Confused about what year my 5yo is in

[razzles]

I'm in the UK and a little confused about what year my 5yo daughter would be in if we lived in the states. I assumed last year she would have started kindergarten (when she started primary 1 here in Scotland) however I've just met someone who has a son the same age and he will be starting kindergarten after this summer. I have been planning our year based on 1st grade recommendations from TWTM and other resources. And since most curriculum and books are U.S. based it would be helpful to know. It's difficult to find a good answer to this online.

 

My daughter was born in the last week of Oct and will be six this year. What year would she be in based on your state?

 

We have been "officially" homeschooling for a year, since she would have started P1 last summer. She doesn't read well yet, however she is way beyond basics of numbers/phonics and can sight read quite well. I don't know if it would be better to spend an extra year on kindergarten level stuff or just go ahead with first grade and slow down if need be. What would you do?

 

 

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[Upennmama]

Depends on the state or school district. In my disctrict, the cutoff is Sep. 1, so she'd be going into Kindergarten this year. In some places, it's October or even December, so she'd be in first grade. I would just base it on her developmental level and the curriculum, not her age. :)

[Butter]

Our schools are also 9/1 cut-off so she's be starting kindergarten.  Where I grew up is a 9/30 cut off with the ability to challenge if they were born by 10/15 so she'd still be in kindergarten there, however when I started school in 1983 (and until they changed cut-off about 10 or 12 years ago), the cut-off was 12/31.

 

For a homeschooler, cut-offs don't matter.  Give her work at her level.

[wendyroo]

I'm in Michigan, and here the cutoff date has recently changed.  

 

Two years ago it was Nov. 1, so if she had turned 5 at the end of October that year, she would have made the cutoff and started K when she was still 4 years old.  But last year, the cutoff was changed to Oct. 1, so she would have missed the cutoff by a month and not not started K until she was about to turn 6.  This coming year, the cutoff is moving to Sept. 1, so no children will start school until they are 5, because the state mandates that schools don't begin until after the beginning of Sept.

 

All of that aside, I think the only thing that really matters with a homeschool child is meeting her where she is.  My eldest will be in first grade next year (he will be 6.5 by then), but almost none of his materials will say "Grade 1" on them.  In some subjects, "Grade 1" materials would be much too easy for him and in others they would be much too hard.  

 

I would not push your child beyond what she is capable of simply because you announce that she is Grade 1, but neither would I hold her back even if her age says she should technically be in K.  I would just keep plugging away with materials that offer just the right level of challenge no matter how they are labeled.

 

Wendy

[MinivanMom]

The cutoff is 9/1 in our state so she would be going into kindergarten. Students within 6 months of the cutoff can apply to enter kindergarten early based on IQ/achievement test scores. Generally, you have to be working 2 grade levels ahead to qualify for early-entry.

 

I don't think grade level matters very much as a homeschooler; you just teach your kids where they are. If she's not reading well yet, then I would focus on that, but I would add in history, science, and literature if she's interested and ready. I would also just keep working away at math and not worry too much if she's ahead of where a kindergartner typically is.

[Acorn]

It can vary. Schools and parents look at the individual to determine readiness to start. Some schools offer a young 5 grade before K grade.

[Have kids -- will travel]

P1 (reception) is pre-K in the US. P2 is Kindergarten age in the US. How the curriculums line up is trickier, but purely based on age, your daughter would be going for a K year next year.

[scoutingmom]

In my province we have a Dec 31st cutoff, so Grade 1 in your case.

 

Go by what she is ready for.

 

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[OneStepAtATime]

My area she would be going into kinder in the fall if she were enrolled in school. As others have said, though, I would go at the pace of the child. Kids develop at different rates in different areas and at different times with different materials. If she is zooming through something, let her zoom through. If she is struggli g and needs to slow down, back up or even switch to a different approach then go ahead. Especially at this age I would be going at whatever pace she could maintain successfully. Good luck and best wishes.

[razzles]

Thanks guys. I definitely appreciate being able to go at different paces with different subjects based on her needs, and I feel like we've got a good thing going right now. It's just easier when ordering books/curriculum for next year to have a rough idea of where she might be expected to be at her age. When I look at what is going to be covered I think "no way can she do that!" But then by the time we reach that point in the textbook, she can!

 

 

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[HS Mom in NC]

I copied it from our school district's website:

 

"Students who will turn 5 by August 31, 2015, are eligible to enroll in kindergarten."

 

Our school year starts the last week of July.

 

We go at each child's pace at that age. 

 

[harm]

Razzles: I know the feeling. I'm also not in N. America, and I wanted to teach my kids at the same level as their local peers, yet use a lot of US products. After 3 years, I only just realized that I've been doing it wrong. Thankfully, I'm teaching them a grade higher than their peers and not the other way around, and they've been coping just fine. It gives us a bit of leeway if anything ever does become a struggle, I guess.

Anyway, I'm not sure if it's the same in the UK, but here in NZ year 1 work is similar to K work in the U.S, and year 2 is the same as grade 1 etc.

 

 

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[harm]

Razzles: I know the feeling. I'm also not in N. America, and I wanted to teach my kids at the same level as their local peers, yet use a lot of US products. After 3 years, I only just realized that I've been doing it wrong. Thankfully, I'm teaching them a grade higher than their peers and not the other way around, and they've been coping just fine. It gives us a bit of leeway if anything ever does become a struggle, I guess.

Anyway, I'm not sure if it's the same in the UK, but here in NZ year 1 work is similar to K work in the U.S, and year 2 is the same as grade 1 etc.

 

 

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[PeterPan]

With our state's fall cut-off, your dc is a rising K5er.  No one mentioned red-shirting, but you should know that in areas of affluence people will red-shirt for a variety of reasons, holding back a child with even a summer b-day, to give them an advantage in sports, academics, etc.  My ds has a fall b-day like yours, so he is 6, turning 7 in the fall, and by that measure a rising 1st grader.  With his mix of delays and strengths, he listens to college lectures, enjoys middle grade things, and has intervention materials for his learning disabilities.  He's just all over the place.  I anticipate needing to grade adjust him again on top of the slight grade adjust that being on the older end of his grade provides.  It's just not a big deal.  I say teach them where they're at and graduate them when it's unavoidable.  :D

[CAtoVA]

In the state I was born, raised and schooled in the cut off is December 2, so a child born in late October would be in 1st grade. In the state I live in now the cut off is September 30, so that same child would be in K. I thought this state had an early cut off date—I am frankly disappointed that so many states have even earlier cut off dates! May I say I LOVE homeschooling? This arbitrary "cut off" idea is for the birds in my opinion. Couple that with the almost impossibility of ever accelerating students ("skipping" grades) and it is a situation designed purely to make adults lives easier imo.

 

And, yes, as a previous poster noted,  often  (where I live now, for instance)  parents hold children back purely for social or athletic reasons so the "cut off" date may have no real meaning for a class. You could find as much as a 1-1 1/2 year age spread in one class. It does help the test scores though (sarcasm off).

 

I say do what your child needs—my oldest son had a late November birthday making him on the "older" side for a grade level. I accelerated him (and didn't) when and where needed. Now he is in public school in the "appropriate" grade level and finds some work too easy.

[Butter]

No one mentioned red-shirting, but you should know that in areas of affluence people will red-shirt for a variety of reasons, holding back a child with even a summer b-day, to give them an advantage in sports, academics, etc.

 

Yes.  My youngest spent half a year in public kindergarten.  His birthday is in June.  He was the youngest in his class even though kids could potentially be 2 1/2 months younger and make the cut-off.  He was as much as 15 months younger than the oldest.  My July birthday middle son was also the youngest in his 2nd grade class - by at least 2 months.

[Julie Smith]

In my area

 

Born anytime in:

2004 Just finished grade 5, staring grade 6 this September

2005 starting grade 5

2006 starting grade 4

2007 starting grade 3

2006 starting grade 2

2008 starting grade 1

2009 starting kindergarten

2008 starting junior kindergarten if the school has that option

[Squawky Acres]

I also have a 5-year-old daughter with a late October birthday.  Depending on cut-offs, she would be a very old kindergartener or a very young first grader next year (the latter in our school district). We have been happily doing kindergarten in her skill subjects this year, as she was certainly ready for it.  I will begin some of her "first grade" materials this fall, and others (such as grammar) may wait a few months before I roll them in.  She has older siblings, so has been folded into their history cycle, science lessons and Latin study.  If she did not have older siblings, I may have done some informal science with her this year, but would wait to begin the history cycle in the fall.

 

I may change my mind, but I still plan to call her a kindergartener next year for purposes of camp and outside activities, as that is how children are grouped by age in our area.  I will probably give her the first grade standardized test at year-end, though, to reflect the material we have covered.

[....]

We're in Texas - she would be a Kindergartener.

[Tanaqui]

Different states and districts have different cut-offs. On the extreme end, NYS has a cut-off for public schools that so long as you turn 5 by December 31 of that school year, you enter kindergarten. (Many private schools have a different cut-off date). On the other extreme end, some states and districts have a cut-off that so long as you don't turn 6 any earlier than December 31 of that school year, you enter kindergarten.

 

However, once you've successfully completed kindergarten, you will enter first grade the next school year, even if you move from one district to another with a different cut-off date.

 

Edit: Also, in NYC, you're not allowed to hold your child back a year. They must start kindy or first grade (whichever) based on birth date. (Well, it's still possible to fail kindergarten, but only if you attended it in the first place.) The only way around this is to send your child to a private kindergarten with a different cut-off date the year that they would have been in first grade.

[luuknam]

Our district in WNY has a Dec 1st cut-off, so your son would be entering 1st grade. However, many (most?) private schools here have earlier cut-offs (the one we looked at has a Sep 1st cut-off), so your son would be entering K. They do allow red-shirting here, so when C entered 1st grade a couple of weeks after turning 6 he had a classmate who was already 7. For some crazy reason they don't allow grade-skipping until 3rd grade though, so while you can hold a kid back, if a kid turns 6 on Dec 2nd the kid will be in K (or I think you could even put the kid in pre-K if you want to hold the kid back a lot) - you can't put the kid in 1st grade.

 

Aside from that, what kids learn in K varies a lot per school/district/state/whatever. When C was in K in rural Texas, it was a lot like how K used to be decades ago - a little academics and playing a bunch. When we moved to suburban WNY in the middle of the year, the K teacher tested him and was talking about how he was behind because they were already writing sentences etc, and they didn't really do any playing at school - just academics... despite the school in NY having a later cut-off than the one in TX. Which then also means that red-shirting here is more common whereas it was unheard of in rural TX (although red-shirting in our district isn't as common as it is in the upper middle class more suburban suburbs it seems).

 

Realistically though, if you're homeschooling, you just work at your kid's level, regardless of what age your kid is. There is no use in trying to teach a kid something if the kid doesn't know the prereqs, and no use in boring the kid with stuff the kid already knows either.

[razzles]

Thanks for even more replies! It's good to know my error has put us ahead, not behind although here we have zero tests or requirements for homeschooling so we're lucky in that respect. What's interesting is that I've looked at what a kindergartener should be doing by the end of the year and it's even lower than our P1 (the very first year of school starting at 5 with a cut off of a march birthday -turning 5) expectations. That not to put down the U.S. Kindy's in any way but just an observation about the huge range of standards at that age. You can have a 5.5yo leaving P1 expected to be reading basic books well but yet wouldn't have even started K in the states, or a 6.5yo just going into K to learn their ABC's. Anyway...the pros of homeschooling!

 

 

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[razzles]

Thanks for even more replies! It's good to know my error has put us ahead, not behind although here we have zero tests or requirements for homeschooling so we're lucky in that respect. What's interesting is that I've looked at what a kindergartener should be doing by the end of the year and it's even lower than our P1 (the very first year of school starting at 5 with a cut off of a march birthday -turning 5) expectations. That not to put down the U.S. Kindy's in any way but just an observation about the huge range of standards at that age. You can have a 5.5yo leaving P1 expected to be reading basic books well but yet wouldn't have even started K in the states, or a 6.5yo just going into K to learn their ABC's. Anyway...the pros of homeschooling!

 

 

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[4KookieKids]

In Nebraska, the compulsory education cut-off is Jan 1, but different school districts can make different grade cut-offs. Our district has the grade cut-off in July, so my guy who will be 6 in August is in Kindergarten next year.