Summer b-days and kindergarten

[SaraElise]

Originally Posted by stevensmom exactly! people are always like, oh my kid is a genius so I sent them early. But they are so not ready socially and it is so hard on them and the rest of the students

This is exactly why we kept my son in preschool one more year. He is *right* at the cut off (September 7th birthday, September 30th cutoff). Academically he would have been totally fine, he is starting to read now and doing everything pretty much right on track with what K curriculum would have been for him...but he was not even close to ready for school emotionally.

I'm so glad we waited, he's grown up a lot in the last few months and I feel confident that he will be 100% ready in the fall without crying when someone looked at him weird, or because he didn't want to come in from recess.

Things like that make it impossible for them to focus on their learning, or at least in a positive way.

Some kids end up totally fine, my BIL (17 years younger than me) was very young when he started K and cried every single day over little things. Even when I talked to him (K teacher in the room next door) he would get upset and cry. He struggled for about 2 years but now going into middle school I think is finally caught up to his peers. It won't hurt him in the long run, but I would rather my kids not have to "catch up" while they are still working on those emotional and social skills!

[stevensmom]

dd is September 11th...our cut off is August 31st. We could do the early enterance test for her...but again as a K teacher no way would I do that.

Now baby is due the end of August. Which I would most likely not go over the cut off date...but I'm still thinking about not starting them until they are 6.

Make them the leader of the class, not struggling.

and if need be we will "challenge" him at home to keep him interested in school (if we even need to).

[lemurmommies]

Our provincial laws don't allow red-shirting. If you want to hold your child out of school until they turn 6, that is fine. However, at 6 they will go into Grade 1. Here, JK starts the calendar year you turn 4 and SK the calendar year you turn 5.

I have a child with a late birthday (within 3 weeks of the cutoff) and I was very stressed about sending him to school. Truth is that he had a hard first year, not academically but socially. He is now in Grade 1 and doing excellently.

[jbug_4]

DD is late July and we went ahead. She was ready to go. She is one of the youngest in her class but not the youngest. You can tell though- when I look at the writing stuff they do- who are the younger kids vs the ones that are 6 or will turn 6 during the school year. But she is right on course. Now ds who has a b-day in Oct and will still meet the cut off will not start at 4 (turning 5 on Oct). Even if I didn't already know that boys need the extra time there is an obvious difference between him at 2 and dd at 2. he will be 5 when he starts but turning 6 a month after school starts. He will also start pre-school earlier (dd started at 4) because he is more outgoing and more independent then she was. He walks right into the class and sits down, doesn't care a wit where I am. Where as dd would never leave my side and wasn't comfortable with idea of school until 4. I readiness varies greatly from child to child.

[CarrieMF]

Cut off here is Dec 31. My oldest has a Nov 7 bday. We did not hold her back. Other than a short stint if her being intimidated in gym in grade 1 when she was in a 1/2 split class she hasn't had any issues she is in grade 9 and has an 85 average for this year so far. Science is pulling her down even though she is going into AP maths.

[myoo]

Having been a kindergarten teacher, I wholeheartedly support waiting an extra year for summer birthdays.

My niece is an end of July birthday, just a couple of days before the cutoff. SIL's plan is to have her do the private school kindergarten at her current daycare facility, then either have her go to public school kindergarten the next year or, if she does exceptionally well, go straight to public school 1st grade.

[1sttimemommy]

DS turns 5 June of this year. He's definitely going to K... He wants to go, and lord help me I want him to go DH is an elementary teacher and deals w/ k-8 and according to him DS is already doing 1st grade work. We're working on the listening aspect at the moment and the need for him to TELL me what he wants and not mime it (no idea WHY he does this, but it's a new thing and it's driving me a little nuts!!)... but that's really my only concern. He's learning to read and taught himself how to write (we worked on it together but he didn't want me to help he wanted to figure it out on his own.

[aries416]

I think I will go ahead and send her. She is in outside activities and does fine. She's always been on the immature side, but I really think that's just her personality. Another year might help build confidence, but it's not going to completely change her. I know she would be beyond crushed to see her preschool friends go on to K without her. We live in a small town and she's already in preschool at the k-6 school. She absolutely loves school! That is not the issue at all.

[ralenth]

I have a July child (now 4th grade). I debated long and hard about sending him. His preschool teacher told me he was ready, he did the kindy screening, and they also said he was ready (and we discussed that he could always repeat kindy, if we wanted), so we sent him. He was ready, he loves school, still, 4 years later. Our school is small, and his class sizes are small, and there are several boys with summer birthdays (his age and a few weeks to a month younger). For him, for us, it was a perfect decision. He's in with a great group of kids, and I honestly can't imagine him anywhere else.

[mamaerica]

DS's birthday is August 27th. He started Kindergarten literally when he was 5 years old and 1 day.

We were planning on waiting to start him, but I know my kid. He was ready. He was reading already, knew all numbers from 1-100, but more importantly, was (is) very mature for his age. He's now been in Kindergarten for 5 months and he's reading at a 2nd grade level and is a leader in his class. His teacher adores him and he is thriving. He has not had one single behavioral issue.

My last child's birthday is at the end of July. Will we start him when he's 5, or will we wait? We're not sure - we're open to either option. We'll evaluate whether or not we think he's ready when the time comes.