Is your child has a late summer/fall birthday, when did you start Kindergarten?

[mrs.sammich]

Our cut off is Aug. 31. DS5 and many of his friends just miss the cut off, some by days, others by two months (october birthdays)... There is an option to 'Test' them early into K. Not one parent looked into it. For some it's a great thing, however, my boy needed that extra year to get ready. All the kids are going according to cut off date and everyone is excited and ready to be with the 'big kids.' I've noticed how much he is trying to sound out words and reading those he does know now. He could have cared less last year at this time. He's ready, but am I?

 

[Nanu57v]

I kind of wish we would have been able to send our ds to kindergarten last year. Our cut off is Oct.1st and his birthday is Oct.29. He is a very big, tall stocky boy and no one can believe he is 5. He also knows everything he needs to, plus a lot more. He has been reading entire books for a while now and does math problems in his head.

When he was evaluated for kindergarten, one of the teachers made a big deal about him and made the other teachers come listen to him read. Then she started asking him all kinds of random questions. They said that they didn't know what to do with him other than let him teach class. Very funny..this did not make me feel very good about the future.

When I met with his actual teacher, she said that we will have a meeting and talk about ways to keep him interested and challenged in class. I have to admit though that it worries me when he brings home worksheets that ask him to circle the animal or circle the right alphabet letter! Everyone tells me that I should see about him moving up a grade, but I just don't know. He does say that he loves school though, so I don't want to rock the boat!

Does anyone have any experience with this?

I'm in the same boat. Our district cutoff is Sept 1, and states boldly NO EXCEPTIONS!!!. DD so would've been ready for K last year. She starts next week and is reading and doing math on a 2nd grade level. We met with the principal, and he assured me she'd be challenged... so we'll give it a month and see what the teacher does with her.

My daugher was reading chapter books and doing 1st and 2nd grade math in K. Everything came easily for her.
She is starting 5th this year, gets straight As and loves school.

Every teacher she's had said the same thing the teacher said about your son "she could have taught the class".
Could she have skipped K and gone right to 1st? Academically? Sure! But why bother? She loved/loves school, wasn't bored, enjoyed all the aspects of it, and once she started 1st they had G&T to challenge her a little more(For the record, I do not think she is "gifted' I think she is a smart kid who works hard).

This past year in 4th she has had to actually start making more of a real effort, so that ease most likely will not last forever. Eventually the other kids catch up.

Come middle school and high school I think being the youngest could be a problem, whereas being the oldest will be an advantage as they mature.
Just my opinion.

My fear is the boredom thing... I was bored in elementary school, and so was DH. So we got lazy!!!

To the OP--I always encourage parents to send children (few exceptions). (I'm a certified teacher). Personally though, I would've been so mad if my mom held me back. I LOVED being one of the youngest in the class. My brother and I are both summer birthdays. My brother did have to repeat K though due to maturity.

 

[Riviera510]

Our cutoff is December 1st here as well.

My oldest daughter's birthday is September 18th. She started Kindergarten at age 4, turned 5 two weeks into school. She is going into the 2nd grade and doing great academically and emotionally.

I really questioned if I should send her or hold her back and am very glad I sent her. She is also really tall for her age so if I had held her back she probably would have been the tallest one in her class.

Also I dont know how it works in your school district but in ours if the preschool teacher thinks he is ready for Kindergarten and you dont put them in, you cant keep your child in the public preschool program for another year. You would have to send them to a private school for another year of preschool.

 

[ollyg]

My daughter missed the cut off (Sept 30) for our local school district by 5 days. She has already done 2 years of preschool and I thought she would be bored if I did another year. Our daycare also has a kindergarten, that is approved by our local school district so I enrolled her there. If she does well and her teacher feels she is ready I will send her to 1st grade.

I actually think it worked out for the best as there are only 7 children in her class.

 

[Nanu57v]

Our cutoff is December 1st here as well.

My oldest daughter's birthday is September 18th. She started Kindergarten at age 4, turned 5 two weeks into school. She is going into the 2nd grade and doing great academically and emotionally.

I really questioned if I should send her or hold her back and am very glad I sent her. She is also really tall for her age so if I had held her back she probably would have been the tallest one in her class.

Also I dont know how it works in your school district but in ours if the preschool teacher thinks he is ready for Kindergarten and you dont put them in, you cant keep your child in the public preschool program for another year. You would have to send them to a private school for another year of preschool.

Its that way in PA too. If they are 5, they HAVE to go or stay home/private preschool. No public pre-K or head start.

 

[JVL1018]

I'm in the same boat. Our district cutoff is Sept 1, and states boldly NO EXCEPTIONS!!!. DD so would've been ready for K last year. She starts next week and is reading and doing math on a 2nd grade level. We met with the principal, and he assured me she'd be challenged... so we'll give it a month and see what the teacher does with her.




My fear is the boredom thing... I was bored in elementary school, and so was DH. So we got lazy!!!

I was the same way..and that laziness was a big problem once I got to high school and had to study..and I started school at 4-late Sept. birthday, Dec 31st cut off. That's not my daughter's personality, thankfully-she finds things to keep her busy. Even when she's already known the work, I think she found it fun to go over it-like a review. She would finish and read a book or the teacher would give her extra work and that was enough for her.

I do worry about things coming too easily for her(and for my son, too, actually). I am always telling my kids it's not how smart you are, it's how hard you work.

To the OP--I always encourage parents to send children (few exceptions). (I'm a certified teacher). Personally though, I would've been so mad if my mom held me back. I LOVED being one of the youngest in the class. My brother and I are both summer birthdays. My brother did have to repeat K though due to maturity.

My husband also had to repeat 1st due to maturity and that is something that has embarrassed him his entire life(even though no one even remembered). I alwyas tell him it was no big deal, but he wanted our son to avoid that. I am sure he would not have been left back, but he definitely fits in better where he is than he would have if he had gone the year before.

 

[TN Hockey Mom]

We started our oldest DS in kindergarten at age 4. The cut off for our school system is September 30th and his birthday is September 18th. He was ready academically. He's always been very smart and in Honors classes. I never regreted that decision until he got into Middle School (6th grade).

You can clearly see the difference in the maturity level with him and his classmates. He's the youngest in his grade (he's 11 and just started 7th grade). Again, in all Honors classes but socially immature. He's also played sports his entire life and has always played up an age level or two but this hasn't helped either. He has lots of friends but you could clearly pick him out as being the youngest in the group. He doesn't act out at school or get into trouble-his teachers all love him. He just acts silly when he's with a group of friends.

My youngest DS has a July birthday. He turned 5 in July and started school the following August. We then did a transition year between kindergarten and 1st grade because he needed it socially. He's now 10 and just started 4th grade. The transition year was one of the best decisions we've ever made.

 

[heatherwillmom]

My DD has a birthday Oct 4. The cut-off here is Sept 30. She was in private school then so I was told we could petition for her to start at age 4. The schools here start the 2nd week in Aug so she basically would have been 4 for almost 2 months. I decided to make her wait which I was very glad I did. She is small for her age. Even with being one of the oldest in her class, she has always been one of the smallest. She likes being one of the older kids in class. A friend of mine had a DD who has a Aug 24 birthday, so she let her go to Kindergarten the same month that she turned 5. She quickly regretted it & held her back in Kindergarten. She did much better the second time around & hasn't had problems since. It's usually more of a maturity problem

 

[nellyru]

Our DS bday is Aug. 31st and cut off date is Sept. 1st.

We know that he would do fine in Kindgt. this year but feel it is and advantage or privelage to get to wait one more year.

And from a few of our teacher friends, they say their star pupils are usually the older students.

But I also agree that it just depends on the student.

Plus, if you do decide to put your child into Kindgt and they don't seem like they are ready to move onto 1st grade they can always do another year in kidngt. It's an age where it most likely won't become an issue to do.

just my 2cents!

 

[Tbasko]

You as a parent know what is best for your child. My son started school at 4 (Dec. cutoff, Oct birthday) and he did well. He was mature for his age and he handled being the youngest in his class all through school. Yes, he didn't get to drive untill he was a senior and yes we had to sign all his college admission papers, but it was the best for him. He's a sophomore at the university now and doing great.

My daughter started school at 5 (Feb birthday). When she started Kindergarten, she thought it was playtime. To make a long story short, she skipped and went into first grade. This was the best decision for my child. She is now a sophomore in high school. She is tall for her age, 5'9" at 14, so she fits right in. We will have the same issues with her, no driving till she's a senior and signing college admission papers, but for her it was the right choice. She is taking AP courses and is in the gifted program, so academically and socially she fits right in.

It's a parents choice, because they in the end know their child, and what is right for them.

 

[bjscheel]

I have kids that each fall 2 weeks on either side of the Sept. 15 cut off, so one is one of the oldest, and the other is one of the youngest in their classes. DD11 was nearly 6 when she started, and tall, but has gotten along just fine. DD8 was 4 for the first few days of school but she was ready and has gotten along fine too. The preschool teacher is a good person to ask if you are unsure!

My niece and nephew have July and August birthdays, and they have or will be waiting till they are 6 to start as they have speech delays. They are also small for their age so fit in better with the younger kids.

Now, to the poster who asked about skipping ahead, I was nearly 6 when I started K and had been reading since age 3. K went okay for me. I was going to the 1st grade room for reading and working with the principal on math worksheets. But when I hit 1st grade I was miserable, academically and socially. After two weeks and some testing by the school psychologist, they moved me to 2nd. I fit in better there, academically and socially. I was only a month younger than some of the others, so as the years went on I was not radically different from my classmates. It was definitely a good move for me.

 

[ama223]

Just read all the responses - thanks everyone, great feedback!

Where I live, there are no public preschool programs, so DS is going to a private preschool this fall. School starts after Labor Day here, so he will always have his birthday before the school year...

I guess I need to wait until next year and defer to what his preschool teachers think he's ready for!

I'm concerned about his size; he's going to be 4 in 1.5 weeks but he's a big kid (DH is 6'8", so the size is no surprise..LOL).. Heck, my DH was 6'1" in 8th grade!! No one believes that my DS is still only 3...

But I know what really matters is if he's academically & emotionally ready, which so far it seems he is.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

When DD started Pre-K the birthday cutoff was August 31. She was born November. They would not allow her to start early, even though she was quite ready and had been begging to go to school for a year already. She will be 15 in November and has friends, who were in her class, who just turned 14. In her case, I wish they had let her start earlier.

 

[FoundMyPrince]

I find it interesting that districts have various cut-off dates for K. Our district's cut-off date is August 1; dd4's bday is August 26. She is ready for school, but has to wait another year. I guess I'd rather her be one of the oldest kids in the grade rather than the youngest.

There is a private Catholic school in our area that has a cut-off date of March 1, as in, the child has to be 5 by March 1 in order to begin K in August. Interesting.

 

[princessmom29]

My DD's birthday is Oct. 25th and we have a Sept 1 cutoff, so she started K at almost 6. I seems like everyone says holding back is best but I sooo wish Dd could have started on time. She was ready, and quite frankly nothing is really a challenge for her at all in school so she is either bored, or more interested in the social aspect. My sister is an October birthday and she was the same way. It led to some real problems in middle school that carried over even to today. I just think we are selling kids short as a society by saying "oh, he/she must not be ready" and wholesale holding kids back. I think enterance should be based on comprehensive readiness testing. If you child is 5, or you think they are ready they should be tested, and all who test as ready should go to school. That way kids like DD get what they need, and there are no 7 year olds in K that mommy just couldn't let go of who are so bored they cause major problems (had 2 in DD's class this year).

 

[ElizabethG]

Our cut-off is Sept 1. If either of my kids were born in the summer, I would have held them back. I don't see a negative to that. My son has a Nov birthday and he is well placed. My birthday is in Sept and I was two weeks from turning 6 when I started K. It was great. Guess who had an easier time in gym? Hint - not the 4-year-olds. The best memory for me was getting my drivers license before anyone else. That sure made me cool! I disagree about putting them in if they are academically ready. I am a member of MENSA, so school work was never difficult. There are always ways to make it more interesting. I ended up liking school and went on to get a Masters degree. It had no adverse affects, only positive ones.

I don't know if this is common, or not, but in our school district we have a 5-year-old pre-school program. Exactly half of the kids in my daughters 4-5 preschool class went on to that instead of K (she has a Feb b-day, so was 5.5 when K started).

 

[wanttobeinvienna]

It is so rough to figure out what to do in this situation...

My DS is now 8- our county has a 10/16 cut off, his birthday is 10/12. As a former teacher, it absolutely was not difficult to make the decision to hold him back. He went to half day private kindergarten, and then full day public. It was the perfect decision for us.

Although DS was perfectly ready for kindergarten academically, and probably ready socially, I knew that another year of growth in a loving environment would help academic and social success. He is one of the oldest in his class now, but he doesn't really notice. His dad was all for taking the extra year because it meant he would have an advantage in sports LOL!

Just weigh all of the angles of the decision: academics, social, etc. It is a tough decision!

 

[amsyw]

We had the same delimma this year. DS turned 5 June 24 our cut-off is June30. He was a premmie with a due date of Aug 5. He was small for his age but very intelligent. His maturity level however just wasn't there yet. We decided to hold him. Yes he will be 6 starting Kindergarten, but we just thought the pros outweighed the cons. We are a very sport oriented family and that also played into the decision, I want to let him have the oppourtunity to be competive even if he chooses not to. He is still very little, all of the kids in his pre-school class last year outweighed him and were taller. This year's pre-school class he is very much average height and weight. Also the teacher has said she can already tell a difference in his maturity - devolped over the summer.

Having said that I'm sure he would have done fine in Kindergarten this year, but I KNOW that he will do Great next year. I don't think I will ever regret it. Besides he gets to be my baby one more year!! lol

Myself and my husband have September birthdays and we both started at age 4. I did fine in school - even excelled, my husband - not so much. He is very intelligent, but he says he just wasn't ready for what was given to him each year. He knows now that they should have held him and maybe things would have been different.

I think you have to look at your individual situation and only you know best. Whatever your decision, don't let others second guess you... only you know your own child best!!

Good Luck!!

 

[Colleen27]

My daughter started as soon as she was able, but I think that's an easier call to make for girls. She was reading going into kindergarten and has a personality well suited for a classroom - she's quiet, loves reading/writing and crafts, and listens well.

My son, on the other hand, is a winter baby who barely missed the cutoff and is the oldest in his grade (Jan baby/Dec cutoff), and in hindsight I'd have kept him out one more year. He wasn't at all ready for classroom setting at 5, despite attending a well-respected academic pre-K, and his first couple years of school were unnecessarily difficult.

 

[mamaLori05]

It's such a tough decision, expecially since every child is different. The best thing you can do is work with the preschool teachers and see what they say. Maybe see if he can visit a K classroom one day towards the end of the year and see what the K teacher thinks as well. As a teacher myself, I've seen kids do just fine, and others that would have been better off waiting a year.

My son has an early aug birthday so we will be making those same decisions.

My DH also has an early Aug birthday, was the youngest in his class, and ended up being valedictorian of his class. He's now a higher up manager at a very large company. Now, just because my DH was just fine, does it mean my ds will be fine, heavens no. We'll work with his preschool teachers and if they think he is ready, then we will go for it. If not, we will wait another year.