How old was ur son or daughter when they started Kindergarten?

[Ar1el]

I ask this question bc my DS 4 is in a pre-k like class and I was handed a paper today with some results of a test that was given in Nov regarding kindergarten readiness. My sons bday is Aug 19 so he is a younger 4 I guess. Well the results were that he failed miserably. His teacher would like to address some concerns she has of him. No he does not know all the letters and numbers and really he will tell u what he knows when he wants to.
Just curious as to how old ur children were when they went to kindergarten. If I hold him back he will be 6 going into kindergarten.

 

[Riviera510]

My oldest was 4...turned 5 two weeks after Kindergarten started. Cut off date is 5 by 12/1.

My twins were 5yrs3months when they started Kindergarten.


I know that not all of the kids knew their letters when Kinder started. Many of them knew some of the letters but not all.

 

[mom2val]

DD was 5 years 10 months when she entered kinder. No way was she ready to have gone the year before at 4 yrs 10 month.

 

[cadek]

My oldest was 5 when he started, with a July birthday. I debated sending him. Our school's cut off is July 31. My other son will not start until he is 6 because his birthday is in August, and misses the cut off.

My oldest is now 7, in 2nd grade. He is the youngest in his classes, with other kids almost a year older than him. He doesn't struggle with the schoolwork. It's maturity that he is behind on.

 

[snubie]

DD is in kindergarten now, she turned 5 in June and started school in September. The cutoff date here is august 1 so there are a few kids in her class that turned 6 just weeks before school started.

DD #2 will be almost 6 by the time she starts kindergarten because of where her birthday falls.

It is not uncommon for kids, especially boys, to wait a year to enter kindergarten if there birthday falls close to the cutoff.

 

[mjkacmom]

My kids were all 5 (my closest was one who made the cut off by 2 months). They were all reading independently (2 were reading chapter books), could do simple addition and subtraction, could count to 100, and recognize numbers up to at least 100. Not saying this is the average, but with most kids going to 2 years of preschool, the bar has been raised for kindergarten, where they start the reading curriculum day 1.

My gf started her dd when she didn't know all of her letters and numbers yet, because socially and emotionally, she was ready (her older sister is only 1 year older, so the younger one has older friends). Now that she is in first, it's a disaster, and she has a tutor. She doesn't know if she will pass this year.

 

[LuLuO]

I won't have a choice as to when to send DD. She will not be able to attend until she is six years old. Her birthday is August 12.

 

[LisaNJ25]

My kids were 4, 5, 5 and 5. One of mine shares your ds's birthday. The others are 8/26, 9/1 and 10/3.

Right now the youngest 2 are in K and 1st.

I did hold my now 18yo senior back with the 10/3 birthday when he was in first grade. It was the best decision we could of made for him. I do not regret not doing it for K. When he started the cutoff was 10/15.. now its 10/1

Since he was the oldest I have always said I would send them all to school on time.. than after if they seem to be struggling or issues come up than we will decide if staying back is the best option.

I will say none of mine were reading by K.. and the last 2 did go to 2 years of pre-school.

 

[kmacht]

How old is too old to start kindergarten? My daughter was born in February and the cut off date for our town is January 1st. By the time she starts Kindergarten she will be 6 years 7 months. With most of you saying your kids started at 4 or 5, this seems like it is wrong. Is it common to be that old when starting kindergarden as well?

Keith

 

[Ar1el]

We are in NJ and the cut off date is Oct 1. I know it is still early to decide but I am just not sure I should send him to Kindergarten next year or hold him back. As of right now he knows very little. This is his 1st year in any type of school environment. Even at home, he would just rather play then do any type of what letter is this and what number is this, etc.

 

[luvsJack]

Oldest ds was 5 years and 7 months, younger ds was 5 years and 1 month, dd turned 5 the exact day that school started.

Things have changed so much in what is expected in K. When older ds started the purpose of K was so that all the kids would be on or close to the same level when they got to 1st. Now K is more like 1st was then.

There is a LOT of time left before he starts K, don't worry about it too much. Some kids will act like they don't even know what a letter is in December and suddenly know the alphabet backwards and forwards in March. That little light just pops on and suddenly they starts soaking up everything they are shown.

 

[MickeyMancuso]

Notice a pattern in responses- no one advocated for faster advancement, except for parents who have not done it.

-Sounds so good on paper, start early, get ready to go...ed research is very clear, learning to read is developmental. You need to be ready to recognize patterns, learn school, and work hard.

While some will argue that all children are different, no one has yet to post that they regret "waiting an extra year," In 20 years of education, I have yet to run into the parent whose regret was waiting...yet I do have many stories regarding-lack of friends, not driving, too young for college, small for sports, scouts are in different grade/calendar/schedule, struggling to find fit...

Let your child love to learn, not be in a hurry to learn. Letters and numbers will come, exploration is fleeting- let him explore at his own pace...best of luck in your decision.

 

[crl]

My oldest child was 5 when we did K for her. But she was ready both in maturity and desire to learn. She was reading simply 3 letter words (Cat, sit, dog...). My son is the questionable one. I may not start him next year at 5.5 yrs old unless he's done a lot of growing up between now and then. My DH has a late Aug birthday and his mom kept him home until he turned 6. In later years, they could tell it was a wise choice for him. Each child is different, so it is a very personal choice.

 

[mjkacmom]

We are in NJ and the cut off date is Oct 1. I know it is still early to decide but I am just not sure I should send him to Kindergarten next year or hold him back. As of right now he knows very little. This is his 1st year in any type of school environment. Even at home, he would just rather play then do any type of what letter is this and what number is this, etc.

I'm in NJ, so familiar with the curriculum, and they expect the kids to know (and write) letters and numbers, write their first and last names with proper capitolization, count to 20, and know addresses and phone numbers. Many red-shirt here, too, especially boys. Here's a tip - my kids knew numbers, letters, and letter sounds before the age of 3, thanks to leapfrog dvd's. It was so easy!

 

[PrincessParty]

My DD was 4. The school put her in Kinder as she was too advanced for preschool. She is now in 6th grade and a year younger than all. The other girls are so mean! She is very small for her age and she gets picked on. The work is not the problem, it is her age/size. If I had to do over again, I would have waited. There are days she comes home in tears. Hang in there.

 

[DisneyDreamer8]

My son will be 3 on Feb 28. He can count to 15, can sing the alphabet song and recognize most of the letters. I am a SAHM so I can work learning into playtime. But with all that being said we will not be sending him to preschool until he is 4. I'm afraid that if we sent him next fall he would get expelled. He does not share well and is in a very aggressive phase right now plus he still is not fully potty trained.

The cutoff around here is age 5 by Sept. 1st for Kindergarten.

So I will evaluate his maturity level before sending him to school. Age is just a number. You need to look at whether your child is really ready for school.

You know your child best.

 

[kamik86]

I started school at 4. i made the cut off by 4 days so my parents had the option however since the year before when they went to put me in preschool the school did a readiness test of everyone before the year started. The testors didn't know the children's ages so they didn't know if they were testing them to go into Kindergarten, to see if they needed the extra help so they could be in the preschool program, or what the reason was they were just told to make recommendations... when my parents got my results they were asked if I was old enough to start Kindergarden because they thought I was ready every way but socially and then when they learned I wasn't recommended preschool to help with the social aspect.

I then started school at 4 and did great in every way till late Elem and early middle school where I did start having social issues but that was for other reasons besides age.

Acedemically I never had a problem.

 

[proud_canadian]

Here in Ontario, Canada we start earlier. My older DD was 4, but some kids are 3.5 when they start (as long as they turn 4 by the end of the year Dec 31).

 

[princessmom29]

my DD was 5 entering K and turned 6 about 6 weeks after school started. I WISH she had gone a year earlier. She was ready and bored in pre-K, but the the age cutoff is an absolute here. No early entry, period. She had a couple of kids in her class that entered at 4, and turned 5 in the first couple of weeks, as well as a few who were 6 coming in. 2 of them turned 7 with in 2 months of school starting. They SHOULD NOT have been in K. The parents held them back abgainst the rcommendation of the school, becuase the felt the "weren't ready" (Which is actually code for "we want them to be the biggest/ fastest on the sports teams"). They were bored and were severe behavior problems. They hurt other children on a regular basis because they were the biggest and strongest and had been taught to use that to their advantage, and caused major disruptions in the room. I am a teacher, and I DO NOT favor holding a child back unless there are significant, obvious reasons for doing so. Children need to be with thier age peers. Two years is too much of an age spread in a classroom, IMO.

 

[indimom]

Mine were 6 and 5.

DD's birthday was 10 days after the cutoff of July 1. We debated pushing her through, but opted not to after getting opinions from family and friends with older children. The concensus seemed to be that you run more risk pushing a child in too early than in waiting too long.
We have no complaints with holding her back. She recently realized that she will be driving a full year before her friends and thinks that is just GREAT! She's looking forward to being one of the few driving to school the first day of her sophomore year!