Kindergarten Age

[pamela&claire]

What age did you (will you be) starting kindergarten? I think what throws me off is the here in Ontario we have Junior Kindergarten but I think it's more of an advanced preschool (others from Canada/Ontario please chime in).

If we go by this DD will be 3 going on 4 which I think seems young for some of the kindergarten material I'm seeing. Then Senior Kindergarten she would be 4 going on 5 which is more age appropriate for the curric. that I'm seeing.

So, I think I'm going to do a preschool year for the age she would be for JK and then do a regular kindergarten for SK. Does that sound right? When I hear kindergarten I think JK but I think I'm going to have to adjust my thinking to a year older.

That's sound reasonable, right?

 

ETA: The cut off date is December 31st so they go to JK the year they turn four and then SK the year they turn five. DD has a September birthday so I think that's why it seems so young.

Edited July 6, 2011 by pamela&claire

[Wheres Toto]

My son has a late August birthday and the schools did not want him until he was 6 (they were familiar with him from a year of Early Intervention). Our kindergarten cut-offs vary but usually they need to be 5 by October 1st or December 1st. Most people I know with kids with Summer or Fall birthdays hold them back a year. Most kindergarteners are 5 or 6 years old.

[8filltheheart]

What age did you (will you be) starting kindergarten? I think what throws me off is the here in Ontario we have Junior Kindergarten but I think it's more of an advanced preschool (others from Canada/Ontario please chime in).

If we go by this DD will be 3 going on 4 which I think seems young for some of the kindergarten material I'm seeing. Then Senior Kindergarten she would be 4 going on 5 which is more age appropriate for the curric. that I'm seeing.

So, I think I'm going to do a preschool year for the age she would be for JK and then do a regular kindergarten for SK. Does that sound right? When I hear kindergarten I think JK but I think I'm going to have to adjust my thinking to a year older.

That's sound reasonable, right?

 

In the States, K is typically 5 going on 6. Every state has different cut-off dates, The states we have lived in have ranged from 5 by Sept. 1 to 5 by Oct. 15.

[abbeyej]

Most US states have cut-offs roughly around the time school starts (summer to early fall), so children begin K at age 5. Holding kids (especially boys) with summer or early fall birthdays "back" so that they begin K at age 6 (or nearly six) has become very common though. There are still a few places where kids can start K before they turn 5, but it's becoming more and more rare for kids to do that.

 

Generally, K is assumed to be 5 years old.

[FairProspects]

In the States, K is typically 5 going on 6. Every state has different cut-off dates, The states we have lived in have ranged from 5 by Sept. 1 to 5 by Oct. 15.

:iagree:States are moving earlier with cut-off dates due to their own standardized testing. Most states now have a cut-off of 5 by Sept.1 and some are moving even earlier into the summer. In practice though, most K'ers here are 6 or turning 6 shortly after the school year starts.

 

Ds #2 turns 5 in Nov. and misses the cut-off for K here.

[LMD]

Here (in Australia, in my state) the first year of school age cut off is 5y/o by the 3rd month in school. So they must turn 5 within the first term basically. Most kids are already 5, turning 6 that school year. Some are 4 when they start, but turning 5 within a few months.

 

In Aus the school year runs Jan-Dec. My DD turns 6 this week, 2011 would have been her first year of school.

[boscopup]

My nephew was in JK in Ontario last school year. He was 4. :)

 

Homeschool curriculum labeled "K" is aimed at 5 year olds. My state has a Sept. 1 cutoff. School usually starts the 2nd week of August, so kids are 5 or VERY soon to be 5 when they start, unless they were redshirted, and then they might be 6 (very common). My middle son has a Nov. birthday, so he'll be "K" the fall of 2012. Since we're homeschooling, that doesn't really matter though. He's doing K materials now, and will do first grade materials when he's ready for them (probably starting his "K" year or halfway through his "K" year).

[chicagoshannon]

We're starting K at 4. If she were to go to public school she'd start at 5 with the cutoff being Sept. 1.

[Ellie]

If I had to put a grade-level label on my dc, it would be whatever the state establishes by its cut-off date.

 

My dds bdays are in May. They would have been in kindergarten in September following their fifth bday.

 

Mr. Ellie's bday is Sept. 7. In Texas, where the cut-off date is September 1, he would have started school at 5, and had his 6th bday right after that. In California, where the cut-off date is December 2, he started kindergarten when he was 4yo and turned 5 after school started.

 

As homeschoolers, grade level is irrelevant as far as any actual teaching. We teach our dc according to their ability and interests. We only pay attention to those grade-level groupings for the sake of Sunday school and grandparents, although we need to know what the homeschool and compulsory education laws are so we can comply with them properly

[RoundAbout]

I go by the state cut-off date which puts him starting K in Sept. 2012 at age 5.75

 

My plan is to teach to his ability regardless of grade, but I will label according to state norms in case I ever have to put him in school.

[chepyl]

Our state cut off is 5 by Sept 1st. My son's birthday is Sept 23rd. We started Kindergarten when he was 4, he turned 5 in the first month. He was more than ready for everything we did. I did not use a set curriculum, however. I just pulled a bunch of workbooks together and worked at his pace. That turned out to be much faster than an kindergarten curriculum would have been. I am so glad I was more free with everything last year. I was really able to evaluate his level in each subject (reading, math, spelling, comprehension, etc) and pick the best fit curriculum for each area for first grade.

 

I felt like last year was an experiment to see if I could homeschool, if I messed up and we learned nothing, he would just to kindergarten at PS the next year. Just get some cheap workbooks from the store and get a reading program like 100 Easy Lessons and go from there. I used the science, history, and lit from What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know and supplemented from the library. Once you start working on a workbook you can judge if it is too easy or too hard, then go get the next level up or down. It is a lot cheaper to do that with $1-5 workbooks than a $100+ worth of curriculum materials.

[MeganW]

I think what most of us here call kindergarten is what you are calling "senior kindergarten" or perhaps we are even referring to something more advanced than your senior kindergarten.

 

Here in SC, the official cutoff to begin kindergarten is age 5 by Sept 1. In reality, though, most summer birthdays wait a year. So those who were born before maybe 6/06 will start kindergarten in the fall of 2011.

 

Those born between 06/2006 and 06/07 would start kindergarten in the fall of 2012.

 

Those born between 06/2007 and 06/08 would start kindergarten in the fall of 2013.

 

Given that your DD has a Sept birthday, if she was going to public school, she would be eligible to start kindergarten right after she turned 5, but in actuality (here anyway) she would probably start just after her 6th birthday.

Edited July 6, 2011 by MeganW

[MeaganS]

Our Kindergarten cut-off is August first, and my daughter misses it by a few days, so in school, she'd be almost 6 when she started Kindergarten. I always figured we'd start pre-k at 4 and kindergarten at 5 at home, but with this daughter, I think I may wait a year or so, which would put her right on target with the schools anyways.

[Carpe]

The year before grade 1 is kindergarten.

 

I always thought Ontario was weird (no offense :) ) Did JK start the year they abolished grade 13?

[Guest IdahoMtnMom]

Our cutoff in Idaho is 4 by September 1st for Pre-K (like jr. kindergarten) and 5 by September 1st for K. My kids are 3 and 4 and we will be doing a pre-k program with extras for the older kiddo.

[nov05mama]

My DS, if attending public school, would just be entering K this fall...he will be 6 in November. We actually started Kindergarten last year in August when he was nearly 5, so we are starting "First Grade" with him being 5 (going on 6). I figured it was just easier to keep him with age...(4 = PreK, 5 = K, 6 = 1st and so on for us...)

[pamela&claire]

My son's birthday is Sept 23rd. We started Kindergarten when he was 4, he turned 5 in the first month.

 

I felt like last year was an experiment to see if I could homeschool, if I messed up and we learned nothing, he would just to kindergarten at PS the next year. Just get some cheap workbooks from the store and get a reading program like 100 Easy Lessons and go from there. I used the science, history, and lit from What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know and supplemented from the library. Once you start working on a workbook you can judge if it is too easy or too hard, then go get the next level up or down. It is a lot cheaper to do that with $1-5 workbooks than a $100+ worth of curriculum materials.

 

September 23rd is my DD's birthday too!! I think that's a pretty good plan and I'll probably do something similar.

[pamela&claire]

 

As homeschoolers, grade level is irrelevant as far as any actual teaching. We teach our dc according to their ability and interests. We only pay attention to those grade-level groupings for the sake of Sunday school and grandparents, although we need to know what the homeschool and compulsory education laws are so we can comply with them properly

 

:iagree: and plan to do this. I guess I'm still new at this homeschooling thing and still going through a paradigm shift in my thinking, I know I get there though.

I know I'm glad I live in Ontario as far as homeschooling since it seems to be very easy to please the government here (at least that's the impression I get from others)

[pamela&claire]

The year before grade 1 is kindergarten.

 

I always thought Ontario was weird (no offense :) ) Did JK start the year they abolished grade 13?

 

No offense taken. :001_smile:

No, JK has been in place way before grade 13 was abolished so really children were going to formal school for 15 years before they took grade 13 out. I don't really think there is a need for JK and they've now started full day kindergarten and it's one of the reasons I started looking into homeschooling. I didn't think she needed to be there all day, especially when I'm at home. They say it will be play based. She can play at home and in the backyard, thank you very much. :001_smile:

[blondeviolin]

My son has a late Oct birthday. If he were to be PSed he would be very nearly 6 before attending K. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if he was ready for K next year (at 4, nearly 5).

[tkdkidsmom]

Here we have a Sept 1 cut off for kindergarten. My dd has a February birthday. We will officially start K in August, and she will be 5 1/2.

[chepyl]

:iagree: and plan to do this. I guess I'm still new at this homeschooling thing and still going through a paradigm shift in my thinking, I know I get there though.

I know I'm glad I live in Ontario as far as homeschooling since it seems to be very easy to please the government here (at least that's the impression I get from others)

 

 

It took me most of the year to get over my fear of messing up; but I just thought that if I messed it up, we hadn't really lost any time. He would be starting Kindergarten in PS this year and we are on to 1st grade in everything but math (singapore 2a and b) and reading (3rd-4th grade level) - so I guess our haphazard experiment of a year went well :)

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

My dc were all 5 turning 6 in their K year

[Pamela H in Texas]

Most kids are 5 and turn 6 within the year they do Kindergarten unless they have a summer birthday. For kids with a summer birthday, there is a tendency to wait until they year they are 6, but some do start just after turning 5.

 

Anyway, a child with a Sept bday is a special animal due to cutoff dates though. Many states would allow the child to go ahead and start and many others wouldn't.

 

The good thing is that grade levels just don't matter when homeschooling. I wish I hadn't tried to guess what grade level to call my kids when they were in elementary school. Seriously, it doesn't matter. Around 7th or 8th grade, pick a grade level. By then you'll know if they are ahead, behind, average-ish. My kid who seemed significantly behind at 6 and 10 will graduate at 17. My kid who was so significantly advanced at 6 and 10 didn't require full time college at 12.

[Dinsfamily]

My dc were all 5 turning 6 in their K year

 

Same here. I do customize their materials to their individual levels but they don't start formal schoolwork until they are 5.

[Soror]

Here cutoff is Aug 1st, ds has a July 30 bd, so he could have went at just turned 5 or just turned 6. We started school at just turned 5 but he wasn't ready for K level yet. So, this year has been his K year, although in some ways he is certainly on a 1st level. Dd1 I think I will start K level at 5y4mo, she will be doing pK this year she is about a year or so ahead of him.

[Julie Smith]

The year before grade 1 is kindergarten.

 

I always thought Ontario was weird (no offense :) ) Did JK start the year they abolished grade 13?

 

No, it started before that.

 

Jk is basically how the government offers free childcare. It is also very common for french schools to have it, to get the English students use to French.

[Mimm]

My oldest was five. She went to a school that had half day preschool and she went there when she was four. Her birthday is in April so she was one of the youngest in her class. My youngest daughter's birthday is in October so she didn't miss the cutoff by much. I asked them to allow her in early and they agreed but said she'd have to do preschool twice so that she would be five at the start of kindergarten and not a couple months short of five. I didn't see the point in that so we waited. Part of me wishes we were homeschooling back then (even though it really didn't fit in with our lives at all) because I know she was ready and even now she works ahead of her grade.

[NanceXToo]

I will be starting Kindergarten with my son in September. He will turn 6 in November.

[historically accurate]

My oldest's birthday is in Feb. She was 5 when she officially started Kindergarten, although she was on about a 2nd grade/3rd grade level for most things at that time. (She is still accelerated for everything except writing/spelling). My middle's birthday is late July; she will start K this year when she is 6. We "held her back" because she is speech delayed, and she has some physical delays. About January or February, I saw a huge leap in her desire for academic things, and I started working more with her. She is starting K doing late K/1st grade work. My youngest's birthday is in March and she will start next year when she is 5 years old. Jury's still out on whether she'll be on target for K level work -- some things I can see her picking up over the next year, others maybe not so much. :tongue_smilie:

 

We use the ps's age cutoffs for official grade levels, although so far neither of my school age children will be doing a full K level program at age 5 or 6.

[Guest]

We start K and file with the state when they are 5 and turning 6. That doesn't necessarily mean that they are doing K levels of work, though. Both my kids b-days are in April.