basic Pre-K stuff.. I dont even know where to start.. Being I cant afford private school, I will have to teach him at home and I have noooooooooooooo Idea where to start! thanks for letting me vent!
i think all texas schools are that way. before i married my hubby we tried to get my step sons into prek and he made 1000 to much and they were denied. maybe you can check into churches in your area we have some here that offer pre k for a very low fee and sometimes free depending on family size and income it is soo frustrating i know how you feel.
Wow! I'm so sorry to hear that! Is there another option around?
It's sad, really, you can't get into anything unless you're "income challenged", receiving welfare, on a medical card, etc. If yuo want your child to be in a preschool, you have to pay for those. Ugh!
Just look on the web for worksheets, someone gave me a link the other day, here it is...hope this helps:
http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolworksheets.htm
hope this helps!
good luck!!
I checked out a Catholic School.. OMG 3650 for the year.. plus 300 deposit.. plus if I am not from a parish, 7.00 a week to become part of the church which is 365 a year..or pay 1200 on top of 3650. PLUS 30 hours of my time to the school or pay 10 an hour 300.00... I can pay tuition at the public school at 400.00 a month for the year.. there out of their freaking minds!!!!!!!!!!!
mmdd thanks for that link!!! I am also in need of what steps to take.. where do I start.. do I start with colors, numbers, his name, shapes.. and how long do I keep this up.. two weeks on colors and so on and so on.. what kind of time frame to I use.. 30 mins on colors then 30 mins on numbers.??
I am so confused!!!! and mad!!!
I feel for you! Yes, in Texas unless you are and imigrant or someone they se as "underpriveleged" your child does not qualify for pre-k.
What's worse is they have such high expectations of the children entering kindergarten, that if your child has not attended pre-k or daycare, they are at a disadvantage.
My son will be 6 in May, and will be entering Kindergarten in the fall. I ended up holding him back a year because of his maturity level/behavior. I only hope that he does well this fall.
As a stay home Mom, we simply cannot afford daycare. He did attend a church based program 2 days a week...but, he & another little boy were in trouble everyday. He ended up spending the majority of every day sitting out, in the director's office. That was fine until the day he came home and had not been allowed to have lunch with his class (lunch was uneaten!) At which time I pulled him out because, as i told DH, he can sit in time out at home for that $80/month.
It truly is sad when your children are not able to attend because of income levels!
i am so sorry this happened to you.
my daughter started prek late cause of the way her birthday falls so i just made a game out of her learning. dont make a time limit on the things you teach her. sing songs with while you clean house. count the number of clothes you hang up with her. ask her what color the food is that she is eating. children learn very quickly and very easily.
we taught our oldest boys colors with jelly beans lol we would get bag and have them find 5 red ones or something like that that way they were learning colors and counting at the same time. once they learned the abc's we had them find things around the house that started with a certain letter one thing i remeber from my oldest sons kindergarten teachers is not to teach them how to write the letters in order of the alphabet she would do maybe G and T and work on that for maybe 3 days and then move on to E and P by the end of the week the kids had learned 4 letters and could write 4 or 5 words using those letters. as you teach each letter teach the sound at the same time. i will tell you the hardest thing for most kids is after learning the t and h or c and h its very hard for them to understand the combining sounds they make they taught th ch sh ph as seperate "letters" so that when they see them together they know its a different sound.
Wow..that would be really frustrating!! Here it is called preschool and it is private or rather public...everyone is welcome and you pay for it yourself...I pay $120.00 a month,they supply the drink and a parent volunteers everyday with a snack for all the kids...usually 20,no forms,no run around.You register your child,pay the fee and that's it!! No one is denied unless the classes are full.My son has been at preschool for 2 years now and starts Kindergarten in the fall.My daughter is already registered for the 3 year old class Tuesdays and Thursdays.The only requirement here in Alberta is that your child must be 4 by February 28th of the same year to be eligible for kindergarten in Sept.My son was not but I wouldn't have sent him anyway at 4 years old.My friend sent her twins whose birthday happened to be on February 28th so they were enrolled in Kindergarten at 4 years old.I can't believe it is so strict just to register kids in preschool.Good luck!!
Yikes, my girls had free pre-K, 1/2 day, 5 days a week, same as Kindergarten except they introduced the children in smaller groups the first week or so. They were also bussed free. In Ontario the public and Catholic (separate) schools systems are now equally funded and there are also private schools that are not. I guess I kind of thought that was still the norm except for the fact in the U.S. your Catholic schools are not funded. When I was in school it was just Kindergarten, no pre-k. Sorry to hear that kiddo! That is frustrating!
Hugs Squirrelly
I looking into a school too for my 31/2 year old . And it is frustating that you don't qualify because of your income. They don't take into account that out of that you half or more goes to bills. One of my friendds from florda told me that in florida pre k is free . They voted for it last year. Now that's what we need in texas.
You are right, with the cost of gas and energy, food and clothes and everything else, it doesn't seem like they make it very easy to qualify! Do the children have to meet certain knowledge requirements to get into kindergarten regardless of if they went to a pre-kindergarten or not?
Hugs Squirrelly
My daughter's kindergarten teacher recommended this site:
http://www.starfall.com/
It introduces letters, basic sight words etc. My girls love it.
we live in virginia and my 3yr old daughter is waitlisted at a private preschool. we'll be paying $250 a week which is quite expensive but well worth the fee to ensure my daughter is in a safe and healthy environment. plus they have webcams installed in the classrooms so you can watch "live" what's going on in class any time (site is only accessible by parents).
i had initially put her in kindercare (which seems very public to me - at least in this area) but pulled her out after only one day. i sat adn observed their interactions with the kids and was appalled at the way they treated the kids. they made 2 & 3 year olds sit and watch charlotte's webb. yelled at anyone who would not sit still through the movie - imagine a 2 year old sitting through a one hour movie???? not to mention the content! to top it all off, they gave snacks to the kids and if they were dropped on the floor, they made the child pick it up and eat it, not throw it in the trash!! there were so many things that were so appalling to me and i am glad i stuck around to observe. if they behaved this way when parents were around, i can only imagine how they would "take care" of my DD when i am not around. needless to say i pulled her out after only one day.
kindercare was considerable less expensive than the new preschool my DD will be attending but i would rather pay the money and feel that my daughter is safe and is being treated with the love and respect that we give her at home.
good luck to you!
We use and reccomend the book "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" I ordered it off amazon, they also have lots of reviews that you can read on amazon. It has been great. We do not do a lesson everyday, but about 3 times a week. She is on lesson 70 and is reading very well for a preschooler. I also have a few work books I got from Sam's. They are very good, Walmart has some too. For Kindergarten I am ordering an
A beka Curriculum.
And it is frustating that you don't qualify because of your income.....One of my friendds from florda told me that in florida pre k is free . They voted for it last year. Now that's what we need in texas.
Sounds like maybe the Texans on this board should start by writing letters to their congressmen! We voted for a lottery system here, so that we don't pay state income taxes. That money is supposed to be going to the schools.
It would be too late for my children, but I would love to see a pre-k system in Texas that you don't have to "qualify" for! Even a 1/2 day program would be great! It is a shame that middle-class families are at a disadvantage in this situation. If you are poverty level, your kids can go, if you are wealthy you can afford to send your kids to a private preschool, middle-class...so sorry!
Hi,
I have a 4 yr. old in preschool now. She started the year off with :
Using sissors
shapes
colors
counting--using the numbers on the calender
letter names, sounds and recognition A-E for 2 weeks then add in the next 5 letters for 2 weeks but review the previous everyday--letters don't mean anything without the picture--Aa and a picture of an alligater
My kids love the Leap frog videos--Letter factory is great!!
coloring objects
tracing a straight line--playdoh helps build hand mussles
tracing a dashed line--The fat crayons and pencils are easier for little hands to hold.
connecting a dashed line
Everyday they have to draw a picture in their journals, tell an adult what they drew; The adult wrote exactly what child says--Over time not drawing just a tree but the whole scene
recognizing their name
listening skills--following directions
remembering skills--Same story/song everyday
By October most could write their name
puzzles
body parts
coloring objects the correct colors--no purple faces
As of Feb--the kids have been taught to put letter sounds together to make words: stop, cat, hat---Dick and Jane type words
Pledge of Alegience
Addition
Hardest part of all that I see as a class helper is so many kids have no anger management/social skills--hitting, bitting, screaming tantrums, sharing
Hardest part as a Mom--I expect way too much, and don't remember how hard it was to learn how to hold sissors and cut a straight line or the cordination it takes to write letters/ numbers the same size, when just begining.
Easiest part as a Mom--very scheduled.
Class starts at 7:30am--Kids get their pencil boxes and find their journal do their pic have playtime til 7:50 then 10 min of clean up.
Some carpet time to settle them down--go over the calender, weather, pledge (Mondays)How was your weekend and what did you do
Breakfast at 8:15--No manners are taught by the teachersand the food might feed a 2 yr old if the kids like it (mine hates most of it)
Carpet/story/review and the days lesson (what they will be doing) at about 8:45 til 9-9:15
Projects til 9:45--usually 3 projects and they rotate
10:00 playtime outside if weather permits
10:30 schools out
Fridays are more playtime not projects
I hope this helps.
i've taken a few early childhood education classes, and the best advice i can give you is to be pretty organic about how you teach. by that, i mean let your son direct your lessons, not the other way around. if he is watching finding nemo constantly, center learning around fish, colors of fish, names of fish, what fish each, how to spell fish, etc. when he grows bored of fish he may be interested in the beach by then because fish live in water, beach is by the water, and so on. so move onto beach centered learning. the key is really to make it interesting to him. good luck! i can try an find my textbooks later to see what this sort of learning is called so you can do more research if you'd like.
as far as motor skills are concerned, those exercises should be fun too. like others have said, cutting out shapes is an excellent way to build fine motor skills. doing yoga together, dancing to music together, those are great for building balance, confidence, and gross motor skills. i really should find my textbooks, they're great about all this.
i've taken a few early childhood education classes, and the best advice i can give you is to be pretty organic about how you teach. by that, i mean let your son direct your lessons, not the other way around. if he is watching finding nemo constantly, center learning around fish, colors of fish, names of fish, what fish each, how to spell fish, etc. when he grows bored of fish he may be interested in the beach by then because fish live in water, beach is by the water, and so on. so move onto beach centered learning. the key is really to make it interesting to him. good luck! i can try an find my textbooks later to see what this sort of learning is called so you can do more research if you'd like.
as far as motor skills are concerned, those exercises should be fun too. like others have said, cutting out shapes is an excellent way to build fine motor skills. doing yoga together, dancing to music together, those are great for building balance, confidence, and gross motor skills. i really should find my textbooks, they're great about all this.
Great idea lasidus1. We used this method as well and played games like I-Spy something in the kitchen with an "C" sound.
I feel for your BriansBaker. We had to go to a private pre-K because #1- the state thought we made too much money (one income as I was layed-off 
) and #2- my daughter is pretty mature for her age 
and pretty bright and passed all their entry tests. My fault I guess for reading to her too much! 
In Georgia, all the churches have pre-Ks; some are terrific, some are glorified babysitting services. Find a group of mothers somewhere and listen-in. Maybe someone can offer good suggestions.
Good luck.
kos
um...what do all the initials mean in the topic title?... 
speaking as a all of the following:
a teacher of 30 years
a LUTHERAN teacher at that (BriansBaker -- check out the LUTHERAN preschools in FW..several to choose from...lots of Lutheran churches there. go to www.lcms.org -- look for schools locator)
and as an ol' fart (over the hill+??? -- i'm not telling!!!) b-day soon.
1) no pre-k when I and many of us grew up and we came out fine (well all things are relative)
2) I fear we have become obessed w/ getting our kids off to a FANTASTIC start -- the competition for college now begins in pre-k?!?!?!?
HOW ABSURD!!!!!!!!!
3) why are we afraid to let kids be kids? they learn through play, exploring, making messes, etc. why must we structure it so early? they're already stuck in structured school for 13-17 years (k-12 or k-college), must they really have yet another year?
4) at this age teaching doesn't have to be formal...informal is better. make a game of every day things
fractions = measuring quantities for mommy's cakes
counting -- how many toys, cake pans, cake tips, colors, etc.
colors -- let's make icing!!!
supermarkets are loaded w/ lessons -- "can I weigh my sister?" -- no, cabbage/lettuce, etc. safer.
5) as for toys...blocks, leggos, tinker toys are all great but so are just plain on scissors, glue, shoe boxes, old pots, pans, buckets...anything can be a toy.
one of the biggest frustrations I've had increasingly year after year, is how much more limited in imagination and creativity many of my students are becoming. "Where's the instructions?" "Tell me exactly how you want me to do it." and when I say this is a project that requires you to create they give me a blank look and often say "I can't do that"
begs the question -- why? my answer, it's been trained out of them by too much schooling, too much structured learning, too much structured play... too many worksheets, too many educational toys (like leappad, et. al.). too little downtime, too little free play time, too little just go amuse yourself time.
and while I understand the need to use pre-k as a babysitting service so parent can have the job, I still wonder if that's the best route.
to this day I can NOT eat salmon patties because I ate them SO much as a child and let's just say i know enough ways to make hamburger to not repeat for nearly a year. When I asked my mom about it once, she simply said -- we were poor and had to make do. she chose to stay home and lower her asperations. I'm just as guilty as any of my generation that our so called "needs" are really needs but wants and could get by with far less than I have. Do I as a single guy really need 2 tvs? do i really need a new car every 3-4 years? do I really need every cake pan known to baking? do i really need that expensive vacation? (what ever happened to camping? -- oh yea, has to be done in a $12,000+ RV) The list could go on and on.
for whatever reason (the disposible, planned obsolescence, consumer, beat the jones --keeping up not good enough -- mentality fostered by the media and or just the desire by our parents that we "have it better than they did" which got out of hand) our asperations for what we NEED in life have become so outsize that we can barely take the time to enjoy life.
(hmmm obviously hit a sore spot with me!)
ok, ladies ... flame on!
4)
My kids didn't qualify for pre-K either in VA. DH made too much money (barely could pay the bills at the time) and they scored too high on their assessments. We put my son in one school that used the A BEKA program,
http://www.abeka.com/. It's a good program for learning letter sounds. Our biggest thing for putting them in pre-K was for social interaction more than anything. There are no kids near us, except when Our neighbor has their grandson, and he can be a terror sometimes. Anyway - colors, shapes, numbers, letters and sounds, and how to write their first name is something to work on to get ready for Kindergarten. Good luck with it all!!
You're welcome, Kos. I do believe Briansbaker is really mad, but if they had been bad words it would have looked something like this "#@#%"!
I think it is unfair that our Texas school systems are so overloaded that you really have to be underprivileged in order to qualify for preK, or any other form of education. Janice
You're welcome, Kos. I do believe Briansbaker is really mad, but if they had been bad words it would have looked something like this "#@#%"!
I think it is unfair that our Texas school systems are so overloaded that you really have to be underprivileged in order to qualify for preK, or any other form of education. Janice
"#@#%"!, oh, so that means swear words? 
I am still trying to figure out which words are tabu and deleted and which are not as I have seen some that were deleted or changed in some posts appear in other posts that are not changed or deleted, go figure, haha!
I was going to suggest a David Letterman style, "Top Ten List of Words You Cannot Say on Cake Central" but then I guess if you listed them and they weren't deleted, they weren't the right words, right, haha!
I have seen the _ss and the _rse word and the _issed word in several posts the last few days that were not deleted, but they were deleted or edited or changed in some posts recently too. I have had the word "pinched" deleted when used in conjunction with nuts when I meant it in the old English manner of a slang word for "steal". Haha, and we won't even get into some of the words used to describe cakes in the Naughty Cake's section of the Gallery let alone in the Naughty Cakes Discussion area. Fortunately I can stay out of there now, haha!
So I have come to the conclusion that the words will get deleted if someone complains about a particular post they have seen with these words but if they didn't read another post with the same words and complain about them, the words won't be edited or deleted or changed. So I guess it would be safer to use the "#@#%" in place of any word or expression that might offend the one reader who complains and then you don't have to worry, right?
What I have never been able to figure out is this. If the words _ss or_rse are going to be deleted then shouldn't the ROFLMAO be changed to ROFLMO or LMAO become LMO?
I am so confused! 
Heehee, sorry, just trying to give the mods a rough time here! 
And now they are after Cake _alls!
Yikes!
Hugs Squirrelly
Didn't mean to highjack the post.
Haha, well I have to be bad once in awhile! The sites have been quiet all weekend, just had to cause a bit of trouble, haha!
Ok, I am done!
hugs Squirrelly
mmdd thanks for that link!!! I am also in need of what steps to take.. where do I start.. do I start with colors, numbers, his name, shapes.. and how long do I keep this up.. two weeks on colors and so on and so on.. what kind of time frame to I use.. 30 mins on colors then 30 mins on numbers.??
I am so confused!!!! and mad!!!
I first started with some basic colors...just making it fun by showing them a color and then we'd go around the house and look for everything that was red, etc.
And, with numbers, I started in the bathtub....washing "toesies", lol! 1 little, 2 little, 3 little toesies; 4 little, 5 little, 6 little toesies; 7 little, 8 little, 9 little toesies.........and that's how we count to 10.
I didn't put pressure on anything much at first, well...I kinda started when they were a year. Now, at 4 & 5..they can count to 20; they try to say their abc's, but kinda get a little confused around "lmnop". LOL!!!!
When they were about 3 I started with some papers out of preschool books...and they basically went over everything they knew already.
Once they had this basic stuff down...I wrote down their name and had them trace it. We did this for a long time. Then I'd write down letters and have them trace them.
Then they got to doing it all on their own. My 5 year old can write his name from memory, his dads name from memory and sometimes it really seems like he can read!!! My 4 year old will say I can't, I can't. But, I have another year to work with him.
Five year old goes to kindergarten this fall; and I think he will do great!!
Four year old just started going to the potty 3 weeks ago; so he's really stubborn!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And, he's left-handed! You should see the difference in these boys writing, etc.!
Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And, have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am an early childhood teacher and have taught for more than 25 years. Many of the teachers here choose not to send their own kids to preschool because there is too much pencil/paper stuff and not enough developmentally correct activities.
Talk to your child all the time, ask him what he sees, thinks and hears.
Read to him! Read to him and read to him! Sing little silly songs and tell him all the nursery rhymes. Let him build with blocks and play with measuring spoons, and cups. Let him help you with simple tasks. Setting the table is more educational that 15 silly math work sheets. "here are 2 plates, how many more do we need?" that kind of talk. Give him play dough, crayons, paints and markers and lots of big pieces of paper to draw on. Ask for paper bags instead of plastic at the store and let him color or cut the bags into anything he can think of. Always ask him to "tell me about what you made."
If possible take him to story time at the library (I hope your library has this) Let him explore the children's section and choose books. Limit the amount of TV and video games he is exposed to. Take him to parks, zoos and children's museums.
Chances are if you do these things this year, he can zoom through kindergarten while some of the kids that spent the year in pre-K are being "retaught" how to hold a pencil, how to write their names without using all capitals. etc.
I am sorry if I sound negative about pre-Ks. I know that there are some really great ones out there, it is just that years ago the teachers had to take a lot of special classes on child development, pre-K curriculum, child psychology, and methods classes, and do a practicum in a nursery school before they could teach a class. Now where I live, people can pass a general knowledge exam and mail away their teaching degree, (even if it is a high school math or science degree and wha-la! They are now certified nursery school teachers! In so many of the pre-Ks here, and some cost the parents a couple thousand $$ a year for their kid to attend, it is not developmental correct instruction at all-it's a watered down elementary curriculum.
The Society of Developmental Education always acknowledges that the parents are the child's first teacher. Parents who take an active interest in their child set the child's feet on the path to a good education. Sending your son to K knowing that he needs to follow verbal instructions the first time asked, knowing how to take turns and when to listen and when to reply is the quickest way to a good education.
Kids can do great with or without pre-K, after all, educators all realize that small class size enhances learning. You son will be able to have one to one instruction all the time!
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