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

[LSZFagan]

Our son was born early October and school started early July ... so he was only 4 years and 9 months at the start of kindergarten. He never attended any sort of pre-K either. Although he was ready academically... socially he was behind.
All went well... he is now a straight A junior in high school. We never regretted our decision!

 

[riley2008]

Everyone had some great advice and interesting opinions.

Another thing to consider too, is that every state is different in the "cut-off" for starting kindergarten and also different in their expectations/curriculum.

Being from Texas, where the cut-off is Sept. 1 and kinder students are expected to be reading by December, it's a big shock to some out-of-state transfer students with a Dec 1 cut-off and readiness type of curriculum for kinder instead.

So, just another thing to consider if you are thinking about any type of move along with starting your child in school.

 

[JVelasquez]

The cutoff for our schools is 9/1 my son's 5th bday was 9/4/10 so he's going in to kindergarten this coming Sept and will just be turning 6.

 

[katla33]

My children started K at 5. I would consider holding a boy with a late birthday back but that is just me.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

My son started Kindergarten at 5 years and 9 months. The birthday cut off in our district is August 1st and his birthday is in November. I am sure there are plenty of arguments both ways about when to start kindergarten. For our family it worked out just fine that he had 2 years of preschool.

 

[tonums]

My dd will start K a few weeks before turning 6 due to our cutoff dates. I am not at all pleased by this, as she is not even in prek yet and knows her letters, number, basic addition and starting on basic spelling. We still have 6 months before pre-k starts. I started at 4, graduated at 17 and never thought there was anything wrong with it. I try not to anticipate failing, but IF she does fail a grade, she will be 2 years older then the majority of her classmates. Ugh.

 

[SJMomof4]

Our cut-off is Sept. 30 and DS's birthday is 10/9. I was bummed at first . He is 5 1/2 and the oldest in his pre-k class. Based on what his older sister was learning in Kindergarten, I'm now happy for the extra time. I think it would have been very overwhelming for him and now being the oldest next year, gives him an advantage. I'm more confident now that he is K-ready than last year at this time. As pp said, he knew his alphabet and numbers, but his fine motor skills still weren't up to par at age 4.

Good luck to your son!

 

[growinupdisney]

My dd16 started at 4 she will graduate at 17. She really didn't ever pay attention to how much younger she was until her sophmore year when everone was getting their license and she couldn't get hers until Oct(which is when she turned 16) of her junior year.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Posting a reply again LOL But i see quite a variation in these post for what is expected from kindergartners. While it is true in the past we played and learned to tie our shoes and in some cases even napped that is not the case in our kindergarten. DS is doing work that was previously done in 1st grade. Math (addition and subtraction), reading and writing sentences, counting to 100, phonics...anyhow it is alot of work that was previously done in first grade.

I am going to suggest that the reason the prek teacher tested for readiness early is to address her concerns now while there is time to work on them rather than later at the end of the school year when it will be too late to work on those issues.

As for "Red Shirting" (a term i had never heard of) that just seems wrong on so many levels.

 

[heathernfrankie]

My son just started Kindergarten in the fall and he was 6. His birthday is July 1st, so I held him back. I do NOT regret the decision 1 minute. HOWEVER, my other son is turning 5 in May, and he will be going next year. So, my 2 boys will only be a year apart in school.

 

[Kat&Dom]

My son started Kindergarten this past year at age 4 - he turned 5 a month into school. He will be 5 when he starts grade 1. There are several boys his age in kindergarten with him (out of 27 kids, 18 are boys). It seems in his kindergarten class that 2 of the older boys who are a full head and shoulders taller than the rest are the ones who are struggling and having issues. They don't seem to fit in with all the smaller kids and I think they act out/bully because they don't feel like they belong which is really sad.

It is so hard as a parent because you just want to do the very best for your child and have them be happy. I personally am glad that I did not think for a second to hold him back and put him in. His very best buddy is 2 months younger than him with a November birthday and his other good buddy is 2 months older with a July birthday. I feel that my son is in the right place with the right age group.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[4HppyCamprs]

My son started Kindergarten this past year at age 4 - he turned 5 a month into school. He will be 5 when he starts grade 1. There are several boys his age in kindergarten with him (out of 27 kids, 18 are boys). It seems in his kindergarten class that 2 of the older boys who are a full head and shoulders taller than the rest are the ones who are struggling and having issues. They don't seem to fit in with all the smaller kids and I think they act out/bully because they don't feel like they belong which is really sad.

It is so hard as a parent because you just want to do the very best for your child and have them be happy. I personally am glad that I did not think for a second to hold him back and put him in. His very best buddy is 2 months younger than him with a November birthday and his other good buddy is 2 months older with a July birthday. I feel that my son is in the right place with the right age group.

Good luck with your decision!

Wow 27 kids in the class is a big class, our kindergarten classes are 18 students. We have 2 a.m classes and 2 p.m classes and 1 all day class for developmentally delayed students.
I am not sure if the U.S is that much different than Canada but if a student does not meet the age cutoff by more than a few weeks then they just cannot go. Kindergarten is not mandatory in Indiana or Illinois. i think would be really hard for a student to go straight into first grade but anyways...That said the majority of the kids in DS class are turning 6 during this school year so for his class a child turning 5 would be the minority.

 

[disfan07]

November is not too early to test for kindergarten readiness. That test is usually more to show the teachers what they should be working on in the class and can give recommendations to the parents for what they might want to work on at home. Usually they will test again later in the year (like around April/May...depending on when the school year ends for you)

We used to do it with the pre-K kids at our preschool where I worked. Those scores were more informational scores for the parents and teachers then for actual "this kid isnt ready for kindergarten" type information. It helped us as their teachers to know what the kids needed to learn and it helped the parents to know how their child was doing as well. No two classes of kids are ever the same so what you did the year before, might not be what you need to do that year. It's very helpful to know where the kids stand academically.

Now, we did test again at end of April which was more to find out their improvement over the past 5-6 months and to actual evaluate their readiness. We never would have thought that a child who failed the Nov. test would not be ready for kindergarten in a year....we would just know that they need some help and we would work with them and let the parents know what we think they should work on as well.

 

[Rekenna]

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.

Aug b-days are hard-he will just be 5, I don't think there is anything wrong in waiting a year.

DS3 has autism and has an Aug b-day. B/c he is in public pre-school they will only let him stay there until he turns 5 and they are telling me he has to go to Kindergarten when he turns 5, I mean he isn't even toilet trained yet and may not be for quite some time. He may be 3.5, but really he is only about 1.5 old.

I hear you, I think it's harder for boys b/c they aren't as mature as girls. It sounds like he needs to wait a year. When he starts Kindergarten he will be a new 6 yr old. It will work out!

 

[camouseketeer]

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.

OP, I am an elementary teacher of 20 years, and my younger DD also has a birthday of August 19! Because her older DD is on the autistic spectrum, I had my younger DD assessed by the school district during the fall of her pre-K year. (Even I wasn't sure whether to send her or not). While she was fine academically, she was very withdrawn and shy, and I couldn't tell whether or not she would be ready to start kindergarten.

Well, when the test results came in, the specialists laughed at my thoughts of holding her back. Her IQ and other tests were off the charts, and they assured me she had the maturing needed to start kindergarten at barely 5 years old.

They were right. She started the day after she turned 5. She is currently in second grade, is one of the youngest kids in her class, and is at the top of her class both academically and behaviorally. Socially, she is a bit lacking, but that means more that she wants to play rather than become part of the girl cliques that are starting to form.

I will say, however that there are things I did not consider. She will graduate and go to college when she is still 17. She will not drive until her senior year of high school. Peers in her class are 6-12 months older than she is. She is one of the smallest in her class and will probably mature physically later than most of the girls in her class. Now even if I had thought of these issues, I still would have sent her, but they are still consequences of that choice.

What does this say for the OP's case? Not much, except that the teachers and specialists were right. Maybe they are in your son's case too. Like I said, my concerns for my DD were not academic but social. By the spring of her pre-k year, it was clear that she would be mature to handle kindergarten.

While testing a child in November may seem early, most pre-school and kindergarten registrations start in February. The OP's teacher gave her ample time to digest the information about her DS early enough to be able to register him appropriately (whatever that means) come February.

I have seen threads like this very often on the DIS and the responses describe success stories on both sides of the issue. In my DD's case, we were right to send her barely at age 5, but since MOST of the students in her class are 9-11 months older than she is, the right choice for those families was to hold their children back a year.

 

[Vandercapellen]

My DS started the day before he turned 6. Our school rules are that you must be 5 before September 1, and his bday is Sept 6. He is only first grade now, but I am very happy with his results so far. School is not to much of a struggle. If we still lived in our old house he would have made the cut off, and I think we would have a problem right now. When he finished pre-school, the teachers felt that he was not ready for K and I agreed. Don't get me wrong, he's aways been a smart kid, but the maturaty level was not where it needed to be. He is in the gifted classes at his school and let K reading at a second grade level. I am glad he is not struggling, but even more important, I am glad that our district has a plan for kids to challenge them.

 

[4orm]

I found this thread very interesting. I'm from Canada and they way things are done here is by age for the most part. 4, pre K. 5, senior K. 6 grade 1, etc... Graduating at 17 is commonplace here. However, I must say, I find many graduating are not ready for the riggers of University and often make mistakes when planning their post-secondary education. There used to be a 'grade 13' which was canceled about ten years ago. I personally think that was a mistake. The extra year makes a big difference in maturity level for many.

I wasn't initially part of the public system and started a three year Casa program at a Monessori when I was living abroad at age 3. It worked well for me and if my daughter keeps going the way she is we'll be enrolling her for a similar program that she'll start at age 2 years 11 months. She'll be then slated to start grade 1 just shy of 6 years old. I don't feel we are rushing anything and she will be with children all the same age(give or tax a handful of months).

 

[BobbidiBoo's Mom]

I think it depends on the child, and I think parents know their children. My daughter was 4 when she started Kindergarten. She turned 5 a few weeks after K started. She is thriving. She came into K knowing most of the skills she would need to learn throughout the year. She's mature for her age and she also has the advantage of being very tall (most people thing she's 6) so she fits in just fine even though she's one of the youngest. I have friends with boys born the same week as my daughter who decided to keep their boys back and that was the best decision for them. As it was my daughter was bored with pre-school. I couldn't imagine having kept her there another year. She's not super challenged with Kindergarten but she's learning and having fun and doing great. I'm very happy with our decision. I think only you as parents know what's best for your kids. Our towns cut off is October 15th which my daughter made by more then a month.

 

[snow88]

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!

The daycare was so amazed by my son for the same reason, "Leapfrog DVD". He knew the sounds of all of his letters. Year 1 is mandatory but we don't have a Kindergarden class. We have Reception class and they have to be at least 3 yrs & 9 months in September when school starts. They don't have to know anything when they start but we now have an Early Childhood program that teaches numbers, letters, shapes, & colors in daycare. Our mandatory age for school is 5yrs old. My oldest started Reception at 4+ because the cut off is either December or January that they have to turn 4 by then and he was born in July so he was too young to start. My middle son was exactly 3 yrs & 9 months and my child that just started school was 3yrs & 11 months.

 

[snow88]

I found this thread very interesting. I'm from Canada and they way things are done here is by age for the most part. 4, pre K. 5, senior K. 6 grade 1, etc... Graduating at 17 is commonplace here. However, I must say, I find many graduating are not ready for the riggers of University and often make mistakes when planning their post-secondary education. There used to be a 'grade 13' which was canceled about ten years ago. I personally think that was a mistake. The extra year makes a big difference in maturity level for many.

I wasn't initially part of the public system and started a three year Casa program at a Monessori when I was living abroad at age 3. It worked well for me and if my daughter keeps going the way she is we'll be enrolling her for a similar program that she'll start at age 2 years 11 months. She'll be then slated to start grade 1 just shy of 6 years old. I don't feel we are rushing anything and she will be with children all the same age(give or tax a handful of months).

We have a system similar to your's except we don't have pre K. 5, senior K. 6. We have Reception and then Year 1. I think our kids are graduating too early as well. My son is graduating this year and he is only 16. We used to have a Grade 12 which was called Form 6 that was optional. They took it away and made it mandatory and now they are supposed to be bringing it back. The children was graduating at 15 and of course they weren't going back for that last year.

To answer the OP's question: I think it depends on the child. I was very worried about my son that just started school and was thinking of taking him out of school because I had second thoughts about him being ready for school. He has finally settled in and I'm happy that I left him there.