THANK YOU!!!!!! Thank you for calling all day school what it is, glorified daycare! It's also a euphemism for full employment for the teacher's union, IMO. My oldest will start Kindergarden in 2 years, and all-day K will be mandatory here that year. Homeschooling is definitely on the table. My 5 yr old shouldn't be forced to attend school all day because somebody else won't leave her "rewarding career" for a couple of years. And spare us all the tripe about how all day K supposedly makes for better students down the line. I'm not buying it. We push too hard and too early, too young -- and still wind up with HS graduates who can barely compete with kids in the 3rd world.
They are trying that in more an more places. I hear families who have to find after-Kindergarten care for their kids trying to get it in their school systems. Those of us with stay at home parents are fine with half day Kindergarten. Why does a 5 year old need to be in school for the whole day?
Depending on what state you live in, you might not even *have* to send your child to kindergarten, or even first grade. Missouri for instance starts mandatory attendance at age 7.
I think there are good reasons for keeping some children home for K and grade 1. Mom can teach them to read, write, and do arithmetic in a very short time per day, and the rest of the morning (or afternoon, whatever your preference) can be given over to just learning by being at home and with an adult who's engaged and interested - gardening, looking for bugs and toads in the yard, going to the park or museums.
There's plenty of time for them to get down to "book learning." Even for parents who want to send children to school, most kids would profit from staying home till at least 3rd grade or so.