Relocating- Need info on school system,buying home (Dallas, Plano: house, school districts)

[zealever]

Hi All,

We are family of four with 4 yr old and 6 month old. We are in Connecticut right now but planning to relocate next month to Dallas. We plan to buy a house there. We are considering Plano,Frisco,Mckinney and Allen. I recently found out that Texas has Sep 1 as cut off for kindergarten. My son will be 5 on sep 22nd and hence will miss the cut off. I did not want to held him back another yr. He attended preschool from 21/2 yrs in CT. From my research i think i have below options

1. Stay in Ct and move next year into 1st grade.
2. Put him in private school for K and have the kid attend kindergarten acceleration test next year for 1st grade entry in public school.

I read contradicting stuff about the TEKS/STAAR/acceleration tests some saying they are ridiculously higher standard. So

My qtns are:

1. How difficult/easy are the acceleration tests? is it good to take that route? This will add financial burden on us since we did not consider private school before.

2. If my child attend K and 1st grade in private school can he enter 2nd grade in public school with out test?

3. Generally what do parents of september borns do in this situation?

Just to give you an idea my son can

1. Write and read upper and lower case alphabets, numbers from 1 to 100.
2. He is trying to read words from story books by himself.
3. Learning basics of addition

English is not our first language and he is learning to write alphabets and words from my native language.

Thanks in Advance.

[Greenburg]

I was an October born who was rushed into school. I would strongly recommend that you not do that - especially to a boy. Give the little guy a break - competition is tough among school-age kids. The handicap of being too young for your peer group is significant and does not go away over time.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

The social maturity of your son will never match that of classmates if you do what you want. He will be as much as a year younger. There will be a lot of social problems and he may always be a "loner." That social difference will follow him through high school.

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[Souleiado]

Most parents in your situation do wait to send their children to kindergarten , especially boys . The test is not easy at all and most school districts do not encourage it at all. I know a few parents that did try to have their children tested in Plano without success . I did it for both of my children without any regret , I actually consider it as an advantage , the schedule and curriculum can be too overwhelming for the youngest children. You can find many preschool with advance program that do respond to the need of those children while waiting for kindergarten.
The youngest children may also not play sport with peers , if I'm not mistaken ,most cutoffs here for sport like soccer are on the 1st of August .

[SimpleLife2]

I agree with the others who have posted so far. Enrolling your son early leaves him with few advantages (if any), but exposes him to the potential for hefty disadvantages.

My kids are all in college now, but I can tell you that their peers who started school a year early seemed to be at a disadvantage socially, and that those disadvantages became more and more pronounced as they grew older.

Maybe it would help to ask yourself what your son would be getting out of starting school a year early. In what ways would that be good for him?

Our local schools (Lewisville ISD) offer two great options for the kids who don't quite make the Sept 1 cut-off (or who aren't otherwise ready to move on). I would guess that these same two options are available throughout the metroplex, but I’m not sure. There are plenty of private pre-schools (or there used to be) that offer Pre-K (pre-kindergarten) for kids who aren't quite ready for kindergarten but have already had a few years of pre-school. And there are several public schools (or there used to be) that offer D-1 (or Developmental 1st grade) for kids who aren't quite ready for 1st grade but have already had kindergarten.

Best of luck to you as you make your decision!

[BigDGeek]

I would hold off on enrolling your child early. I've heard several parents voice regret over "rushing" their September birthday babies into kindergarten, but I've never heard one regret delaying entry to kindergarten.

There's basically no advantage to being the youngest kid in the class. Take it from someone who was the youngest kid in the class all the way through. I did fine in school (straight A student) but socially it was devastating.

[adixyz]

He'll benefit socially if you held him back. I can't think of any good reason for rushing him to kindergarten. If your son is really talented, I am sure he'll get picked in the school's gifted program plus he'll get numerous opportunities all the way through high school to excel over others. Outside of the school, you can always enroll him into various programs if you feel he is not busy enough. There are plenty of talented kids in the DFW metroplex specially in the areas you are looking to give a good company to your child.

[Rakin]

My brother started school a year early and always regretted it. Mentally he was ready but not physically. It got worse when his buddies were hitting puberty, getting drivers license, etc and he was the kid that due to age was always behind his peers.

Have to think about the physical part of being the youngest, smallest, least mature and possibly how the other kids react.

[mami2emily]

Agree with others. Holding a child back (or in this case, abiding by the cut off date) has nothing to do with academic ability. It has everything to do with physical and social maturity. You may not notice much of a difference in the elementary years, but come middle school and high school you will notice it. There have been many instances since 6th grade that I wish I had held my daughter back.

You will also notice that here in Texas there is already a strong focus on holding back, even if a kid meets the date requirements, mostly for sports. So your son would definitely stand out in terms of size, physical ability, and social maturity if you did not observe the cut off.

Also, all the schools you are looking at are huge. Allen is probably the biggest as they only have 1 high school for the entire town. And I haven't looked at the numbers for McKinney but my guess is they would be the smallest of the list. In terms of reputation I would say Plano and Frisco are at the top of your list. Do not know how Allen and McKinney compare to each other.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

[Squirl]

But, to give other perspectives: #1: my son was already reading simple books before age 5 and we wrestled with the same issue. It was a good idea to keep him with younger kids because he actually was on their level socially and many of the other kids in his grade were still older than him. However, he was bored in school and became something of the class clown. In the 3rd grade he tested out very, very high on the standard school tests. But, because he had become a behavior problem in class -- not at home -- the school did not want him in their TAG program....which would have been a better fit for him. I regret keeping him in public schools. He had a very uneven school experience. I should have found him a good Montessori situation or even a home-school or private environment for the early years of school and maybe throughout.

#2: My husband was born the last week of August and was the youngest in his class. He was an average sized boy but a good student. In the 3rd grade the school recommended he be held back. They felt he was just a little immature, and so that's what was done. He felt the stigma, too, but he had a very successful school experience and was offered a full scholarship college upon HS graduation.