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Hello and ¡Hola! to all the people reading this blog and looking for Kindergarten and TK classes for next year. I am part of a bicultural (Mexico and US) family living in Bernal Heights. I have two young daughters, one eligible for TK next year. I have been reading the blog for the last 2 years, in anticipation of my daughter reaching school age. I hope to be able to help others find the right school while sharing my own process. I am also hoping to tour all the TKs that we are interested in this year as well as some schools that only have Kindergarten, because honestly I don’t want to have to tour again next year.
As a bilingual family we are only looking at Spanish immersion and bilingual programs for Kindergarten. We are open to English or Spanish for TK, as there aren’t currently very many bilingual options. In addition, we speak Spanish at home and any literacy skills she learns in TK will transfer to Spanish in Kindergarten. We are only going to be looking at public schools. Although there are many fine private schools in the city, I am a public school teacher myself. On a teacher’s salary it is impossible to consider paying for school – we make too much to qualify for significant financial aid and too little to actually pay tuition. My husband and I both attended public schools and I can’t realistically justify something different for my children.
My oldest child is four years old, born in October. Truth be told, I have very mixed feelings about Transitional Kindergarten. I would honestly prefer that she start Kindergarten in the fall. I was a young K and always felt fine with my peers. My daughter will have already done 2 years of preschool by the time she starts and she will be ready. Since California is providing this extra year for her, I really want it to be worthwhile and different enough from Kindergarten that she won’t be bored. I would be perfectly happy for her to attend TK at one school and switch to another for Kindergarten if that is what is best for her, but I am also going to be looking at schools that have both programs.
We are looking at schools in the South/East side of the City – mostly Bernal Heights, Glen Park, Mission, Noe Valley.
As of now the schools we will be touring for TK:
Flynn
Junipero Serra
Zaida T. Rodriguez
For Kindergarten:
Marshall
Alvarado
Flynn
Fairmount
Paul Revere
Moscone (Bilingual Program)
Sanchez (Bilingual Program)
Monroe
I will also tour any new TK programs announced on October 25th that are on this side of the city.
I already toured Alvarado and I will have my review written soon!