Kindergarten- born after Sept. 30

[FLgirl367]

I'm redshirting by VA's cutoff, but not by our homestate's cut off. My second child was born in early Sept. Our homestate's cutoff is Sept. 1st. Here it is Sept. 30th. He was clearly not ready for preschool this year, so we are going by the homestate cutoff; we intend to move back anyway. As some have said previously, kindergarten is the new first grade, so it isn't accurate to compare how an adult did years ago.

[arielmina]

The whole issue is somewhat of a nightmare to deal with if you have kids in the borderline birthday area. I struggled with this question with twins (boy and girl) who had early/mid October birthdays (original due date of early November). I was in CT at the time and the cut off was Dec 31st, BUT almost no one sent their kids if they were an Oct and later birthday. As previously mentioned by another poster, it was seen to be desirable to have your child be the oldest and biggest in class. My issue was that I would have held my son back because he could really have used the extra development socially, but my daughter was very advanced in every way and I knew she would thrive in kindergarten. I did NOT want to separate them for obvious reasons and I went with sending them both on time, to the great surprise of my friends and pre-school teachers, who all believed giving them more time in preschool was a "gift".


Well it turned out to be the right decision for both of them. My daughter thrived and my son got some help from the school and by the end of 1st grade was doing famously.


However, in a strange quirk of fate, I had the opportunity to give them back that year when we moved to VA last fall because they were obviously after the VA cut off. I was told that they could absolutely go onto 2nd grade (where they were in CT) but that I could also put them in 1st grade, which of course they'd already done in CT with flying colors. I choose to put them back in 1st grade, mostly because they would absolutely be guaranteed to be the youngest in their classes and it was a new school, moving mid year, so I wanted them to not have to deal with too much academic challenge, when they had social issues to conquer with the move. (I will add that I did ask them what they wanted and they both said 1st grade)

I can tell you it has worked out perfectly. I am surprised at how many younger kids are in their classes, but they are not the oldest, or even second oldest, and they have fit in perfectly. Academically they are excelling of course because they've already done 1st grade, but the curriculum is different and they have not been bored. They have spent their time developing friendships and getting familiar with their school. My daughters teacher did tell me when she first met her, that she obviously should be in 2nd grade, but that she'd do her best to challenge her, which she definitely has.

Anyway, sorry for the novel,but wanted to post my experience, which kind of dealt with a few sides of the issue at once

[NYmama2dallas]

Originally Posted by Mont1

I am stunned by the overall responses above telling parents to wait. I am one of 5 children. 4 of us went to college at 17. All of us were at the top of our class academically, excelled in sports and had plenty of friends. If your child is ready they are ready. I do not approve of a system that chooses an arbitrary date and tells me my child must wait. Parents - it is up to us individually to decide what is best for our children.

Of course, but the local schools do not allow children to start if their birthday (like OP's child) is past the cut off date. OP, your only option to starting K early is to go private. The public schools do not make exceptions on the cut-off dates for too-young children. I think even if they let her it would be a mistake anyway--she has the rest of her life to have to be somewhere 8 hours a day/5 days a week. Let her play and be a child.

[theBIGstep]

I too see both sides but have to say I believe you have to know your child. Our daughter missed the cut-off date and was ready. She is not in a small private school doing amazing. She is the yougest in her class and although I see the point about driving etc later really....I believe you have to know your kid. We believe in reinforcing a positive learning experience which my daughter has done amazing. She is reading at a 2nd grade level and although she is in K. I don't believe children should be held back unless the parent feels that way.Having said that though goes both ways. If we would of waited another year for our child to go to K....it would of been a huge mistake.Socially we will deal with whatever comes later.Even if she was the same age social problems will present themselves and that is where the parent HAS to get involved. you need to follow as a parent what you feel is best. wher r u located - Fairfax? PWC?