Blogger’s Note: SOMT stands for Sign Of My Times, an occasional blog sharing my thoughts how time changes life from when I was young to today.
My parents enrolled me in kindergarten at the age of five. I was born on August 3, 1974. I started kindergarten in September 1979. I just turned five years old. They didn't delay my enrollment one year later.
My nephew was delayed kindergarten one year and my niece is being delayed kindergarten during the 2013-2014 school year. My brother and his wife made the choice to delay their children. Their school district has a delay kindergarten one year program called Transitional Kindergarten (TK). TK is not pre-school. TK is popular according to my brother. Many of my nephew's friends started TK. They stay together in subsequent grades. The school doesn't separate students to different teachers for their next school year; in other words, my nephew's classmates stay together for each progressing grade.
TK starts early and ends the school day at the same time as grade level students. TK students are assigned homework. Parents are required to be involved. Communication between the teacher and the parents are emphasized. Today's technology makes communicating easier with emails and information posted on the school's website.
I didn't have TK when I was a child. My kindergarten started the same time as all grade levels; however, we went home at noon. I didn't have homework when I was in kindergarten. My homework in my grades 1-3 were memorizing words for spelling tests. Recreational reading was optional. My fourth grade was the first time I experienced homework every school night. The only communication was information printed on official school letterhead the teacher gave us for our parents. There was no telephone tree or automated phone message system.
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