S/O Kindergarten questions

stephsteph77 · May 2010

How old will your kid be when they start kindergarten? Or, how old were they?

Here you have to test in if you are not 5 by August 31st, but most parents are "red-shirting" their kids if they turn 5 in September or October - waiting an extra year so they are six when they start. Luckily I don't have to deal with it (DD#1's birthday is in January so she'll start at 5 and turn 6 a couple of months later), but a friend is struggling with the decision. She has twin boys with early September birthdays.

EliseB0323 · May 2010

DS will be 5 when school starts, but will be 6 less than a month later. He missed the cut off for Kindergarten last year by 5 days. We didn't have a choice to send him last year -- our public schools are really strict with the cut off.

MommyofAlissa · May 2010

She was 4 when she started. Cut off was Oct 15th and she turned 5 on Sept 10th.

Andrewsgal · May 2010

DD misses our state cutoff by 4 days. Our cutoff is September 1st and DD's birthday is September 4th. There is no option in our state to test in early and even private schools go by the September cutoff. So DD will start school at 5 but turn 6 two weeks after she starts.

MichelleWP · May 2010

My boys all were/will be 5 (Oct, Nov and March birthdays). My daughter was born on the school cut-off date here (Aug 31), I plan to red-shirt her, she'll start at 6.

Wouldn't Sept/Oct birthdays still be 5 when they start, and turn 6 in the school year?

PinkPiano · May 2010

We redshirted my oldest dd so she'll be 6 when she starts. Her birthday is in July.

JOEBunny · May 2010

The cut off here is 9/1, school starts 8/15, so pretty much the age of 5. DD is June, so she will be 5. I would only hold her back if she had a learning problem for which that would benefit her, or if she had a birthday after 9/1 and I lived some place that allowed kids after that date I might, just because if you move, your child could be almost 2 years younger than the kids who are red shirted.

Red shirting kids just to red shirt them irritates me, but a lot of people do it around here for no reason other than they want their kid to be the best. Of course a 7 year old is going to be better than a 6 year old at 1st grade, so would a 16 year old, doesn't make it right.

shouldbworkin · May 2010

DS will be 5 years old. He turns 5 about 3 weeks before school starts. Our cut off is 12/1, so most kids go unless they have Oct/Nov bdays. The Aug/Sept bdays can go either way, even some Oct and Nov kids go and are fine. It really depends on the school and the neighborhood. Our school deals fine with the younger kids and those that have never been to school before, so I'm sending DS.

ETA: They do a KG evaluation here, but it's not to see if kids are ready. It's just to equally distribute the kids that are ahead and behind in the classes. Also, the only way to skip ahead if you don't make the cut off is to wait a year and then hope that maybe they'll move your child to 1st grade. It is very, very rare, though. My neice did skip KG, but not b/c she was held back a year. She just really was that far ahead.

DaiLyght · May 2010

Ds1 will be just turning 6 when he starts next year. Here, the cut off if sept 1 and his bday is sept 4. I agonised over it for months and eventually decided to follow the state rule. Two of my biggest thoughts were: 1) I feel it would be far more emotionally upsetting to him if we ever had to hold him back years from now, as opposed to in aa few years deciding he's able to move up, and 2) boys are more emotionally immature than girls so (I hope that) holding back one more year will put him more on-par with his classmates.

MommyofAlissa · May 2010

MichelleWP:
Wouldn't Sept/Oct birthdays still be 5 when they start, and turn 6 in the school year?

Not unless they were held back. If your cutoff date says that they must be 5 by, for example, Oct 15th, a kid turning 5 on Sept 10th would still be able to start school, and would be 4 when school started.

penguingrrl · May 2010

It will depend on where we're living. DD1 is August 30, so most places she'll be able to start just after her 5th birthday (assuming a post-Labor Day first day of school), but there are a few places that have an earlier cut off. I have no intention to hold her back.

MAM1006 · May 2010

We have a sept 1 cut-off and ds was born on oct 6. I THINK you can test if your b-day is before September 30. Either way we knew he would be almost 6 when he starts kindergarten. It works well for us because he is tiny for his age and not really a natural "leader", although he is in a pre-k class with many kids who are 6-9 months younger than him and he is now one of the leaders. Being one of the older ones in the class has been a real confidence boost for him and a positive experience. FYI--kindergarten is full day out here (Maryland) and pretty academic

elm1032004 · May 2010

The cutoff we we are is 5 by August 31st, so both my kids will be 5 when the start and turn 6 shortly after. If I had a kid that barely made the cutoff I would red shirt them, I think that extra year to develop and gain social skills is important in the long run.

omurray · May 2010

JOEBunny:

The cut off here is 9/1, school starts 8/15, so pretty much the age of 5. DD is June, so she will be 5. I would only hold her back if she had a learning problem for which that would benefit her, or if she had a birthday after 9/1 and I lived some place that allowed kids after that date I might, just because if you move, your child could be almost 2 years younger than the kids who are red shirted.

Red shirting kids just to red shirt them irritates me, but a lot of people do it around here for no reason other than they want their kid to be the best. Of course a 7 year old is going to be better than a 6 year old at 1st grade, so would a 16 year old, doesn't make it right.

I agree with your point. I also think its strange that people would not consider that there could be an equal disadvantage to being that much older than the rest of the class. Kids who are bored often act out or disengage altogether, concluding that school is boring/useless.

shouldbworkin · May 2010

omurray:

I agree with your point. I also think its strange that people would not consider that there could be an equal disadvantage to being that much older than the rest of the class. Kids who are bored often act out or disengage altogether, concluding that school is boring/useless.

This is what I worry about. And, I don't get the whole "I don't want them graduating when they are 17 argument." I had a late birthday and was very happy to graduate college and grad school little younger than my friends. I can't imagine if my parents had held me back a year.

OctoberBrideNYC · May 2010

Ava will start Kindergarten at 6 and turn 7 a month later (October). and We're doing the private school route so the bday cutoff are different, and the kids are a year older. June 30 is the cut-off.

j-w · May 2010

We have a 9/1 cutoff, with no testing. Both of my kids will be 5 when they start and turn 6 shortly thereafter.

Andrewsgal · May 2010

shouldbworkin:
omurray:

I agree with your point. I also think its strange that people would not consider that there could be an equal disadvantage to being that much older than the rest of the class. Kids who are bored often act out or disengage altogether, concluding that school is boring/useless.

This is what I worry about. And, I don't get the whole "I don't want them graduating when they are 17 argument." I had a late birthday and was very happy to graduate college and grad school little younger than my friends. I can't imagine if my parents had held me back a year.

I can honestly say as an educator I HATE this mindset. I have never ever run across a child that was so bright or mature they were bored. I have met a lot of kids with parents making excuses for them and it was usually the bored one. IMO the brightest and most mature children can handle downtime well without misbehavior.

ridesbuttons · May 2010

DS#1 will be 4 years and 3 months old. DS#2 will be 4 years and 8 months old.

penguingrrl · May 2010

I find it so interesting how many people purposely hold their child back. I actually trust the school system to know what they're doing when setting the cutoff and that they plan the curriculum knowing the ages of the students. In NY (not sure if it's state or city mandated) the cutoff is Dec 31, so all children born within the same calendar year are in the same grade and some kids start school several months before they turn 5. They do not allow redshirting at all. If you try to wait and enroll a child who will turn 6 before Dec 31 in K they automatically enroll the child in 1st grade!

I actually wish they would standardize the cutoff nation wide then enforce it. We'll be moving several times due to DH's career (he's working on a PhD now and will have to do a post doctoral fellowship before looking for a tenure track position, which pretty much guarantees two moves to two different states in the next few years) and I really hope we don't end up somehow thrown by different cutoff dates with summer birthdays. My big fear is that there's a good chance he'll post doc in Indiana (there's someone there who is interested in working with him already) from 2012-2014, which has a July 1 cutoff, meaning Emma won't be able to start K there (she'll be 5 in July 2014). But if we return to NY (which is preferable) she'll miss K entirely because they're so strict on their redshirting rules!

SMHWife · May 2010

Our cutoff is 9/1 so DD will be 5 when she starts kindergarten. She will be more than ready after 2 years of preschool. She will definitely be the baby in her class though. A friend of mine, who has a DD that is 10 months older than my DD misses the cutoff by 6 days. So her DD and my DD will be in the same grade together even though there is almost a year difference in age.

mommynow · May 2010

DD was born on the cut-off day (9/1) so she will be 4 when she starts K and then turn 5 a couple weeks later. She is ready for K, DS has an August birthday and I can see us holding him back but he is only 2 right now so who knows what will happen.

eclaires · May 2010

penguingrrl:
I find it so interesting how many people purposely hold their child back. I actually trust the school system to know what they're doing when setting the cutoff and that they plan the curriculum knowing the ages of the students. In NY (not sure if it's state or city mandated) the cutoff is Dec 31, so all children born within the same calendar year are in the same grade and some kids start school several months before they turn 5. They do not allow redshirting at all. If you try to wait and enroll a child who will turn 6 before Dec 31 in K they automatically enroll the child in 1st grade!
I actually wish they would standardize the cutoff nation wide then enforce it. We'll be moving several times due to DH's career (he's working on a PhD now and will have to do a post doctoral fellowship before looking for a tenure track position, which pretty much guarantees two moves to two different states in the next few years) and I really hope we don't end up somehow thrown by different cutoff dates with summer birthdays. My big fear is that there's a good chance he'll post doc in Indiana (there's someone there who is interested in working with him already) from 2012-2014, which has a July 1 cutoff, meaning Emma won't be able to start K there (she'll be 5 in July 2014). But if we return to NY (which is preferable) she'll miss K entirely because they're so strict on their redshirting rules!

Actually, Indiana is in the process of moving their cut off dates back. I believe it is currently August 1st, and the goal is to move it to September 1st, if I remember right. It's no longer July 1st - at least it wasn't when we checked for Jackson not too long ago. They have some of the earliest cut off dates, or had, I guess.

Our cut off date in TN is 9/30. Jackson's birthday is October 1st. We'll send him the year he is 5 turning 6 as required by the cut off dates.

Scarlett will be 2 weeks before the cut off - we'll evaluate where she is when the time comes.

ETA: I'll try to find the link to the information I got all that from for you. Also, Indiana has a rather generous testing policy, so if your kid is close you could probably get them started.

shopgirl_07 · May 2010

OctoberBrideNYC:
Ava will start Kindergarten at 6 and turn 7 a month later (October). and We're doing the private school route so the bday cutoff are different, and the kids are a year older. June 30 is the cut-off.

Wouldn't you start her at 5, almost 6, not 6 almost 7? That means she'd be darn near 20 when she graduates high school. I don't get it.

DandelionMom · May 2010

My older two just missed the cut off (one by a month, one by less than a month) so I thought they'd be the oldest kids in their classes but they weren't -- a lot of people redshirt here, maybe because we have a late cut-off (Dec 1).

Chrisy-Wyobride · May 2010

My DD will be 5 almost 6. The cutoff is Oct. 1st & DD will be 6 on October 4th--so she missed the cutoff by 3 days. I was sad at first that she just missed the cutoff--I was always young for my class & did fine...also she's SO tall & big for her age anyway...but now I console myself w/ the fact that she'll kick butt at sports--LOL!

penguingrrl · May 2010

eclaires:
penguingrrl:
I find it so interesting how many people purposely hold their child back. I actually trust the school system to know what they're doing when setting the cutoff and that they plan the curriculum knowing the ages of the students. In NY (not sure if it's state or city mandated) the cutoff is Dec 31, so all children born within the same calendar year are in the same grade and some kids start school several months before they turn 5. They do not allow redshirting at all. If you try to wait and enroll a child who will turn 6 before Dec 31 in K they automatically enroll the child in 1st grade!
I actually wish they would standardize the cutoff nation wide then enforce it. We'll be moving several times due to DH's career (he's working on a PhD now and will have to do a post doctoral fellowship before looking for a tenure track position, which pretty much guarantees two moves to two different states in the next few years) and I really hope we don't end up somehow thrown by different cutoff dates with summer birthdays. My big fear is that there's a good chance he'll post doc in Indiana (there's someone there who is interested in working with him already) from 2012-2014, which has a July 1 cutoff, meaning Emma won't be able to start K there (she'll be 5 in July 2014). But if we return to NY (which is preferable) she'll miss K entirely because they're so strict on their redshirting rules!
Actually, Indiana is in the process of moving their cut off dates back. I believe it is currently August 1st, and the goal is to move it to September 1st, if I remember right. It's no longer July 1st - at least it wasn't when we checked for Jackson not too long ago. They have some of the earliest cut off dates, or had, I guess.
Our cut off date in TN is 9/30. Jackson's birthday is October 1st. We'll send him the year he is 5 turning 6 as required by the cut off dates.
Scarlett will be 2 weeks before the cut off - we'll evaluate where she is when the time comes.

Thank you! I am so relieved to hear that! I wasn't worried about Julia since she'll be grandfathered in to whatever grade comes next when we move, but we were really stressing about the timing for Emma! A former groupmate of DH's went to IN and that was how we had heard about the July 1 cutoff!

gracendantho26 · May 2010

DD started at 4 years old just a few weeks shy of her 5th b-day. DS is starting at 5 1/2 years old. I think those ages are quite good for my kiddos. Natalie is going into 2nd next year and right on target.

Chrisy-Wyobride · May 2010

Oh & I'll add that there are no exceptions at DD's school--she's in private school but they are very strict around here (same rules for private & public) and totally do not allow kids who don't meet the deadline into school early.

OctoberBrideNYC · May 2010

shopgirl_07:
OctoberBrideNYC:
Ava will start Kindergarten at 6 and turn 7 a month later (October). and We're doing the private school route so the bday cutoff are different, and the kids are a year older. June 30 is the cut-off.
Wouldn't you start her at 5, almost 6, not 6 almost 7? That means she'd be darn near 20 when she graduates high school. I don't get it.

The school where we are applying her has what they call PC (Pre-Connecting class) that she will start (if she gets in) at 5 (she turns 6 a month later). PC is equivalent to Pre-K. From there she goes to CC (Connectig Class) and that's the equivalent of Kindergarten. It's normal for these type of private schools in this area to be a year older than the public schools. If you transfer in from a public school in the 5th grade, you repeat 5th grade at the private school. I know it sounds strange, but it's not for this type of school.

UGAbride · May 2010

My oldest has a March birthday, so he'll be 5 and a half when he starts kindergarten. My youngest has a September birthday, and the cutoff here is 9/1, so he'll turn 6 two weeks after starting kindergarten. I would definitely not "test" him to go earlier (ie. start at 4, almost 5), I would much prefer he be exactly where he belongs, as the oldest in the class according to his birthday (not because I held him back, but because that's where his birthday falls).

eclaires · May 2010

penguingrrl:
eclaires:
penguingrrl:
I find it so interesting how many people purposely hold their child back. I actually trust the school system to know what they're doing when setting the cutoff and that they plan the curriculum knowing the ages of the students. In NY (not sure if it's state or city mandated) the cutoff is Dec 31, so all children born within the same calendar year are in the same grade and some kids start school several months before they turn 5. They do not allow redshirting at all. If you try to wait and enroll a child who will turn 6 before Dec 31 in K they automatically enroll the child in 1st grade!
I actually wish they would standardize the cutoff nation wide then enforce it. We'll be moving several times due to DH's career (he's working on a PhD now and will have to do a post doctoral fellowship before looking for a tenure track position, which pretty much guarantees two moves to two different states in the next few years) and I really hope we don't end up somehow thrown by different cutoff dates with summer birthdays. My big fear is that there's a good chance he'll post doc in Indiana (there's someone there who is interested in working with him already) from 2012-2014, which has a July 1 cutoff, meaning Emma won't be able to start K there (she'll be 5 in July 2014). But if we return to NY (which is preferable) she'll miss K entirely because they're so strict on their redshirting rules!
Actually, Indiana is in the process of moving their cut off dates back. I believe it is currently August 1st, and the goal is to move it to September 1st, if I remember right. It's no longer July 1st - at least it wasn't when we checked for Jackson not too long ago. They have some of the earliest cut off dates, or had, I guess.
Our cut off date in TN is 9/30. Jackson's birthday is October 1st. We'll send him the year he is 5 turning 6 as required by the cut off dates.
Scarlett will be 2 weeks before the cut off - we'll evaluate where she is when the time comes.
Thank you! I am so relieved to hear that! I wasn't worried about Julia since she'll be grandfathered in to whatever grade comes next when we move, but we were really stressing about the timing for Emma! A former groupmate of DH's went to IN and that was how we had heard about the July 1 cutoff!

Here's the memo about the appeals process that mentions August 1st as the cut off date.

https://www.doe.in.gov/lmmp/pdf/Kindergarten_appeal_form.pdf

Shortly after my brother (a June bday) started, they moved it to June 1st for awhile. Indiana is crazy early.

katie277s · May 2010

DS will be 5. His birthday is August 14th and the cut off is Dec 1st.

CleoKitty · May 2010

eclaires:
penguingrrl:
I find it so interesting how many people purposely hold their child back. I actually trust the school system to know what they're doing when setting the cutoff and that they plan the curriculum knowing the ages of the students. In NY (not sure if it's state or city mandated) the cutoff is Dec 31, so all children born within the same calendar year are in the same grade and some kids start school several months before they turn 5. They do not allow redshirting at all. If you try to wait and enroll a child who will turn 6 before Dec 31 in K they automatically enroll the child in 1st grade!
I actually wish they would standardize the cutoff nation wide then enforce it. We'll be moving several times due to DH's career (he's working on a PhD now and will have to do a post doctoral fellowship before looking for a tenure track position, which pretty much guarantees two moves to two different states in the next few years) and I really hope we don't end up somehow thrown by different cutoff dates with summer birthdays. My big fear is that there's a good chance he'll post doc in Indiana (there's someone there who is interested in working with him already) from 2012-2014, which has a July 1 cutoff, meaning Emma won't be able to start K there (she'll be 5 in July 2014). But if we return to NY (which is preferable) she'll miss K entirely because they're so strict on their redshirting rules!
Actually, Indiana is in the process of moving their cut off dates back. I believe it is currently August 1st, and the goal is to move it to September 1st, if I remember right. It's no longer July 1st - at least it wasn't when we checked for Jackson not too long ago. They have some of the earliest cut off dates, or had, I guess.
ETA: I'll try to find the link to the information I got all that from for you. Also, Indiana has a rather generous testing policy, so if your kid is close you could probably get them started.

Yes. I was just double checking this yesterday and the new date is Aug. 1. To the best of my knowledge all public schools are pretty strict about following the cut-off date, I've personally never heard of anyone appealing it to be allowed into kindergarten early if they just barely missed the date. Private schools will probably vary.

Ds will start kindergarten in the fall at 5 years 10 months. It's nuts to think that if we moved elsewhere that he'd already be finishing his kindergarten year instead of just getting ready to start it!

GingerSB · May 2010

DD will be 4 3/4. Our cut-off is not until March 1 though.

penguingrrl · May 2010

eclaires:
penguingrrl:
eclaires:
penguingrrl:
I find it so interesting how many people purposely hold their child back. I actually trust the school system to know what they're doing when setting the cutoff and that they plan the curriculum knowing the ages of the students. In NY (not sure if it's state or city mandated) the cutoff is Dec 31, so all children born within the same calendar year are in the same grade and some kids start school several months before they turn 5. They do not allow redshirting at all. If you try to wait and enroll a child who will turn 6 before Dec 31 in K they automatically enroll the child in 1st grade!
I actually wish they would standardize the cutoff nation wide then enforce it. We'll be moving several times due to DH's career (he's working on a PhD now and will have to do a post doctoral fellowship before looking for a tenure track position, which pretty much guarantees two moves to two different states in the next few years) and I really hope we don't end up somehow thrown by different cutoff dates with summer birthdays. My big fear is that there's a good chance he'll post doc in Indiana (there's someone there who is interested in working with him already) from 2012-2014, which has a July 1 cutoff, meaning Emma won't be able to start K there (she'll be 5 in July 2014). But if we return to NY (which is preferable) she'll miss K entirely because they're so strict on their redshirting rules!
Actually, Indiana is in the process of moving their cut off dates back. I believe it is currently August 1st, and the goal is to move it to September 1st, if I remember right. It's no longer July 1st - at least it wasn't when we checked for Jackson not too long ago. They have some of the earliest cut off dates, or had, I guess.
Our cut off date in TN is 9/30. Jackson's birthday is October 1st. We'll send him the year he is 5 turning 6 as required by the cut off dates.
Scarlett will be 2 weeks before the cut off - we'll evaluate where she is when the time comes.
Thank you! I am so relieved to hear that! I wasn't worried about Julia since she'll be grandfathered in to whatever grade comes next when we move, but we were really stressing about the timing for Emma! A former groupmate of DH's went to IN and that was how we had heard about the July 1 cutoff!
Here's the memo about the appeals process that mentions August 1st as the cut off date.
https://www.doe.in.gov/lmmp/pdf/Kindergarten_appeal_form.pdf
Shortly after my brother (a June bday) started, they moved it to June 1st for awhile. Indiana is crazy early.

That's great info! Thanks! Growing up they moved ours from Oct 31 to October 15, so when I heard somewhere had a July date I was really surprised!

belle204 · May 2010

The cut off here is the beginning of Sept so Amarah will start a year late. She'll be 5 and turn 6 that Oct. Part of me is a bit glad she gets some extra time.

eclaires · May 2010

Cleo - the appeals process is up to the particular district, but IN law requires they have a procedure in place.

I'm pretty sure Zionsville and Carmel are the w/in 30 days short appeal process, with a longer one for 60 days. Or it was one time when I looked it up.

Jinsy80 · May 2010

DD will be 5 (she has a July b-day). This baby is due at the end of November...our school deadline is December 1st. I'll send DC to kindergarten if he/she is born in November.

bubu · May 2010

DD will be 5 by the time kindergarten starts for her in 2011. I guess DS will be a few months short of 6 by the time he will start kindergarten I think.

Marce921 · May 2010

DS will be 5 and turn 6 in November. If he had a late September birthday, I'd probably hold him back if I felt he wasn't ready. Honestly, I think it depends on the level of the child, but boys tend to do better to wait.

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