Anyone wait with Kindergarten until 6 if child has a summer birthday?

[Jennifer WI]

Just wondering. I had a discussion about this with someone and was curious what you all think about having a child with a June/July/August birthday wait another year to officially start kindergarten, or if you've done it or known anyone who has gone that route. Thanks!

[Snickerdoodle]

Check out the massive redshirting thread over at the afterschooling forum.

[Jennifer in MI]

We waited on my now-12 yo. His birthday is August 6. My reasons were that IF he were behind, we'd be really happy we waited. If he were ahead, we could always jump him ahead a grade. Much easier to do that than hold him back a year later.

 

Ends up it was a great decision! He was my late reader and writer. This way, it was second grade before he was reading instead of third. He is currently 12 and just starting 6th grade.

[Happy]

My youngest's birthday is August 5th. In those days the local public school was experimenting with a new schedule and school began the first week of August. He literally would have been four one day, five the next, and in kindergarten the next. Ummmm, no.

 

In addition, we had just survived the year from hell. I kept him home. He turned six on his first day of kindy.

 

In addition, I liked that he was one of the olders in his class and on sports teams. It meant he was driving instead of riding with other people. The only time it was sort of weird was when a few of his (now homeschooling) friends graduated the year before him, because they were his age or a few months younger. He had the choice to graduate with them or continue on and he made that choice.

 

Especially when it comes to boys and kindergarten public school, I choose wait every time.

[Trilliums]

We waited with my oldest son whose birthday is late September (within 2 days of the cut off where we were living at that time--since then they have actually moved up the cut off date). When he was younger this worked out very well. He was definitely a late bloomer. Now that he is in 10th grade, I kind of wish we could jump him up a year. OK, actually I still have mixed feelings about it. :lol::lol:

 

The thought of him going off to college in only 2 more years terrifies me. The though of him going off to college in 3 more years only slightly terrifies me. SO, overall I would have to say I am glad he held back a year. His plan is to start taking classes full time at our local U in grade 11 as a high schooler.

 

Other DS has June Bday, so he is on the young side, but not terribly so. I think he is in a pretty good place for his abilities and it did not occur to me to hold him back a year at all. But he was an early reader and acadmeics in general have been smoother for him. He is in grade 9 and definitely ready for high school level work.

[marbel]

I am not sure we ever officially did kindergarten, but when I had to register my son as a homeschooler for the first time, he was registered as a first grader at age 7 (mandatory age) He has a late-June birthday, so, he is "legally" one year "behind." I've just kept his legal status the same as we went along, regardless of what level of work we were/are doing.

 

I just don't see it mattering that much. Your child just works at his own level anyway. My kids always were all over the place, depending on the subject.

[Upward Journey]

I have two boys with late summer birthdays, and I waited until age 6 to start kindergarten with both of them. For us it was the right decision and they are thriving. I wish that I had waited with my oldest as well, even though he was a March baby. It would have saved a lot of the tears and frustration that we experienced that first year. At this point, after 5 kids, I'm firmly in the 6 is better than 5 camp. That said, I still had one that started at age 4 because she was just that ready. She was already reading, had very good pencil control, and was very mature socially.

[tiffanieh]

My youngest has a birthday on August 18th, had we traditionally schooled him we had every intention of giving him another year of maturity before starting him in Kindergarten. Because we homeschooled, we went ahead and started him right at 5. He did fine, however, k only takes 1-2 hours tops at home. The next year he started 1st grade and did just fine, again ..only takes about 2-3 hours to do 1st. 2nd grade he schooled at home and in January we decided to enroll him in a prestigious private school in the area. He really wanted to go, but I was REALLy nervous with the 8-3 schedule, plus the fact they had very different WRITING expectations then what we follow in the early elementary years. We agreed, as long as he went in as a 1st grader, not a 2nd grader. He agreed to it.

 

He completed that 1/2 year just fine there, but we have subsequently come back home and we continue on with his adjusted "grade" he is now in, technically one year back from what he could be age wise.

 

Do I regret any of it. NO! A resounding NO! He should of really been held back anyways. There's no longer a feeling of trying to catch up to what the typical standards he should be reaching. Because he was young, and at home, while I pushed him academically, I also was softer on him simply because we did go ahead in Kindergarten vs. giving him that grace year.

 

Now I know he is right where he needs to be, I know what skills he needs to achieve each year. There is no way he'd be ready for 4th grade work this year...he's in 3rd and I'm so very thankful we did that!

[athena1277]

I debated with myself about red-shirting ds this year. He turned 5 at the end of June and we start our school year in July. Dh was very against it because he was red-shirted himself and feels it was not a good thing. Ds also is in speech therapy through the local ps system and they would not let him continue to have services at age 5 unless he was enrolled in K (we have to notify the county each year that we will be homeschooling).

 

I went ahead and started him this year. I was really panicking at the beginning, especially over teaching him to read. In 8 weeks of school I have seen him progress a lot. His is learning to write better than I expected and is excelling at math (he's always liked numbers/counting). He still struggles a bit with the reading lessons, but I can see where he is starting to understand how to put sounds together.

 

I know he would fly through K if we red-shirted him. Ideally, he would have started in Jan, at 5.5yo, but that's not really a choice. I'm going at his pace and that's the best thing, whether he's red-shirted or not.

[ktgrok]

We waited on my now-12 yo. His birthday is August 6. My reasons were that IF he were behind, we'd be really happy we waited. If he were ahead, we could always jump him ahead a grade. Much easier to do that than hold him back a year later.

 

Ends up it was a great decision! He was my late reader and writer. This way, it was second grade before he was reading instead of third. He is currently 12 and just starting 6th grade.

 

:iagree:

 

Same here, and same thing, where he was a late reader. Worked out really well.

[TravelingChris]

My dd has a nmid August birthday and she graduated as a 17yo so no we did not redshirt. She has done very well and in fact, better than most kids in her grade, including now at college.

[Unicorn.]

I did w/ all 3 of mine. Don't regret it for a second.

[SnowWhite]

My now-third grader has a late Sept. birthday. I did a "light K" with him when he was five, thinking we could count it as preschool and do a tougher K program the next year. He fooled me by learning to read by Christmas. My only regret is that he is a late-bloomer in his handwriting. He didn't struggle early on but the heavier third grade load is hard for him. I debate over whether I would put him in second grade or third if he were to need to attend brick and mortar school for some reason.

[gingersmom]

My sons birthday is September 7th and he had only begun speaking the year before (serious speech delay). There was no way I was going to have him be the youngest in his class.

 

I have never for one second regretted holding him back.

 

My daughter started kindergarten when she was 5. It turned out to be a horrible mistake (realized years later) and when she was home schooled (7th and 8th grade) I had her repeat 7th grade. My daughter also hated being the youngest (by almost a year). When they hit middle school you really can tell the difference.

 

It is extremely common in my town to hold back boys a year before starting kindergarten.

[katilac]

July and August birthdays, and they started at 5; no problems - although I do sometimes think of how dang smart they would appear if they were an entire grade lower, lol!

[Soror]

We waited on my now-12 yo. His birthday is August 6. My reasons were that IF he were behind, we'd be really happy we waited. If he were ahead, we could always jump him ahead a grade. Much easier to do that than hold him back a year later.

 

Ends up it was a great decision! He was my late reader and writer. This way, it was second grade before he was reading instead of third. He is currently 12 and just starting 6th grade.

Same here. We followed what is the norm for our area, which is good as he is in with same age peers in outside activities. At home we work at his level at each subject and will continue to do so.

 

OP be warned usually such posts bring on many posts of the horrors of waiting.

[kaylk in tx]

We waited on my now-12 yo. His birthday is August 6. My reasons were that IF he were behind, we'd be really happy we waited. If he were ahead, we could always jump him ahead a grade. Much easier to do that than hold him back a year later.

 

Ends up it was a great decision! He was my late reader and writer. This way, it was second grade before he was reading instead of third. He is currently 12 and just starting 6th grade.

 

:iagree: Exactly the situation here except that we knew ours had a language delay (at age 5, he tested at 2.5 - 3 year old) and ds's birthday is july 26.

[LisaKinVA]

It's not the birthday, it's the child. Each child is different.

 

One cannot make decisions for your child solely based upon one's past experiences, and how one felt in a similar situation. You meet each child where he is academically, socially, emotionally, and physically, and keep his needs, personality, etc. at the forefront. If you're doing that, that is the absolute best thing you can do.

 

If you live in a state in which you have to declare, go with your gut. You can always move them ahead later. If you don't live in a state where you must declare, don't worry about it.

 

I have three summer birthdays, two July, one late August. They are all "held back" on paper for slightly different reasons. I have no regrets at this point. My oldest is in 7th now, my youngest of those three is in K this year. If their personalities magically change, and they are ready to graduate and move on at 17, fine...but so far, no regrets.

 

With my oldest two, I waited to make that decision... I ignored that gut feeling, and the K readiness testing. I had no hesitations with my youngest, I still don't. My middle child may surprise me, and he is welcome to. Right now, however, he chooses friends who are younger, and if you watched him play, and interact with others you would swear he was 6 or 7, NOT 9. There is nothing wrong with him, he is simply very immature. If you are speaking to him (or listening to him speak in public, as he has been known to do), you would not think him immature, you would be incredibly impressed.

 

Now, if my summer birthdays were anything like my oldest dd (10), it would have been very wrong to hold them back. She is driven, determined, and likes a challenge. She would be that way regardless of her birthday. It's who she is.

[EKS]

I did not, and I'm glad I didn't. And this is with a kid who has dyslexia and ADHD.

[Susan in TN]

Just wondering. I had a discussion about this with someone and was curious what you all think about having a child with a June/July/August birthday wait another year to officially start kindergarten, or if you've done it or known anyone who has gone that route. Thanks!

 

With my first two (summer birthdays) we waited until they were 6. Most people we know and some family members thought we were wierd and asked if something was "wrong" with them. It was a good decision for them - they were both reading fairly well by the start of 1st grade and could do their math and English lessons without much difficulty - it felt like learning, not struggle.

 

My 2nd to youngest started K when she just turned 5 so I could (ideally) have her do more lessons with her older brother. It hasn't worked out. She's not anywhere near our usual 1st grade pace. I'll keep her where she is for now, though, hoping that she'll "catch up" and will actually be able to do more subjects with her older brother. We can make adjustments later if we need to.

 

I think our family just has late starters. Dh and I were both late bloomers, so to speak. Dh started K when he was 4yo (Oct. birthday) and started college when he was 17. It really showed in his maturity level or lack thereof (although I didn't know him then - probably would never have considered marrying him if I had ;).)

Edited September 16, 2012 by Susan in TN

[welovetoread]

My daughter just turned 6 on August 8th. I attempted "kindergarten" with her last year and it was a disaster. well, not completely, but she was nowhere ready to learn to read etc. I waited until 6 with the others, so was no exception. This year we are doing a virtual school and I kept her in kindy. Very happy I did. I will lkely do the same with my now 1 year old, his birthday is middle of July

[Jen in PA]

When my stepson was in preschool, his classmates' birthdays ranged from July to November. Only two students from that class waited to start K -- one was the son of a teacher (August birthday, she recognized that her son was not as mature as his older sibling had been when entering K) and my stepson, whose birthday is mid-September, but his mom's district allowed no exceptions to a Sept. 1st cut-off. His classmates who turned 5 in October and November of that year all thrived in kindergarten and many are now in magnet high schools, the local youth symphony (highly competitive), and fared very well in writing, math, and chess championships with kids a full year older.

 

My own kids, who both have summer birthdays, started kindergarten at age 4 and have done really well -- although previous posters have made good points about issues such as handwriting that tend to plague students who are young for their grade. They have had no issues with academics, academic competitions, standardized testing, or fitting in with outside classes with kids who may be a full year older than they are.

 

I have no issue with choosing to retain a child who is not ready, but I did want you to know that choosing to move forward can be successful.

[Jennifer WI]

Thanks for all of your honest replies. I appreciate it. I gather that there really is no correct way of doing it. Parents just need to decide what is best for their child. By the time these kids are 20 they won't be thinking about whether or not it mattered that they started school when they were 5 or 6. It's really about individualized education. Thank the Lord for the freedom to parent our children!

[Ellie]

My bday is in July. I'm SO thankful that no one thought I was "young" for entering school. I would have hated being a year older--or more--than most of the other children all through school.

[magnificent_baby]

Yes, and I don't regret it at all.

 

It is very common where I live, and I had no idea it was even controversial until reading this board. :confused:

[higginszoo]

It's very common around here.

 

For my dc, it never seemed to make sense, as academically, they were already MORE than ready for K.

 

It did play a factor in my dd deciding not to accelerate when offered the option. She's 5 weeks from the young side of the cutoff, and there are many dc who are 3-4 mo older than the cutoff around here, meaning that if she had taken the offer to skip, she would have been more than 2 years younger than some classmates.

[Mom28kds]

My DS just turned 6 on Sept. 12. and started K this year. Not quite summer baby but close.

[Mama2Many4]

My DD is turning 4 next month and she's starting Kindergarten with me on Monday. If the child is ready for the material, there's no reason to wait.

[bethben]

I have a friend who does this very thing with all her kids who have summer birthdays. She says it's always easier to graduate a child earlier, but harder to hold them back another year if they're not ready. In our state, you can go to college during high school (paid for by the state), so having a senior in high school who has "graduated" your homeschool makes a lot of sense. We are calling my 5 year old's school year junior kindergarten even though she was born in late May. She'll do two years of kindergarten (which is all semantics anyway- she'll work at her level, just wait to tell everyone another year that she's in kindergarten).

 

Beth

[hsmomof2boys]

We waited with our boys, and it really helped mature them. They appreciate that extra year. Our daughter had a January birthday, so she started on time, and that worked for her. I will always recommend waiting if they have late birthdays.

[magnificent_baby]

Yes, and I don't regret it at all.

 

It is very common where I live, and I had no idea it was even controversial until reading this board. :confused:

 

Quoting instead of editing, can't get the cursor to work.

 

Wanted to add that our kids started off in ps, not hs'ing. That is a whole different dynamic, which affected our decision. If we were hs'ing, I would have started him in K at age 5.

[lulubelle]

We held my July ds and my April ds. Each had specific reasons to hold them back. My July ds had some social issues and my April ds had some academic issues. My dd is Sept., so she misses it anyway. But, I really don't see any reason to push forward. None of them excelled early to seem to warrant going ahead.

[chepyl]

It depends on the child. DS has a b-day next week. We started kindy when he was 4, he turned 5 three weeks into school. But, he was reading and doing basic addition and subtraction already. DD will be 5 in February. She will start kindy in august of next year. She is not ready to read yet and her handwriting is no where near wherr DS's was at this age. We are still working on counting to 20, and she is starting to play with numbers some. Two totally different kids. If dd was a summer b-day, I might hold her back. She is more artsy than.booky.

[snowbeltmom]

The cut-offs vary quite a bit in my area. The range is from the end of March to the end of September. Both of my boys have late summer birthdays, but missed the cut-off at the school they attended.

 

The school moved my oldest up to the next grade level and we maintained that grade level on paper when we began homeschooling. If I had to do it over again, I would have moved him back with his age peers on paper when we began homeschooling. Here are the issues that we faced. Some of them may not seem important as adults, but they were important to my son. The other issue I considered important enough that we decided to "red-shirt" my son in the middle of the school year as a high schooler:

 

1. He was never on the same sports team as kids his own age. Kids in our area with summer birthdays are 6 when they begin K. The community sports leagues determine the teams based on grade level not age. My son was always the youngest on the team. In some cases, kids were up to 16 months older.

 

2. My son enjoyed competing in Mathcounts. Athough age-wise he could have competed another year, grade wise he was not eligible to compete.

 

3. In addition to sports, my son encountered an academic situation last year. He wanted to apply for the opportunity to conduct research the last two years of high school. He had a very strong resume, and I am confident that he would have been selected for this program. In order to apply to the program the student had to meet the following criteria:

He had to be a rising junior and he needed to be 16 years old by the end of June. Because my son was not old enough, he was not eligible to apply. This opportunity is important to my son. Since we are homeschooling, and never had to officially report a grade level, we moved him back a grade level on paper so he can apply to the program at the end of this school year. He will now graduate at 18. We are all very happy with this decision.

[MedicMom]

My son's birthday is May 26 and we will be starting the year he turns 4, if I can hold him off that long. I have no idea what kindergarten will actually look like for us, because he is already teaching himself to read.

 

My daughter was born May 30. We will start whenever she is ready, whether it is four, five or six. Their birthdays give me options. My mom started me a year late and it was terrible. I was six and had already been reading for two years. I hated being the oldest in my grade, even though I was homeschooled. I was always working one to two years ahead. It would have been better just to change my official grade and graduate early.

Edited September 16, 2012 by MedicMom

[FairProspects]

3. In addition to sports, my son encountered an academic situation last year. He wanted to apply for the opportunity to conduct research the last two years of high school. He had a very strong resume, and I am confident that he would have been selected for this program. In order to apply to the program the student had to meet the following criteria:

He had to be a rising junior and he needed to be 16 years old by the end of June. Because my son was not old enough, he was not eligible to apply. This opportunity is important to my son. Since we are homeschooling, and never had to officially report a grade level, we moved him back a grade level on paper so he can apply to the program at the end of this school year. He will now graduate at 18. We are all very happy with this decision.

 

See this is the kind of thing that makes me nuts and keeps me awake at night.

 

With a bright kid with a late summer birthday, I go back and forth daily as to his grade placement. Right now, there are much better opportunities with placement in the older grade, but as he progresses, he wouldn't be old enough for MathPath and opportunities like the one above with that placement.

 

It really causes a dilemma for parents of these kids when the school district cutoff and program cutoffs are conflicting.

[linders]

Waited on my DS12 (starting 6th) who has a late July bday. Had nothing to do with academics (he was reading at 5), had everything to do with maturity and attention span. Absolutely the best decision for him and still is.

[snowbeltmom]

See this is the kind of thing that makes me nuts and keeps me awake at night.

 

With a bright kid with a late summer birthday, I go back and forth daily as to his grade placement. Right now, there are much better opportunities with placement in the older grade, but as he progresses, he wouldn't be old enough for MathPath and opportunities like the one above with that placement.

 

It really causes a dilemma for parents of these kids when the school district cutoff and program cutoffs are conflicting.

 

I think this is especially relevant if you have a child (as I do) who plans to apply to highly selective colleges. In my son's case, a program that he will be applying to expects the applicants to have research experience. Had we kept him at his current grade level, his chances of being accepted into this program would have been close to zero. (I am not saying that he will get into this program by any stretch, simply that now he will have the necessary credentials to apply and have a shot at acceptance.)

 

 

I do think that this issue is a bigger dilemma for kids that are in a traditional school setting. Even though we "held my son back" on paper, we are definitley not holding him back educationally. That is one of the benefits of homeschooling. (which I sometimes have to remind myself of on those days that the kids are driving me crazy.)

[FairProspects]

I think this is especially relevant if you have a child (as I do) who plans to apply to highly selective colleges. In my son's case, a program that he will be applying to expects the applicants to have research experience. Had we kept him at his current grade level, his chances of being accepted into this program would have been close to zero. (I am not saying that he will get into this program by any stretch, simply that now he will have the necessary credentials to apply and have a shot at acceptance.)

 

 

I do think that this issue is a bigger dilemma for kids that are in a traditional school setting. Even though we "held my son back" on paper, we are definitley not holding him back educationally. That is one of the benefits of homeschooling. (which I sometimes have to remind myself of on those days that the kids are driving me crazy.)

 

I think you are right, and thank you for sharing because this info will definitely factor into our decision!

[ScoutTN]

Yes, we are. DS is 5 now, will be 6 next summer. PreK is right for him.

[5knights3maidens]

Yes.

 

Our 4th child/ds (now 21) was 6 at the end of June. Our 6th child/ds was 5 in October so I waited until the next year to do kindergarten (that is right after the cut off date). My last child (girl) bd is the very end of August.

 

4 others were at least 5 1/2 or older because of birthdays.

 

Now our 2nd dd (was 9 at the end of July) I have decided to say she is in 4th. I struggled with that though. Just because of her issues.

She is doing well though. :)