Thoughts on Kindergarten

SteffieR13 · December 2014

I know this seems like ages away, but I am sure it will be here faster that we think! The five year plan thread got me thinking about this....

The timing of our LO's birth will make them on the older end of their grade, or on the younger end depending on when they start.I am sure there are some school systems that have a set "cut-off" birthday for when kids start Kindergarten, but the school system DS is in is rather flexible on babies born end of summer/beginning of school year time-frame, and I know a lot of school systems are that way, too. I was curious if any of you have started thinking about this, or have any personal experiences? Maybe you were on the younger or older end of your grade, or already have a LO who is? What are you leaning towards regarding this?

DH and I have talked about it quite a bit, and because he was born in September, his mom had the choice. She chose to have him start earlier as opposed to waiting that extra year. He was 17 when he graduated HS, and for his first month of college. In hindsight, MIL said would have waited, and DH would have liked to have been older as well, mainly because he was super involved in sports. At this time, we plan on holding DS back a year, but of course that could change!

Unknown · December 2014

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caybeh · December 2014

We are in ND and the cut off is Aug 1. DD was born 7/26. We'll probably hold her back, but have to see what she is like at that age. DH has an early Aug birthday. His parents held him back and he said he liked that as school was much easier for him.

SteffieR13 · December 2014

Kandreas1 said:

Interesting. Cut off in Canada is December. So DS is actually in the middle for age range.

I used to live in Canada, and didn't know that! I guess I should clarify for U.S babies...and one's that are on a "normal" calendar, and not an all year schedule, as that may be different.

tamarar5 · December 2014

I was middle of the road with a January birthday. I plan to home school (I do with my oldest right now), so it doesn't really matter for us. But. I've learned that boys often do better starting later, and girls do fine either time. My brother started early, and he should have been held back.

JadaBlue · December 2014

Like PPs we'll assess LO's development when it's time to make the decision. I usually hear about holding boys back because they tend to be less ready and perhaps they generally get more out of not being the littlest kid in class, but my sister was an August baby who struggled a bit in high school with friends in the same grade being allowed to do things before her.

WannaBmomma · December 2014

Stare law is changing in Ky and kindergarten students must be 6 to start. So LO will be one of the oldest in her class.

MereDe3 · December 2014

I have given this some thought, mostly because my oldest started kindergarten ths year. My first two kids are both November babies, so they are on the older side....I love that my daughter is one of the oldest in class, and I think I will feel the same about my son, especially because he's a boy and they are usually slower at some of thr skills at that age. That said, I was one of the youngest in my class, I started Kindergarten when I ws four and had no issues. Im pretty sure we will enroll kid 3 when she's "scheduled," unless its really obvious that she needs more time. If she were a boy I would probably give it even more consideration.

Robinischo · December 2014

My bday is June 29, and I was always one of the youngest ones. I never really minded, and honestly, I think I was just thankful to have a summer birthday so I didn't have to go to school on my birthday.

I haven't really decided on what we're going to do with DS. DH was also a June baby, and I think he's leaving towards going ahead and sending him early, but DS bday is 8/1. Maybe we'd be able to decide better if it was later in the month. I guess we'll see in a few years.

Not that this will be the deciding factor, but it would save on childcare costs to send him early. With the way my schedule is (I work a lot of nights and weekends), once he's in school I feel like I'll never see him. So, maybe I'll hold him back so that I'll have more saved up in my SAHM (or part-time) fund. Then again, I might feel bad that he would be starting his senior year at 18 when he could have been starting college.

tinkerbell019 · December 2014

My DSS & our new LO have the same birthday, Aug 22 (16 years apart!). DSS repeated "Advanced Pre-K" - so he is now one of the oldest in his class. This has worked out very well, he does wonderfully academically (we are planning to start him in college courses early to keep him interested in school), and socially I absolutely feel he is in the right place. Of course, every child is different, and we will see if LO may be ready for school early, but do not plan to push, and will not hesitate at all to give him an extra year before going to school full time.

Daisylola11 · December 2014

I'll have to double check but I think the cut off in my area (sac) is October. So he'll turn 5 aug 12th and garter school soon after. Which I guess means he'll turn 18 right before college. That is craaaazy to think, my baaaby lol

OP I'm a nov baby and started early, and was also 17 before starting college. It wasn't that big of a deal until all my friends turned 21 and ditched me to go to the bars lol luckly DH is younger than me and we hung out more

SoSayWeAll · December 2014

It totally depends on DS, but I am definitely leaning towards sending him at 6 rather than 5,

lynds002 · December 2014

I was the youngest in my class, with an October birthday. I hated not being able to drive when my friends could, but other than that, it's great. I was out of school a year early and now have a whole extra year of lifetime earning capacity. I never felt behind academically. Actually it made me more confident because I was somewhat ahead of others my age.

Ju111310 · December 2014

I was one of the youngest with a Sept 1st birthday & it worked out fine for me. School has always came easily to me, so that made a huge difference. Whether we send LO or hold him back depends completely on his development. If he's ready -- mature enough and on target academically then we'll send him. However, if he's physically small then we'll consider holding him back. I think it would have been much tougher for me to deal with being the youngest one if I had been a boy. I don't want him to be younger and smaller then all the other kids and get bullied. My husband was a giant as a little kid, so I'm hoping the same will hold true for our LO :-)

HeatherHam10 · December 2014

Ds was born July 29th. Well most likely hold back a yr. I'm a 2nd grade teacher and a lot of the younger kids struggle if started early especially boys academically and maturity wise. I have a September birthday and had a hard time in elementary school although it did get better I think it would've been better to start me later.

ungraceful13 · December 2014

We plan to just see how he is doing and decide from there. I'd ideally like for him to start at 5 that way him and DD are a grade apart but will judge it on his readiness.

becominggold · December 2014

LO was born on 8/22. I will mostly likely have him start kindergarten when he is six. Social maturity is very important and boys can be slower in this area. I have seen many times in my classrooms students who are just not where their peers are socially and school is a struggle no matter how smart they are. We are in FL and the cut off date is 9/1.

Laur110 · December 2014

The cutoff for CT schools is that the child must be 5 on or before January 1. DD's birthday is 8/5 and if she seems ready, we are planning to have her start school later that month.

**CT is reviewing changing the cutoff to 10/1 and the law will probably be in place before DD starts school. We are still planning to have her start at the same time.**

BeachM · December 2014

LOL this is starting already? Before they are even 6 months old? Yikes.

We'll go by school cutoff dates. Unless your kid is really a true outlier, I don't believe in pushing ahead or red shirting.

Unknown · December 2014

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amj1053 · December 2014

This issue hasn't even crossed my mind until now.

We will just wait and see how LO is doing with prek and base our decision on her social, developmental, and academic skills. In my area school usually starts the third week in August. She was born on the 25th.

reb84 · December 2014

My DDs are May and July babies. We planned on sending them the year they turn 5. I am a late Sept bday and started at 4. My twin and I did well in school; although one year the teachers wanted to hold one of us back (my mom to this day hasn't told us which one), my mom who was a teacher at the school said they hold both of us back or neither. They let us through and we both graduated fine.

IceHide61313 · December 2014

lynds002 said:
I was the youngest in my class, with an October birthday. I hated not being able to drive when my friends could, but other than that, it's great. I was out of school a year early and now have a whole extra year of lifetime earning capacity. I never felt behind academically. Actually it made me more confident because I was somewhat ahead of others my age.

This except I'm a June baby. :-) unless LO is absolutely not ready, she'll start when she's 4.

PecanSam · December 2014

We will send a LO to preschool first and see how she does, and will make the decision, when it's time to go to Kindergarden.

Our first daughter, was born in December. So she was 2 when she started her 2-yr-old preschool class but she already turned 3 last week.

She is basically only going for the social skills and being able to play with kids her own age b/c she already knew everything they plan on teaching this year

jendem8 · December 2014

I was young for my grade (July 22) but went at 5 and that was the right choice for me. My brother's birthday is August 19, and my parents waited; that was the right choice for him. DSS's birthday is July 6th and they waited; that was also the right choice for him. I think it definitely depends on the kid but agree that boys usually need the extra year.

RedBean84 · December 2014

When I started school, the cutoff date was December 31st. My birthday is the 18th, so I was the youngest in my class. I was 17 the whole first semester of college. It bothered me some when everyone hit major milestones (driving, 21, etc.) but I wouldn't change it. Even though I was younger, I always felt more mature than many people my age, so I imaging it would have been worse had I been held back. The cutoff date is now September 30th. DD is a June baby since she came so early, so this isn't really something that we have to think about anymore, but I had always planned on sending her.

Robinischo · December 2014

BeachM said:
LOL this is starting already? Before they are even 6 months old? Yikes.

We'll go by school cutoff dates. Unless your kid is really a true outlier, I don't believe in pushing ahead or red shirting.

LOL when I first saw he title of this thread I had to make sure I was in the right bmb!

SteffieR13 · December 2014

Robinischo said:

LOL this is starting already? Before they are even 6 months old? Yikes.

We'll go by school cutoff dates. Unless your kid is really a true outlier, I don't believe in pushing ahead or red shirting.
LOL when I first saw he title of this thread I had to make sure I was in the right bmb!

Haha, yeah I know it is really early to even think about, and so much will depend on individual development.I was just curious because DH and I have talked about the topic quite a bit due to him being in the same situation.

SteffieR13 · December 2014

hmctagg01 said:

In CA the cutoff is September 1, so my September 2 baby will be like a super senior by the time she is ready to graduate. I was always the youngest, so that will be weird for me.

As a teacher, can I please just beg all of you to not start your kids before they're ready for something silly like day care (it's school people, not free day care!) or because of how you want the siblings spaced? Ditto everything PP's said about boys not being as ready, but the same can go for girls. This is directed at anyone, just my soapbox for the day. Teachers are not glorified babysitters!

It is interesting you said that...I used to work at a daycare, and was a teacher in the room for the after-school program, so kids grades K-5. I specifically remember this one little boy who was much smaller and younger than all the other kindergartners, and he had such a hard time. I really felt they had him start early out of convenience for them (there were a lot of things going on that led me to feel this way). I also saw younger kindergartners thrive and do just fine, though. Just that one specific case stands out in my memory. It is a shame that parents will make that decision when it is not in the best interest of the child.

herecomesthesun · December 2014

amj1053 said:
This issue hasn't even crossed my mind until now.

We will just wait and see how LO is doing with prek and base our decision on her social, developmental, and academic skills. In my area school usually starts the third week in August. She was born on the 25th.

This. Our cut off here is Sept 1

LucyLorrai · December 2014

I was on the younger end as well my birthday is in the middle of August as well as my brothers'(he is the day before me) and the cutoff here is December 1st. We did not mind being on the younger end. My DH has a mid September birthday and his mother on the advice of his preschool teacher decided to keep in preschool a year longer so he was on the older and he did not mind. I feel like it is child to child basis and how they are progressing and if they are ready. I am glad my DH held him back a year or we wouldn't have met! (We met freshman year because we lived in the same dorm)

Robinischo · December 2014

hmctagg01 said:
In CA the cutoff is September 1, so my September 2 baby will be like a super senior by the time she is ready to graduate. I was always the youngest, so that will be weird for me.

As a teacher, can I please just beg all of you to not start your kids before they're ready for something silly like day care (it's school people, not free daycare
!) or because of how you want the siblings spaced? Ditto everything PP's said about boys not being as ready, but the same can go for girls. This is directed at anyone, just my soapbox for the day. Teachers are not glorified babysitters!

I know you said this wasn't directed towards anyone, but since I mentioned daycare, I just wanted to clarify that when I said that it would save on childcare, I didn't mean that it would play a part in when we send our lo. Unless it changes, the cutoff here is 8/31. Since he is an August 1 baby he'll probably go on time unless he doesn't seem ready, but because he only goes to daycare part-time and because of my schedule I'll see him a lot less once he starts school.

I'd really like to keep him longer, but I don't want to do him a disservice by not sending him if he's ready. Hopefully, when the time comes, we'll know. I'll probably just stress about it now for the next 5 years because that's what I do!

mfsunshine222 · December 2014

Cut off here in PA is Sept. 1, LO was born Aug. 18th. I plan on starting him as soon as I can and we'll see what the Kindergarten teacher has to say about him advancing. DH's cousin went through the exact same situation with her oldest son and at the end of the year the Kindergarten teacher said as far as mentally/educationally being able to handle 1st grade he was fine, but in her opinion he was not as socially advanced as his classmates. DH's cousin and her husband decided to have him repeat Kindergarten; we will do the same thing if necessary.

IMO an "extra" year of school and an early start certainly won't hurt DS.

kaitm22 · December 2014

DH and I both have Sept birthdays and are some of the oldest in our class. I loved being the oldest and plan on waiting on school for LO. One more year of being my baby!

RoccoBabyK · December 2014

I'm crazy and thought about this before DD was even born lol, Not really much to add from PP but DD's birthday is Aug 22, so she is later. It will most certainly depend on her readiness but my hope is that she can start when she is turning 5. I believe the cutoff in WV is Aug 31, but I don't plan to be around here when she starts school so I guess that doesn't matter.

Dawn5481 · December 2014

I just want to get through potty training first. If I can survive that, I'll start thinking about school.

cdseno · December 2014

I haven't even considered school for my oldest and he is almost 3. H has talked about homeschooling, but he would be the one doing it.

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