OT-No kindergarten this year

[DawnM]

BTW: That is an EARLY cut off!

Here it is in Oct. but in CA it was Dec. 6th!

Dawn

 

[Minniemouse07]

When I was going to school in NY the cut off was 12/1 and I made it by 2wks. I did great in school.

They changed the cut off to 1/1 the year my brother started school...his bday was 12/31! My parents thought long and hard about it and after speaking w/ the head K teacher (whom they knew well after sending through two kids already) they decided to start him "on time" since although Peter was the youngest, making it by 5+hrs, he was the tallest in his class!

He really did great in school, no issues until jr high/high school and those were of his own making (just too darn stubborn to put up with some teachers) and would have happened no matter what year he had started.

Now my dd is in K in PA. Her birthday is 7/21 and the cut off is 9/1. I didn't even think twice about sending her "on time." She's doing great in K and would have gone stir crazy if she had to hang in preK for another year. She was writing words at the end of preK last year...so she was MORE than ready for K.

Here in PA the cutoff age is ONLY for K. So if you feel that your child is ready even though they aren't 5yo by 9/1... you can enroll them into a private K program and then they can attend 1st grade in the public school, no matter their age.

 

[Starr W.]

Ohio cut off used to be 9/30(it caught me many many years ago) .

We held my eldest back(8/29 b-day) and always thought he would be one of the oldest until the 1st day of 1st grade. The class did a graph of their ages and over half the class was already 7! It was a good choice for him.

Our district now has a cut off of 8/1, we held my youngest(turned 6 in April) back because his fine motor skills were that of a 3.5 yr old. He would have been very frustrated trying to write. A year on a preschool IEP and work with the class OT has him to age level. My eldest's Kindergarten teacher told me not to worry about his age as she had kids turning 7 in Jan & Feb and really in the long run does it really matter. I have never seen a job applecation where it asks your age when you started kindergarten.

He'll be in ADK in the fall, 20 kids in the class with a teacher & aide(just got the paper work last week). He's looking forward to riding the bus and being a "big" kid just like his brother. Brother is just hoping he can handle one yr of riding the bus together!

One of my younger son's classmates has an older brother(late summer b-day) that his parents wish they held back. The immaturity was not as noticable in k-5, but it really came up once he hit MS(6-8 here).

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

The school cut off date here in MS is Sept 1st and my dd's bday is Sept 15th. My dd started at a Montessori school when she was two. When the school closed two years ago instead of her going to kindergarten w/ the rest of the kids she had to wait until this year. I was upset for her b/c all of her friends are ahead of her, but at the same time she tests on a first graders level. I had the opportunity to place her ahead last year in LA but I chose not to and I think she will do even better than if I would have left her where she was.

 

[jcc0621]

The cut off here in Philly is on or by Sept. 1st. (Private, Public, Catholic) DS's birthday is, yep you guessed it September 1st. We are in the process of trying to decide what to do. He does very well at PreSchool, knows all of his Colors, Numbers, ABC, etc. They have even have him writing some of his letters and numbers. He will be 4 this year and we will have to decide by February becasue that is when enrollment starts.
Dh who is a teacher (Middle School) and I are trying to decide if we want him to always ne the youngest kid in class DH says that you don't notice a difference maturity wise in K. 1, 2, 3, 4 grades - But you definitely see a difference in maturity when the kids start hitting 5th, 6th grade and are hitting puberity.

 

[hematite153]

Not one person I have ever spoken to has regretted their decision to send their child to K later rather than earlier.

Perhaps this is because parents usually have a reason for choosing to wait the year.

In the OP's case, it sounds like her DD really wants to go to school. Sometimes it is important to pay attention to this.

I was 2 weeks shy of the cut-off and the youngest in all of my early classes. I generally looked small, I was shy and I struggled a bit socially in early elementary school. So, many would say I was a good example of a child who would have benefitted from being held back. BUT, my problem was actually that I was too advanced intellectually and too mature for the "age group". As I got older it became apparent that I would have had even more trouble figuring out how to relate to my peers had I been a year older. (My best social experience was when I went to camp at 12 and my mother had managed to get me into a camper group of 14-16 year olds.)

Everyone has to evaluate their own children individually. I just wanted to offer my experience since it differs from most of the posts. (Note: I do believe that those who have written about choosing to wait the year made the right decision for their children.)

 

[yrdlyprincess]

Is there a program @ a preschool for kids that miss the cut off? My DD was 6 days shy of the cutoff, I could have sent her 7 have a lot of other friends that held there children "back" let me tell you it was a great decision. I go in & help out in the class room once a wk & seeing the children in there you can tell the ones that could have used that extra year! I will never regret my decision & my DD is the only one in the highest reading group of her class, holding her back had nothing to do w/her ablilities, it had to deal with the alround picture of things

 

[KariC]

What does her Prek teacher have to say? Our twins are right around the cutoff for our area. There is no way I'd not have them both in Kinder. this upcoming school year. For us, we know they would not be challenged sufficiently if we waited, and would both be behavior issues due to boredom if held back (our son would act out and be "picky", our daughter would be too social and chatty and distract others). Their current teachers, when I asked this spring at conferences told me that they were kindergartners, and are already doing some of the kinder. work now. We choose a private Montessori school, so they could work at their ability (despite their calendar age), and plan to keep them there for at least next year. They were also invited to attend kinder. at a different private school (one for gifted and advanced students). We weren't getting support from other private schools and the public school is anti-starting for summer b-days....without even meeting the students, let alone evaluating them for readiness.

So, my point....her teacher(s) would have a good feel for her abilities, both social and academic.

 

[Tikicampers]

I teach Kindergarten in a local public school. Our advice is usually to wait if you can, even with birthdays that fall just before the cutoff. Your child may be very smart, but we look at far more than academic ability in Kindergarten. Both social and emotional maturity are very important as are motor skills.Keep in mind that kids are growing up way too fast these days. Upper elementary and middle school students are engaging in activities I didn't even hear about until high school. If your child is one of the younger ones, peer pressure will most likely be harder to resist. A good teacher can accelerate the curriculum to keep your child challenged, but we cannot change the social atmosphere of the classroom.

P.S. A note not to this poster, but to all parents of upcoming Kindergarteners. Please do not walk in the school saying your child is brilliant, gifted, an amazing reader, etc. Even if you are right, the teachers will probably not believe you. If I had a dime for every parent that said these things, I'd be staying at the Poly instead of Sports. Give the teacher a chance to see how great your child is. Wouldn't you love it if she called you saying, "Wow, ***** is so smart!"

 

[akmom]

BTW: That is an EARLY cut off!

Here it is in Oct. but in CA it was Dec. 6th!

Dawn

I think it's early too. Actually, it used to be July 1st! They just changed it 2 years ago.

 

[akmom]

What does her Prek teacher have to say? Our twins are right around the cutoff for our area. There is no way I'd not have them both in Kinder. this upcoming school year. For us, we know they would not be challenged sufficiently if we waited, and would both be behavior issues due to boredom if held back (our son would act out and be "picky", our daughter would be too social and chatty and distract others). Their current teachers, when I asked this spring at conferences told me that they were kindergartners, and are already doing some of the kinder. work now. We choose a private Montessori school, so they could work at their ability (despite their calendar age), and plan to keep them there for at least next year. They were also invited to attend kinder. at a different private school (one for gifted and advanced students). We weren't getting support from other private schools and the public school is anti-starting for summer b-days....without even meeting the students, let alone evaluating them for readiness.

So, my point....her teacher(s) would have a good feel for her abilities, both social and academic.

Her pre-school teacher said if she can get in, I'd send her. She started off in the 3/4 yr old pre-school class because our pre-school goes by the state's cut-off age. Well, after 2 weeks she moved to the 4/5 yr old class because she was bored. I know if we wait she'll be even better in school when she does go. I just worry about her being bored with yet another year in pre-school. We live in a small town so the options of montessori and private schools are slim to none. I just wish the school district would evaluate kids before dismissing them.

 

[KariC]

I teach Kindergarten in a local public school. Our advice is usually to wait if you can, even with birthdays that fall just before the cutoff. Your child may be very smart, but we look at far more than academic ability in Kindergarten. Both social and emotional maturity are very important as are motor skills.Keep in mind that kids are growing up way too fast these days. Upper elementary and middle school students are engaging in activities I didn't even hear about until high school. If your child is one of the younger ones, peer pressure will most likely be harder to resist. A good teacher can accelerate the curriculum to keep your child challenged, but we cannot change the social atmosphere of the classroom.

P.S. A note not to this poster, but to all parents of upcoming Kindergarteners. Please do not walk in the school saying your child is brilliant, gifted, an amazing reader, etc. Even if you are right, the teachers will probably not believe you. If I had a dime for every parent that said these things, I'd be staying at the Poly instead of Sports. Give the teacher a chance to see how great your child is. Wouldn't you love it if she called you saying, "Wow, ***** is so smart!"

The part I bolded is good, in theory only. Many students fall thru the cracks because their teachers don't know what to look for, their teachers don't care to accelerate the classroom material for one or two students (take a look on the Community board....you'll see lots of posts from parents whose teachers don't accomodate for special needs on the high end of the IQ spectrum), their teachers have too many students to evaluate each student's needs effectively, etc.

Parents do need to advocate for their children that are on the high end of the spectrum, just as parents need to advocate for their children that fall in the lower end.

So, parents...if you have had your student evaluated by an outside resource....show it to the teachers or admin at your school. You shouldn't always wait for the school to point it out to you, your child might miss some prime learning time. Many schools wait to evaluate, or only use standardized testing, and your child might miss resources he or she NEEDS to accomodate his or her different learning styles, and needs.

 

[WindyCityDisney]

The immaturity was not as noticable in k-5, but it really came up once he hit MS(6-8 here).

And THAT is my big reason for wanting to wait a year before starting my DS in kindergarten. My DS is in special ed preschool for a speech delay. We just had his annual meeting to discuss this year's IEP and begin planning for next year. DS was born on 8/26, cut-off here is 9/1. He's fine for next school year (2007-2008) because he's about to turn 4. He will not be eligible for this program the year after when he turns 5 in 2008 because of the cut-off date. The teachers and therapists all stated that he WILL be ready for K in 2008.

DH and I agreed that while he may be ready at 5, we're concerned about later. When he's just turning 11, when everyone else is turning 12, etc. Concepts are more complex, they're expected to grasp things quicker. If he's almost 12 months behind in development, he could be a bit slower. Now I know there are kids all over the cognitive development continuum, but I still think that if it's a concern we can identify now, we should plan for it by taking actions today if possible.

One teacher stated that if they think he's in danger of failing, they'll hold him back from 1st grade and make him repeat K. I don't agree with that approach, and I said so. I would much rather wait the extra year and start him at a point when we're more confident he will succeed. I'd like to give him the opportunity to grow with the kids he meets in our local school.

We will have to find a school for him for that year, because after 2 years of 5-days-a week (half days), I don't want him to lose his focus and progress. I'm thinking some sort of a private kindergarten and then transfer him to the school district when he's 6 to start K. If he still has speech delays, I may petition the school district to let him do K in another school and then move him to the local school to do K with new kids.

DH and I had said we were going to focus on the upcoming year and not project our thoughts on K in the meeting. But one of the teachers brought up the topic, so we had a fairly long discussion. I'm not sure if they understand our point of view, but I'm not going to worry about that now. Everyone else we've discussed this with always advises us to start him later. This includes our pediatrician, our private speech therapist, even some of DD's teachers. While I'm open to the possibility of starting DS in K next year, I truly believe that it must be a decision that DH and I are comfortable with for DS's best interests. After all, he's our child, right?

Sorry for such a long post, this is a subject near and dear to my heart!

 

[Tikicampers]

I'm certainly not saying to wait til the end of the school year to say anything. Just give the teacher a couple of weeks to get to know your child, and do the begining of the year assessments. Then if you are getting the feeling your child isn't getting enough contact the teacher.
The problem is that so many parents say these things upon first meeting me and then when the child enters my class, they are not as advanced as the parents have led me to believe. If your child has been evaluated by an oustside source, I would definately present that to the teacher. We love having information like that.
Remeber, you know your child best, but Kindergartens around the country can differ greatly. I would try to talk to someone at the school about what goes on in Kindergarten. Kindergarten is much more academic than many people are aware of.

 

[Minniemouse07]

I'm certainly not saying to wait til the end of the school year to say anything. Just give the teacher a couple of weeks to get to know your child, and do the begining of the year assessments. Then if you are getting the feeling your child isn't getting enough contact the teacher.
The problem is that so many parents say these things upon first meeting me and then when the child enters my class, they are not as advanced as the parents have led me to believe. If your child has been evaluated by an oustside source, I would definately present that to the teacher. We love having information like that.
Remeber, you know your child best, but Kindergartens around the country can differ greatly. I would try to talk to someone at the school about what goes on in Kindergarten. Kindergarten is much more academic than many people are aware of.

Our school does K screening the April before they start, so we really didn't have to tell dd's teacher anything about her skills as they already knew. I was actually prepared to bring in her portfolio from preK for the screening, but they didn't need it since their screening is fairly comprehensive.

 

[lillygator]

our cutoff here is 9/1...my DD's birthday is Halloween, so she'll be 5 turning 6 next year when she starts.
For her, it's a shame, her entire preschool class will be leaving to go to K and she'll basically be repeating this last room in her school again.....most all of the kids there are on the same level even though their birthdays are just a few months before hers.

 

[TinkerbellMama]

I think it has gotten WAY out of hand. In my BFF's school district the cut off is Sept 1 and her DS birthday is Sept 14. She doesn't even have the option of sending him to Catholic schools for a year because he needs to be 6 by Sept 1 to start first grade.

I think moving the cut off date earlier and earlier is really doing a disservice to the kids who are more advanced (I was reading before K and had to start a year later than when I was ready, but at least the cut off date was December 31 when I was younger).

Not only do they want you to start school later, then the parents who pushed for the older starting age start pushing for more "real" education in K, thereby making it harder for the less developed kids, thereby having parents push for the older starting age. It is a viscious circle. If it gets too out of hand by the time I have children in school, I may just home school them.

Stepping off my soapbox now.

I agree with you completely! I was a "young" kid in my class (birthday is September 11) and I could read for 2 years before I started Kindergarten. It would have been insane to hold me back another year; I was very mature for my age and quite advanced academically. Fortunately, the cut-off in our district back then was December. I think going strictly by dates and not the child's maturity level/academic readiness is incredibly foolish. My best friend has a dd born September 5. The cut-off for our local district is September 1, so she was going to have to wait another year to start K. This would have been a problem since she is HUGE for her age (looks several years older) and was academically ready for K. Luckily, at the last minute my friend moved just over the line into another State (related to her dh's Navy job), and the cut-off there is December. Her dd started K and has had no problems. She IS the tallest person in her class, though! I can't imagine how awkward she would have felt NEXT year, a head and half taller than everyone else and bored out of her mind with the schoolwork! It's just a crazy system. However, I really don't care what "they" do, as our son will be homeschooled!

 

[akmom]

our cutoff here is 9/1...my DD's birthday is Halloween, so she'll be 5 turning 6 next year when she starts.
For her, it's a shame, her entire preschool class will be leaving to go to K and she'll basically be repeating this last room in her school again.....most all of the kids there are on the same level even though their birthdays are just a few months before hers.

This is exactly how my DD is. It's funny because last year when she went along to her brother's registration so many teachers asked her if she was coming to kindergarten. She kept saying, no, I'm only 3. LOL She thinks she's 14 instead of 4. Girls!

 

[princesspiglet]

Here in PA the cutoff age is ONLY for K. So if you feel that your child is ready even though they aren't 5yo by 9/1... you can enroll them into a private K program and then they can attend 1st grade in the public school, no matter their age

That is what we are doing. DD's birthday is Nov 18 and she has been in preschool since she was 2 and is well advanced above all the others in her 4 year old room. She attends Kindercare and her teachers and the director took me aside and suggested I not hold her back and let her take the private kindy there. She will start 1st grade in the public school when she is 5. DH and I discussed holding her back and just can't fathom her repeating pre-school again. She is reading Magic Tree House for Pete's Sake! She is also writing full sentences, etc. We are going to see how she does in the private kindy and decide if she should attend public k next year or go straight to 1st.

 

[pantherlj]

I am struggling with this. DD will be 5 on Oct 3, cutoff is Oct 15 and will be changing to Aug 31 next school year (if they had changed the cut off a year earlier, she would have to wait the extra year). She will always be the very youngest in her class but she is 100% ready for K (based on parent teacher conference and testing at her preschool).

My bigger concern is when the kids start turning 15-16 middle school/high school years. I would love to hear from parents that currently have "younger" kids in that age range to see what their experience is like.

If I do hold back DD, it would be in K or 1st. I wouldn't hold her back in preschool. I would rather have her spend an extra year learning more, not playing more.