Articles

Longer pieces about the confusing parts of early school. Every number carries a source and a date.

• Why your kid says “nothing” happened at preschool

  Open-ended recall is the hardest memory task a three-year-old can be given, and cued questions collapse the age gap almost entirely. The research, a question bank, and why 'I don't know' is the system working.

  8 min read 2026-09-08
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• Crying at drop-off: the short goodbye, and why it works

  The teacher advice that sounds heartless the first time you hear it, the pediatric consensus behind it, and the four-week line where tears stop being ordinary adjustment.

  9 min read 2026-08-30
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• Always sick since preschool started: the first-year math

  Eight colds at nine days each is seventy-two days of symptoms, which is why October feels continuous. The first-year wave is documented, the payoff is real but smaller than the folklore, and the red flags are specific.

  9 min read 2026-08-28
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• The youngest in the class: what a birthday actually does

  Drag a birthday around a calendar wheel and watch a class reorder. Then the research: hockey players born in January, ADHD diagnoses that track the cutoff, and why the gap closes.

  9 min read 2026-08-08
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• What is TK? A plain guide for parents who just heard the term

  TK is a free year of public school for four-year-olds. The name is Californian, but the idea is nationwide under at least six different names.

  9 min read 2026-07-28
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• When does school start? Ages, grades, and cutoff dates in the United States

  One month of birthday can separate two children by a full school year. Cutoff dates span five months, and being allowed to start is a different rule from being required to.

  8 min read 2026-07-28
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Also useful

The guides cover running a class, team, or troop, and the comparison pages weigh Group Space against the apps you might already be using.