When do you start....

[tuzor]

When do start your child in Kindergarten? I am not sure if your child goes to ps do they start in K and then turn 5 or do they have to be five first. I am debating on when to start K for my middle son. Should I continue with pre school so to speak or start K with him where he is.

[bluemongoose]

I start when the child is ready, but no later than 6yo.

 

For my DD, that was 3yo. She was ready and actually begging me to start school with her.

 

For my DS it will be closer to 5.5 yo. He is turning 5 this month. We are working on some PreK stuff, but he is not ready yet for K.

[mchel210]

Public school here starts when you turn 5 before sept 1. I guess it depends on your child. My dd did K when she was 4 with no problem...she was a young 4 but very advanced. My baby started K when she was 4 but went back in public school a year later and they made her repeat K at 5.

[Ali in OR]

In Oregon you have to be 5 by September 1st. My youngest is a December birthday and has been tagging along with home school stuff since she was 2. But I didn't call her a kindergartener until the school year that she was 5 and 3/4. This makes her the same grade as her fellow soccer teammates, Sunday School classmates, etc. Her work is at an appropriate level for her abilities which is above her grade level for some subjects (ie doing 4th grade spelling in 3rd grade).

[PeacefulChaos]

When do start your child in Kindergarten? I am not sure if your child goes to ps do they start in K and then turn 5 or do they have to be five first. I am debating on when to start K for my middle son. Should I continue with pre school so to speak or start K with him where he is.

 

The public schools in our area start kindergarten for all children who are 5 by September 30th each year.

DS7 started at age 5.5, and DS6 would have just started this year since his bday is in November. He would have been one of the older ones in his class. So he's doing a lot of 1st grade level work at home, but some things are still K - particularly writing/reading/fine motor related stuff. DD's birthday is in May, so I'll start her in K when we start our new school year that July (still a few years away). ;)

[tuzor]

My plan was to do pre K with him this year then I realized if I did that he would not graduate until 19 1/2 :001_huh: That seems strange to me. But in our state you have to be 5 by September 1. I don't know why I thought I needed to wait another year.

[WeeBeaks]

Here it is 5 by Dec 1st for fall and that is being scaled back over the next few years - so Fall 2012 you have to be 5 by Nov 1st, then next year Oct 1st and then the following year Sept 1st for public school.

 

In my HS I look for reading and math readiness, fine motor control and attention span to judge. Based on those, I'll be doing my current 4yo for K in the fall (she has a Nov 1st b'day, right on the cutoff legally for PS). My 2nd child was a boy and I started him later. He was no where near where she is prior to K.

[tuzor]

Wow somehow this realization has me feeling behind now.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I have never started any of my children before they were 5. I have never regretted that decision.

[SunD]

Here you have to be 5 before Sept 1. There are some late-4yos in the class since they start in August.

 

Personally I would start whenever they are ready. If that's "early", what's the worst that could happen? They hit a plateau and you take a "break" with a fun unit study? They have more time for in-depth study? They're ahead? They get "further" in high school math? Being bored if they ever went to PS?

 

I'd be relatively comfortable with a 3, 4, 5, or 6yo K-er, but 7 would be pushing it if we're talking about a normally developing kid. In that case I would just skip K (lots of people used to do it) and go straight to 1st grade work in most subjects.

[twoxcell]

For PS around here dc are supposed to be 5 by Sept. 1st the year they start K. For my dd1 that would have made her close to 6 when she started, but we started 1 year early at age 4 almost 5. We are taking K-1 a bit slower and she will finish 1st grade next fall when she is newly 7.

[NanceXToo]

When do start your child in Kindergarten? I am not sure if your child goes to ps do they start in K and then turn 5 or do they have to be five first. I am debating on when to start K for my middle son. Should I continue with pre school so to speak or start K with him where he is.

 

The cutoff age varies per district and the child varies in regard to readiness. Not necessarily academic readiness, either!

 

I tried to start my son in Kindergarten a couple of months before he turned 5 (with a Waldorf-inspired, not particularly academic Kindergarten) and it was a disaster. If interested, you can check out my blog post/article entitled "A Kindergarten Dropout" lol:

 

http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/190076.html

 

We ended up totally "dropping" all formal attempts at Kindergarten and delaying it a year until this year, right before he turned 6 (which was when he would have started school officially due to his birthday and our district's cutoff date anyway), and it's been MUCH more successful and a more pleasant experience overall for both of us. I have no regrets about waiting. It was what he needed, and I needed to respect that. Sometimes, you just have to follow your child's cues.

[Chris in VA]

OP are you talking about your 3yo or your 7yo? I would think the 7yo would be first or second grade, and the 3yo in pre-preK.

Oh, DUH on me--I see you mean the 3yo.

 

Next fall he'd be prek age, then the next year, K age.

 

But you can do K work before he's officially in K, because you homeschool. ;)

[scrappyhappymama]

My first two sons have been very different.

 

The first was VERY ready for school at 4, with a June birthday. We did a pre-K year starting the summer after he turned four and then a K year starting the fall after he turned 5. He did fine at that pace, but we actually ended up taking a year and a half for first grade, due to family circumstances, and I don't mind because it means he won't graduate at 17. But he would have been fine and at some point he may accelerate ahead again if it suits him.

 

My second son's birthday is Oct 31st, and we started pre-K in the spring after his 4th birthday. He was not ready AT ALL, so we went back to the more casual preschool learning we'd been doing before. We waited until the following fall to do more formal pre-K, so he was 5 most of his pre-K year. Then we started K in the fall when he was 5, but he turned 6 in October. Now he is a 7 year old first grader and is doing very well at grade level. In some ways it feels weird that he is 7 and still just a beginning reader and just learning his math facts. But, I always remind myself that if he were in public school, he is exactly at the grade level he'd be there, because the cut-off for K is September 1st. Being a "year behind" fits his personality better as well, because his personality is such that he becomes easily discouraged when he encounters work that feels too hard. So now, doing math which he declares to be "so easy mama!" is very good for building his confidence.

 

If my first son's birthday had fallen in October, or otherwise shortly after the public school cut-off, I have no doubt that we would have started a year "early." It is one of the biggest blessings of homeschooling- being able to tailor our timing to the needs of our particular children, and not arbitrary cut off dates. I think it is important not to compare our children to children in other families, and sometimes not even within the same family. My second son is bright and doing well in school, but personality-wise he most definitely fell into the "better late than early" camp. If I had felt compelled to push him at the same pace as his brother, I believe I would have been doing him a great disservice.

 

If your four year old is showing signs of being ready for a little more formal schooling, there's no harm in trying. It gives you plenty of cushion for taking more time if you need it, or providing him with an adequately stimulating environment if he craves it. Either way, as long as you are willing to be flexible, I think you'll be fine. No need to feel behind anyone else here.

[mom2scouts]

Our public schools require a child to be 5 by August 1st of the year they start K. School starts at the end of August, so all K students are at least 5 years old when they start. I choose to keep my children with their same age peers, so we will be starting K next year although she'll turn 6 in October. With homeschooling, she can work at any level so it doesn't matter much anyway.

[ScoutTN]

Here PS allows them to turn 5 as late as October. Private schools have deadlines ranging from April to August.

 

We started DD on K work the fall after she turned 5 in June. Will do the same with DS, but redshirting him out in the world. (church, activities etc.) We'll go slower with him because I'm not sure if he's really ready. We do a very basic K: math, phonics, handwriting and lots of playing and exploring.

Edited January 4, 2012 by ScoutTN

[tuzor]

So after I contacted one of my hs bestie mom friends she helped me see that my panic was not needed. I was having a "moment" and it was a major moment at that. My plan initial plan to start pre K next school year is correct and the following year we will start K with him. Whew! I don't know what I was thinking earlier today so please excuse orginal post. Just another brief insanity moments I am back now. :smilielol5: