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December 2010 Moms
lrn327
member
F/u to pre-school post
lrn327
member
Would you want your LO to be a year ahead all through school? Pros/cons?
So the way C's DC is set up, he's currently in the early pre-school class. Assuming that space is available, he'll move to pre-school in August (when he's still 2) and pre-K the following year (when he's still technically 3). In our state you have to be 5 to go to K and 6 to go to 1st but I don't think this applies to private schools (which his is). They just started K this year at this school and I suspect they'll open up 1st the next year. So...if we follow our current trend, C will always be one year ahead when he switches to regular school. (The DC won't go past 1st.) We love his school and he's been there for two years already (loves his friends and teachers).
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Re: F/u to pre-school post
I think we're the same but only for K and 1st. Once they're out of first, I guess they assume they've assimilated into the older class already? I don't know but a bit nervous about that. There is a strong possibility we'd switch C to a different private school starting for 2nd anyway since our public schools are not that great (at risk of losing accreditation right now).
I think it depends a lot on the child. I can tell just by reading posts here that there is a wide range of physical and social skills at this age, so it really depends on where your child is at.
Based on Florida laws, DS is going to be one of the older kids in the class with his b-day. I actually think that may be for the best for him since he tends to be on the lower end of his age group for language and social skills, and he's a peanut. If things change and he feels unchallenged when he's in higher grades, I think I'd be more apt to look at opportunities for enriching the curriculum or finding extracurriculars that inspire him rather than trying to change his grade placement.
My brother and I were both always the youngest in our class. (My brother by chance due to his birthday; me because I skipped two grades). I will say there are pros and cons to everything, and kids will absolutely adjust to what they're given, but I'm not sure that being the youngest enhanced our academic experience that much. (Even two grades ahead I was still pretty bored until we moved to a district that offered AP and IB programs.) On the social front, it didn't seem to impact my brother much, as he was a fairly large kid and didn't have trouble making friends, but I was kind of a late bloomer socially (especially with boys), so I think it didn't help things being so much younger. However, if I didn't start college when and where I did, I might not have had all the opportunities and met all the people I did, so I don't regret getting ahead. But I think if I had stayed in my grade and maybe gotten into a better school district or a magnet school I would have been just as happy, if not moreso.
tl:dr! I think C will be fine with whatever you choose. Just wanted to share some alternate perspectives.
My birthday is at the end of October. My parents kept me back a year-so instead of starting K at 4 I started at 5. I think the benefits/downsides depends strongly on your child's personality. I like to be the boss and I like to be in charge, always have been that way. So my parents thought it would be best to let me be one of the oldest so my natural tendency towards being a leader wasn't squashed by being the smallest/youngest.
The Pros-I am tall anyway (5'10") but I was always the biggest kid in my class-until HS. I think it made me less likely to get into trouble, etc. I think I also excelled in sports because I was older-stronger, faster etc. Being the oldest made me the first to get my license, the first to be able to vote, etc. I liked the extra responsibility about being able to drive my friends around, etc but not all kids do well with that pressure. I think finally, when I graduated from college I was almost 23 instead of almost 22. That one year of maturity I think made a big difference in my career.
The cons-by the end of my senior year I was just done with all the petty crap that goes on in HS and couldn't wait to get out. The same happened my last year in college. Because I was kept back for age and not learning reasons, by HS I was really bored with material and didn't really have to work to get the grades. Lastly, I think it made me less likely to go to grad school right out of college because I just wanted to start my career. I am back in school now, but just my own opinion.
Oliver goes to a private school as well. They offer K, 1, and 2 as well as pre-K preschool, and day care. We will not be pushing for O to move ahead in school. While there were cons to being one of the older ones, I think he will end up in the middle of the pack age-wise as MissMuffin pointed out and I think that will be just fine. I think being one of the younger ones may be problematic as he gets older-for social reasons.
I would definitely not send my kiddo to school ahead. I teach Kindergarten so I get to see a range of abilities of kiddos that start school. *Most of the time* it's very clear who the younger kids in the class are - smaller, less mature, not as good in social situations as other kids, etc.
I'm VERY glad that our cut off is December 1st and B missed it by 2 weeks, especially b/c of his diagnosis and delays. Just my opinion though! I know every kiddo is different.
My little man at 0-1-2
However, if you let him play sports, he may be playing with kids in the grade below him. I know down here until middle school and high school, you play Rec and it goes by age instead of grade
Like pp said, he'll adjust to what he's given. GL!
I would consider sending J early if it was an option (I don't think it is in our district). I was one of the youngest in my class and I was the tallest kid in kindergarten and did just fine academically and socially.
I have noticed that J has had a rough couple weeks at DC and I think it's b/c the 2 other older toddlers have moved up so he's the oldest in his room right now (he should be moving up this month). He seems to be getting really frustrated that the 2 new young kids don't listen, have binkys, don't share, etc (they're 18-20 months). Even though he's small I think he benefits from the challenge of the bigger kids, mentally and physically.
We have a couple years before we need to make a decision so as Jilly says I'll let future Serendipity deal with it. However if it was just O I was thinking about I'd want him to be one of the older kids.
Oh wow! My step-brother and I are five months apart and were in the same classes in high school. It was okay, but yeah, it was really weird!
Thankfully we don't have to worry about this. My sister was the youngest in her class and did really well. I was 2 weeks too old to go a year early so I was one of the oldest in my class. I think as long as he is ready (which sometimes kids are not) that it is fine to send them early. However, some kids (and a lot of boys) are not mature enough to go a year early. I'd rather have them home with me the extra year personally because once they go to school all day every day it feels like you never see them.
While it totally depends on the kid, I would be very hesitant to set my child up for this, especially a boy. Being 4 turning 5 in K is very young these days. Most districts are moving towards having the cut off be 5 by the time they start school.
We are going to be private schooling B for a number of reasons at least 8th grade, and around here, the private schools operate on the same cut offs as the public schools in order to avoid situations like you are describing, a child that moves to another school but ends up in the wrong age group for his/her grade.
That said, my parents held me out with a summer birthday so I was already 6 when I started K. That was not really fun for me either growing up as I felt older, especially with the male population. Also, like a PP, I was SO over hs by the time I hit my sophomore year or so.
BFP #2 4/13/10. Bridget born 12/28/10
BFP #3 Finn born 8/11/15
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He already does. We make it work.
How does that work out? On Sept 1, 2016 J & O will be 5y10m, right? and K & G will be 4y4m-ish - so the girls wouldn't start until 2017. So they would be 1 year behind. No? Yes?
I have a math minor but I still hate word problems lol
In CA I think they just passed a law that is slowly moving up the "cut-off" date. Right now I think it's Nov 1st, next year it'll be Oct. 1st, then Sept. 1st and then Aug 1st by the time DS1 would start school.
I'm happy that he'll be 5 - turning 6 a few months into school (he's actually a Nov. baby). I think with boys especially it'll be good for him.
But since DS2's birthday is in July he'll actually have just turned 5 when he starts K. So he'll be young for his grade, which I'm really nervous about. But his older borther will only be 1 grade ahead of him in school, so I hope that helps them as they grow up and will always be close in school together.
You very well could be right. When DH and I had talked he was the one that kept saying my math was wrong. I thought they'd be a year apart, he thought they'd be together. I am terrible at math and he was so adamant that I figured he must be right.
Now I'll show him your calculations and say I told you so, lol.
On a side note what a relief!
I think it depends on the kid, and on the school.
I was on the younger side myself (graduated HS at 17). Academically, even that was too late for me - I was bored in many of my classes and had to put in minimal effort to graduate in the top 10%. But socially I was a later bloomer, and that caused it's own set of challenges.
It's a moot point for us because B our kindy deadline is Dec 1st, so B won't make it. But I'd be more likely to put a child in as a 4-turning-5 if a district had a robust pre-K program. Our district used to have that - it was one smaller classroom that was intended for the kids that socially or behaviorally probably weren't going to succeed in 1st grade, but who didn't seem to have academic challenges with the materials. They did a hybrid of the K and 1st grade lessons, but with the smaller class size and less new material they had time to work on helping the kids learn classroom behaviors. Unfortunately this was one of the programs that was cut in the last decade or so.
BFP #2 5/27/12. EDD 2/1/13. m/c and D&C 6/21/12.
I know the cut off day in Ohio is September 30th for girls and July 31st for boys, so it doesn't really matter here. I had a mid-September birthday and was one of the youngest in my class. Given the choice for DD I would have no problem sending her to K early, so long as she seemed ready.
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We are in ca as well. I'm a little concerned that if O is one of the oldest in his class he will be bored and get into mischief.
I have not done the math but I'm pretty sure there is no way they would be in the same class no matter what.
I've heard that more changes are going to be made here in MI - that in the next few years the cut off will be moved to November, then October, etc. I don't know what the final cut off will be when we have to make the decision for our kiddos, or if this rumor is even true. G was born Nov 28, so I'm curious what sort of decision we'll have to make too.
Our kindergarten cut-off is October 1, so DS will be almost 6 when he starts. He's very tall for his age, so size-wise I don't love that he'll be one of the older kids. Though, as pp said, his bday is at the end of December, so all of the October, November and pretty much December kids will be older. And, I guess it will come in handy for sports!
I was one of the younger kids as my birthday was 3 days after the cut-off and my mom didn't want to hold me back a year for 3 days. It worked out fine and I did very well academically. It just meant getting a fake ID in college since all of my friends turned 21 as juniors.
I think it would really depend on the kid. I think DS is average so I would like him to be average-aged in school. That's easy because the cutoff is Sept 1 so Dec is a bit on the older side but not by too much.
LO #2 is due late Sept. I'm not as excited about that due date because it's only just after the cut-off...likewise I wouldn't be so keen on an August due date. But oh well. We'll just see what happens.