To parents who have at least one child who didn't attend 4 year old Kindergarten and at least one who did -?

The 4K program has many obvious flaws but some good things too. My child who went in first though seems to do better.

My daughter attended pre-K for the entire school year. The pre-K she attended was a phonics based program. Every week was themed. They learned a letter and all the activities were based around the letter. They did not learn in alphabetical order, but in the frequency with which the letter appeared in the English language. My daughter was reading before the end of the year. Now in seventh grade, she is academically at the top of her class.

My son attended for eight weeks before we moved. Our new location did not have the pre-K program, so he stayed at home with me. Before I do a real academic comparison, here is where I get to admit that he had an articulation delay. While he stayed at home with me, he did attend speech sessions twice a week and we did play groups, library groups and swimming lessons. His kindergarten program, while phonics based, was not nearly as challenging as my daughter's pre-K class. We moved again before starting first grade and he attended a school that was sight word or whole language based. He struggled up until this year where he has finally taken off academically.

So, whether I can credit the pre-K program or not is up for debate. However, it was very beneficial for my daughter.