My oldest is starting K in the fall. He's been to preschool so he's not completely new to the school environment, but I'm wondering how to make it less overwhelming? Should we visit the school beforehand, practice the routine, or just... send him in and let him figure it out? Any parents been through this recently?
Yes visit the school multiple times if you can. Not just the official tour but like, hang out in the hallway during transitions, watch how teachers manage the chaos. It normalizes the space for him instead of it feeling like some new scary place.
Read books about starting kindergarten with him a couple times. Helps normalize everything. And don't make a huge deal about the first day - your calm energy matters way more than anything else.
Preschool experience helps but K is different - structured time, more kids, less flexibility. If possible see if the teacher can call him or send a note before school starts. Even just a 'hey this is Mrs Johnson, can't wait to meet you' makes a difference.
The preschool experience actually matters a lot less than you think. My oldest did 2 years of preschool and still had K jitters. The social piece is bigger than knowing how school 'works.'
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Talk a lot about what the day will actually look like. Not scary, just factual. 'You'll come in, put your stuff in your cubby, have circle time where we sit together...' The specifics are way less scary than the vague unknown.