did you send you dc to a private K to get them into school early or do another year of prek? we are moving to a place where the date is dec 1 and ds was born on dec 28. I worry another year of pre k will bore him... but I don't want him to be THE youngest kid and his fine motor skills are weak. The daycare/school he has been in since 8 mo wants to put him in the K room next year since we will only be there 2 months till we move because they feel he'd do really well there...
BUT then he'd go to pre k in nov when we move
Re: Moms of kids who "just miss" the cutoff date
My dd didn't miss the cut-off (her b-day was about two weeks before) but we still waited. Anyhow, we sent her to a Pre-K class that was all 5 year olds that either just missed the cut-off or were just waiting the extra year. They had a very similar curriculum to that of Kindergarten.
we're considering holding our ds back one year b/c his bday is just before the cutoff. he has the fine motor skills, he's smart. but he doesn't listen well. he seems pretty immature compared to where his sister was at the same age.
dd's prek was more like kindie. we have moved. I'm unsure what this new prek will be like. we'll decide what we're doing next spring/summer. a lot can change in a year. but dh is pretty certain he wants to delay ds's start.
I wouldn't say "just missed". It's almost a month. Do the extra year of preschool and start K when you're supposed to.
Both of my kids will be 5 3/4 when they start K and I am glad. They will definitely be mature enough and ready for K.
DS - December 2006
DD - December 2008
Our cutoff here is Sept. 1, and my kids are Oct. 6. When they were born, the cutoff was Oct. 15, so they'd been in class with the older kids the whole time.
We moved them to a different school with a "transitional" pre-k program. It was for kids who were being held back for whatever reason and had a more structured feel to it than the pre-k they'd been at.
It has been awesome for them.
With two, private K or the cost of getting them evaluated for early entry just wasn't feasible.
DD misses the cutoff by 10 days. She will be 3 in October, so I can't actually say yet. But at this point our plan is for her to attend kindergarten in a private school when she is 4 turning 5 and hopefully start first grade in a public school. At the end of the private kindergarten we will make our final decision to either put her in first grade in the public school or repeat kindergarten in the public school.
Being a trained kindergarten teacher, and also someone who has an October birthday, at this point I feel she would do well with the private kindergarten and then first grade. She is pretty advanced academically and socially already, but I we will see what happens.
My thoughts too. Our cut off date is Sept 1. December just seems so late. I mean, kids would be 4 years old for the 1st half of the year.
Charlotte Ella 07.16.10
Emmeline Grace 03.27.13
DD makes the cut-off but only by 3 weeks. We are holding her back because she is having some sensory issues that are making it difficult for her to settle down and listen, follow directions etc. The school district has Just 5 program for kids that are 5, but aren't quite ready for Kindergarten so she will be doing that. It's based off the old Kindergarten curriculum. Academically, DD1 is very smart, she just needs some emotional maturing so they will work on that, but she will still progress academically. They have kids that are reading in Just 5.
I would definitely wait. Someone has to be the oldest and I would rather my child be the oldest and a leader in her classroom. Intelligence really has nothing to do with it. It's really about maturity and Kindergarten is more like 1st grade was for us so the expectations are higher. Because of this, most states are moving towards a Sept 1st cut-off date. Which makes MUCH more sense to me. Think about it. Do you want your child to be 17 or 18 when she graduates high school and heads off to college. You really have to look ahead to the future and the implications it will have. Is she ready for Kindergarten now? Sure. But is she going to fall behind when she gets to 1st/2nd grade? Possibly. That is what helped us to make our decision.