Fall Birthdays: When Did You Start 1st Grade?

[serinat]

My eldest will turn six in late October. We have been casually "doing kindergarten" (MFW-K + OPGTR) this school year. I say "casually" because we has our third baby in October, and it really caught me off guard with all of the difficulties of balancing three, such that we took two months largely off.

 

I'm trying to decide whether I should:

 

1.) plow ahead with MFW-K, with a goal of completeing it by x-date in order to start more formal 1st grade stuff in the fall, or

 

2.) take it leisurely, with a goal of completing the K stuff by next spring (2009) and start 1st grade next fall. I would obviously need to supplement K stuff next school year (08/09) as MFW-K is more fun than challenging for her, and we will finish it too early.

 

What would you do/have you done? She is ready for more challenging stuff, I think, but she's also young still. I don't want to make the mistake of pushing her too hard, or starting too young, just because she's the first and I'm excited. I wanted to hold off on kindergarten until this fall, but she practically begged me for school, so we started last fall instead. I wanted to give her the gift of more free play as a child rather than an early high school graduation. Why grow up too fast?

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Mama Lynx]

My son has a late September birthday. In Texas, where we used to live, the cutoff was September 1. Since he is also a child who needed a little more time before beginning academics, that worked well for us. I did not start considering him to be "1st grade" until he turned 7.

[chiguirre]

There are 2 different things to consider. First, for outside classes and activities, I think it's hard to go wrong just following your local school's age guidelines. For academics, just keep on keeping on at your dd's level. Since she's ahead of her formal grade, you can go slow if you need to, but try to keep moving forward in your curriculum. I have a 4.5 yo who's started Calvert K and we just do a bit everyday, usually about half an hour. I expect to finish Calvert K by the end of 2008 and then start 1st grade, but dd will be in K grade level activities no matter where we are academically.

[sassenach]

My ds turned 5 in late August and is very active. I've been debating the same thing you are because we're doing MFW K VERY slowly. We're in the middle of a move and it's just been so hard to keep pace. MFW K can be taught on so many levels, that I think what I'm going to do is just continue to slowly plug away. I think you would miss a lot of the fun and depth of the program if you try to rush it. I'm planning on supplementing for math and phonics. I love the way the science and bible all tie in together. I'm probably going to add ETC and singapore early bird.

 

If your dd is learning and still having fun, I'd just keep with it. jmho,

[K&Rs Mom]

Is there a reason (state reporting rules or whatever) that you have to choose a fall date to start? If MFW is going well, why not just finish it leisurely over the next few months, and start first grade after that? We school year-round, so obviously a different point of view than those who follow the "traditional" academic calendar.

 

As for when we started, I don't really know. K started Miquon math last summer, which is labeled as first grade, and we started WTM biology last fall, and SOTW 1 just this month. OTOH, she's still working in a speller labeled K-1 and we haven't started formal grammar yet at all. So are we currently doing 1st grade? Sort of.... :confused:

 

I know what you mean about not wanting to push. There was definitely some of that here too, and I spent last fall on GTG to push SOTW back a half-year. Now that we've started, it's going great and we're all enjoying it, though I can also see the benefits of waiting until she would be 6 (next August). One of the biggest drawbacks is her handwriting - she's still learning, and her perfectionist tendencies get me a rebellion when I want her to write for an assignment. But a lot of work can be done orally, and I'm adding in the requirements slowly.

[frogpond1]

he may have spurts ahead and times of regression. I didn't start first grade work when my child turned a certain age, but I did when he was ready. By about third or fourth grade you'll have an idea if you should call your child a grade older or not, but remember the logic stage starts in Jr. High and there is a certain amount of brain development there too that has to take place in order to do Jr. High level work. I'd just call him a first grader next fall, but let him work at an honors level. My first born is a Sept. 2nd bday- one day past cut off and he eventually worked up to be that grade higher student, but I wasn't completely certain of it until he began 7th grade. I can tell by his understanding and self-mangagement that he is placed correctly, but this I couldn't see when he was younger. I started SAT testing him at the higher age level around 5th grade and that is when I started to decide his real grade. I wanted to be sure that he was capable of more than just homeschool, but social interactions and classroom work at his grade level. My 4th son is a July 7th b-day and I think he is not mature enough to truely be a first grader right now, but I think by the time he is in 4th or 5th he may have bridged that immaturity gap. I just plug away at him at his level and watch for signs of maturity. With boys they come in such strange ways.

 

So, all that said, just enjoy your little kindergarten age boy doing first grade work and see where it takes him. It is nice to have a child working ahead of grade level, much nicer than fretting about him getting behind.

[Rhesa]

My dd (just turned 5 last month) could be in K this year. But I'm not prepared for her to be 1st next year! I have two issues:

 

1- I don't think she will be able to keep up with a 1st grade work level vs. K level

 

2-She thinks she's in 3rd grade. I can not get her to consider friendships with girls her age!

 

I have no answers, but I am commiserating with you. Hope you get some help!

[serinat]

Is there a reason (state reporting rules or whatever) that you have to choose a fall date to start?

In our current state, reporting rules are very strict. We may be moving before this fall, and since nothing's certain, I'm trying to keep with something resembling a traditional school year until we know where we'll be living.

[rafiki]

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[momofkhm]

Birthday is Oct 21. (Local cut-off is Oct 15) He started K in the fall right before he turned 5 (2005). Then we finished K early, like Feb or March(2006). I took a couple weeks off and then started 1st. When he finished 1st(summer break and then maybe Jan 2007?), we just went on with what the girls were doing- ECC. I added R&S spelling at the time. We continued to work on reading. Then that next fall 2007 he was officially in second grade. So far he;s doing fine!

[Myrtle]

My daughter would be considered a very young first grader or an older kindergartner depending on how I chose to enroll her. I choose to call her a first grader.

 

While she started off "behind" and slow since she's a very young first grader, I have no doubt she'll start making up lost ground since a rigorous curriculum and private tutoring lends itself to advancement over groups of kids in classrooms.

 

I do not select materials for her based on her grade, but rather based on her skills, needs, and knowledge. In other words, I work at her pace and I don't purposely plan to pace out a workbook until the end of the year when she's capable of working faster, nor do I plan on hurrying her through one either so with the goal of harmonizing her work with exactly the grade level printed on the material as well as with the public school academic year.

 

If I were to have her tested for my own purposes, I'd probably want to see how she's performing compared to other first graders rather than to other kindergartners.

[godpoetry]

Our cut-off date here is Sept.1st. but as a homeschooler we can do what ever we want. My oldest has a late Aug. birthday, my middle has a early Oct. birthday, my youngest has a early Sept. birthday. I started my oldest when he turned 5. I wished now that I had waited a year. My next child was reading at 4 so I started him at 4, but I had to hold him back this year due to now having learning disorder. My youngest is only 3 I will go ahead and wait before I start her. It is better to wait. My youngest is doing school now, but I will wait before I formally call it school. You can do school at any level you want, but keep them where they need to be age wise. Maturity does play a big factor in things, especially in boys.

[nukeswife]

and she just finished her K math but is still working at a K level for phonics. She does history and science with her 3rd grade brother but I require less.

 

Anyway when I had to report to the state I put her down as a Ker (here in VA we have to list grade level) because that's where she'd be had she been in PS. They wouldn't have let her start anything last year. I move her curriculum along as her pace dictates but for reporting purpose I stick with what grade the PS would consider them.

[momtolgd]

My oldest has an august birthday...the cutoff for the school district we lived in when he turned 5 was August 1st, so he wouldn't have gone to K until he was 6. But we went ahead and started K at 5. Now at 7 he is really doing a mix of 1st/2nd, although he calls himself a 2nd grader. We are working to have him completely in 3rd grade this fall, but if we don't get to that point it's no big deal.

 

DD's birthday is Oct. 22. We started K with her in September this past year when she was still 4. We will go ahead and start grade 1 this fall, before she turns 6. Anything she isn't ready for, I will push back and maybe start in January 2009.

 

One thing about Homeschooling that I love is the flexibility to work on your child's pace. If my kids were in public schools, they would be in 1st and PreK this year...but at home we consider them 2nd and K. The label really doesn't mean much at this young age though and our state doesn't really require that you label them in a grade.

 

I say just keep on keeping on at your dd's pace. :)

[Melora in NC]

My oldest has a July birthday, so when I started him in K, he had just turned 5. I sort of wish now that I had held him back, so that he would be older for his grade rather than younger. I think we would probably have had fewer problems with attention/maturity issues if I had. On the other hand, he would be a grade behind most of his friends, which might bother him.

[Amy C]

My son's birthday is at the end of November - he makes the grade cut-off in our state by a few days. After considering his maturity level, I listed him a year behind (he makes the cut off to be in second grade, but I have him listed as first grade). We have strict reporting requirements and this way he can work at his own level, with no pressure (i.e. 2nd grade math, 1st grade reading).

 

Amy C

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

My son doesn't have a fall birthday, but he turned 6 on January 1st. I suppose we'll still call him K for practical purposes (Sunday school, etc...), but we're working with him on the level he is at, which happens to be 1st grade. So we've started 1st grade math, grammar, history... I would just go with your daughter at her pace and call her whatever grade she would be at in public school.

[dragons in the flower bed]

I really am one of those know-what-your-kid-is-ready-for, do-the-next-thing hs'ers, believing the only reason to divide a childhood up into grade levels is to please the state. My perspective on this won't be much use to you if you're not in that camp.

 

The guideline states that children who will turn six on or before December 1st of that same school year must attend instruction. The law doesn't say the child must go into first grade -- it can be K, or 2nd.

 

Thus, my middle boy will have been six for a whole seven months already in September of 2009 when I officially register him as a kindergartener. He will have been homeschooling formally for two years already at that point, and if he continues at his current pace, he'll be doing second grade math.

 

Registering him as a K'er anyway has several advantages:

 

1. He will always ace the state-mandated standardized tests.

2. The laws are more lax for kids in the earlier grades.

3. He'll probably leave home for college when nearly nineteen rather than while still seventeen.

4. He'll be one of the more mature children in any grade level extracurricular class he might take.

5. He'll be able to drive in 9th grade, making my life way easier.

6. There's less risk of needing to tackle a subject (like algebra) for college-prep purposes before he's really intellectually mature enough to fully grasp it.

[Sherri in MI]

I started him early, but we ended up holding him back in 2nd grade. He was doing fine academically and he's perceptive and social beyond his years, but issues came with outside activities: church and sports and coop. We're a short family and when he was the youngest of his peers he wasn't as big or as developed skill wise. Plus we figured why were we rushing him out of our home and into college? In addition, we were concerned about issues that might arise when he goes through puberty and is with grade level peers in outside activities. He would've been the last in his "grade" to mature physically and get his driver's license etc. We can teach him at any level we want, but his official "grade" for outside activities is 3rd. We saw only advantages to holding him back on his official "grade". But we don't hold him back academically. We just advance through the material, when he's done, we go to the next grade.

 

If I had to do it over, I would have "officially" started him later rather than sooner and worked with him at home with a relaxed pace.

 

hth

Sherri in MI

[profmom]

I thought a lot about this when my oldest was K age. She was reading at a 2nd grade level at 4, which made it more difficult for me to decide. I ended up calling her the grade she'd be in ps, and I've been happy with that decision. I'm glad we'll have the extra year with her in the end! (She'll graduate at 18.) Thinking about whether or not I could guarantee that she'd be ahead of her age-mates in every subject every year helped.

 

Calling her the grade she'd be in ps, while letting her progress at her pace, has taken that pressure off. (I also tend to have her learn something more deeply rather than moving to the next level faster, if that makes sense.)

[OceanBreeze]

I have a Nov. boy. I could have put him in K this last fall, but chose not to. I am teaching him to read and may homeschool him for K next school year as well. Like profmom, I like the idea of going deeper rather than faster.

 

Every educator I've talked to has told me I've made a good decision. They sometimes mention it's an especially good decision considering he's a boy. I realize a homeschooled child won't have the same issues as a publicly-schooled child (such as having to sit for long periods of time), but I do think it's good to wait before we ask so much of them.

 

My son enjoys his lessons, but I don't feel pressured to complete them. As soon as he's done, we're done!

 

Jenelle