TK vs K

This September birthday business is the pits!  I mentioned a little more than a year ago the difficult decision we were going to be faced with in the future... well that future is here.  Where to place Drew come the fall - Kindergarten registration is taking place now - well technically February 1. 

The state of California says he's eligible for Kindergarten - the cutoff for next school year will be November 1 (this is the first year of a 3-year rollback plan which ends with September 1 in 2014).

While our preschool parent teacher conferences aren't for another week-and-a-half, the local school distrcit held a Transitional Kindergarten (TK) meeting on Wednesday.  I have no doubt academically that Drew is ready for Kindergarten academically - there was no doubt 2 years ago. :)  In fact one of the teachers was joking with me today that Drew's ready academically for 1st grade.

But it's the social/emotional side that's always been the iffy.  Yes he's a boy.  Yes he is and always will one of the youngest (for the record, so was Dave and I).

Anyway, at this Transitional Kindergarten meeting the stressed the things they would work on and tried to convey the differences between Preschool and Kindergarten.  Honestly I was hoping that attending this meeting would offer the definitive answer I was looking for - it was not.  I left just as unsure as when I went in.  Here's a snapshot of what they do in TK:

• Learn their letters and their sounds (Drew mastered this before the age of 2)
• Begin learning and recognizing sight words (Drew again was reading Dr. Seuss on his own at 2 1/2, and has progressed since. And he's understanding what he reads, it's not just repeating the words on the page. NO we did not use Your Baby Can Read!)
• Learn numbers 1-10 and begin recognizing larger numbers (Drew can count and recognize 1-100, and beyond as well.  Admittedly he occasionally flips the numbers around... so he sees 52 but will say 25)
• Learn to count in sequence (he's mastered this around the age of 2)
• Learn to cut with scissors (he can do this admittedly not a master at it, we really need to get kid scissors at home to help him work on this)
• Write and recognize his name (check)
• Play independently (he is an only child, duh)
• Learn to manage emotions when performing activities (this is where Drew is "immature" or rather age appropriate, but being as he's younger he of course appears more immature compared to some of his peers).

(If you want to see more of my dilemma, look at the kindergarten readiness skill "checklist" our district puts out.   You see why my only issue is emotional/social).

So honestly is it worth putting him into a two year kindergarten and have him learn to mange his emotions or is it better to challenge him like I know he needs and craves?  He's already telling us he doesn't do certain things at school because he's bored or it's boring.  This is precisely my fear by "holding him back" and putting him in TK the 2 year preschool program. 

I've been the child who was bored and shoved in the corner to read or do irrelevant worksheets while the rest of the class "caught up".  It sucks.  This went on until middle school/junior high when I could go to a class where I would be challenged.

So I guess we'll speak in depth with his preschool teacher in the next week, in addition I am going to have Drew evaluated in May by the District to ensure that wherever we put him, he's in the appropriate place.  That said, I'm going to sign him up for both Kindergarten and the TK program (which not at our home school, but somewhere else in the district) and make the final call in May.  The TK administrators said they do not want to put anyone in this class that truly belongs in K and they do not want to put anyone in K that should be in TK. 

Did I mention having a kid with a September birthday is the pits?!