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article: Delay Kindergarten at Your Child?s Peril
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/dont-delay-your-kindergartners-start.html?_r=2
DD's bday is in Oct and we plan to do private kindergarten and then have her test into 1st grade
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Re: article: Delay Kindergarten at Your Child?s Peril
That's interesting. DS is an August baby and I always figured I'd just wait and see if he's ready when we get to that point. As a K-2 teacher, I have seen very young kids who would have benefited socially and academically from entering later, but I have also seen young ones who did just fine. Thanks for sharing!
I'm November birthday and as a child, I always wished I was in the class ahead. I was just that much further along in the early grades. My youngest brother is an August baby and while he was intellectually and socially ready for school, he was on the smaller side and I think he would have preferred to be a class behind so he wouldn't be the smallest boy in his class. That said, each of us thrived. I do think it's odd when kids turn 7 in kindergarten, I think that's just too old for a young class. DD and DS are March and January babies so I don't have to worry about the fuzzy lines that late summer/early fall children inhabit.
While I think the article is right in the aggregate, I wonder how the rise of women in the workforce and preschool participation and full day kindergarten impacts this. When I was little far fewer moms worked and not everyone went to preschool and while it changed a few years later, I only had half day kindergarten (although I went to private kindergarten for the other half of the day).
Thanks for sharing...I'm going to bookmark this. DS is a late September baby, so I think we'll have a choice of when to put him in. I assumed with us moving around, he'd be better off waiting and therefore be slightly older and maybe better able to adjust/catch up/whatever every time we start with a new school system. This article indicates that perhaps that's not the best approach after all. A factor is that he's a typical boy, and maybe I'd make a different decision if his behavior, vocabulary, emotional development, etc. were on the same track as his sister. Too early to tell, but thanks for the food for thought.
FWIW, I was born in late November and my parents put me in Kindergarten when I was four. I never had a problem keeping up academically or being socially deficient despite being a year younger than some classmates.
I totally agree. Also, just out of curiosity- what happens if they don't test into first grade? do they repeat kindergarten? or do they just stay in private school?
As someone who was always on the younger end of the class spectrum. it was hard graduating college at 21.
in our case, DD would repeat kindergarten at a public school; since we both work, she has to be in some sort of daycare anyway; our center offers private k so we might as well put her in that room vs. another room in the center.
I graduated college at 21 b/c I graduated early and I loved it
I"m not questioning the benefit of sending kids to school at an early age. It worked out really well for me and I wouldn't have changed a thing about my schooling. (It was kind of a bummer to not turn 21 during college, but there are ways around that, if you know what I mean.) But I was also very mature for my age. I was offered the opportunity to skip 2 grades in elementary school, but my parents allowed me to only skip 1 grade, because they were worried I wouldn't be able to handle it socially, even if I was ready academically. I think they made the right decision.
There are many factors to consider when it comes to things like skipping grades or holding your kids back a year, and the answer will not be the same for every kid. I question blanket statements about how to raise your kids without considering the nuances of each kid's personality and maturity.
I agree with you. I was just giving my perspective that it was hard being the youngest but obviously it works out well for some people. We will be making decisions for our DD based on what we think is best for her :-)
I think the authors of the articles have some interesting points about how exposure to older children may help development. DH was one of the youngest kids in his class and I was one of the oldest, and we both see benefits to our scenarios. With a kid who just misses the cutoff, we've had some discussions about whether to push early entry or enroll with his assigned class. Ultimately, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it based on DS's needs.