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Fall Birthday and Kindergarten


Lawyer&Mom
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Help me brain storm here.  Its a few years down the line, but I'm on maternity leave and I have a lot of time to think...

 

Our kindergarten cut off date for public school here is 5 before September 1st.  However kids with birthdays before November 31 can test in to start at 4.  However, if you test in, you are not eligible for the gifted elementary school.  Ugh.  The private gifted schools (yes we have them) don't take four year olds at all.

 

DD2 has the verbal ability of a four year old.   And an October birthday.  So hypothetically speaking, if we want to aim for the gifted elementary school, we would have another year to fill after she finishes her current preschool.  What might we do with her?  I can't imagine having her repeat Pre-K at the same school.  Maybe another year of Pre-K at an immersion school?

 

I'm not worried about keeping her stimulated afterschool, I've got all kinds of ideas.  But what might work during the day?

 

I hate being in this boat.  But for now, just assume homeschooling is not an option.

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If you can meet her educational desires/needs afterschool, I'd focus on a play-based environment. When DS was 4/5 he needed a lot of free play time with other kids. Do you have either a daycare or preK option that doesn't focus on academics?

 

Otherwise, Pre-K at an immersion school could be fun, and worthwhile if you have the ability to follow up with the language in later years.

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Sacha has a January birthday, but we still went the French/Spanish immersion route for preschool (with a year in Mexico during his pre-K4 year) to try to keep him out of trouble. I can't say that it worked exactly. He was still a disruption in the classroom (generally due to boredom), but it would have been much worse in an English-language preschool environment.

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I would try to do pre-k at an immersion school.

 

I would rather put a bright child in a gifted elementary school than to skip a grade in school. As a teacher and now as a parent watching my friend's children, I have seen it go badly on a social level many times. What is most important is finding a group of peers and if she will find it at the gifted school, I would go for that.

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I would try to do pre-k at an immersion school.

 

I would rather put a bright child in a gifted elementary school than to skip a grade in school. As a teacher and now as a parent watching my friend's children, I have seen it go badly on a social level many times. What is most important is finding a group of peers and if she will find it at the gifted school, I would go for that.

I agree that peer group is the only thing I really want for her as far as elementary school goes. I just hope we can wait out that extra year without boredom and tears...

 

I was really unhappy in Kindergarten and I so deeply want her to have a better experience!

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What do they do at the "gifted school"?  If there is a big difference between K at public school and K at the gifted school, what about doing K at public school when he is 4, and then K at private school when he is 5?

 

Or, is there any chance that the "gifted school" will accept him in 1st grade after he successfully finishes K at PS, even though he is young?

 

I put my kids into K at 4yo in a charter school (attached to their preschool).  At the time, I had been told my kids would not be accepted early at any other school within 20 miles.  But after they were in KG, I was told by both a private and a public school that they would accept my kids in 1st at 5yo as long as they had finished K.  So that solved my problem.  (There is no "gifted school" here, but the private school has fairly high standards, and being a year young makes it tolerable (even though my kid says she is not challenged in school).

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Help me brain storm here. Its a few years down the line, but I'm on maternity leave and I have a lot of time to think...

 

Our kindergarten cut off date for public school here is 5 before September 1st. However kids with birthdays before November 31 can test in to start at 4. However, if you test in, you are not eligible for the gifted elementary school. Ugh. The private gifted schools (yes we have them) don't take four year olds at all.

 

DD2 has the verbal ability of a four year old. And an October birthday. So hypothetically speaking, if we want to aim for the gifted elementary school, we would have another year to fill after she finishes her current preschool. What might we do with her? I can't imagine having her repeat Pre-K at the same school. Maybe another year of Pre-K at an immersion school?

 

I'm not worried about keeping her stimulated afterschool, I've got all kinds of ideas. But what might work during the day?

 

I hate being in this boat. But for now, just assume homeschooling is not an option.

First thing to know is the acceleration is not the only path for gifted kids. In fact, sometimes it's not a good choice. Going broad and deep into things at a normal rate is also very stimulating and challenging to their minds.

 

There are definitely more options than just repeating preK. In fact, I would be tempted to remove them from academic preschooling of any type. I would look for an arts, music, movement, or second language setting (like you mentioned). Also consider Montessori or Waldorf - though neither appear to be academically rigorous they are very amenable to other domains of learning - the arts, second language, movement, etc.

 

Find something that your AL isn't the best at and let her learn in that domain.

 

ETA my oldest is 2e, a late OCT birthday, and started K at 4. There were a few social hiccups, one terrible public school teacher, a few good but too busy for my kid because she wasn't a problem... She did 2 years at a Spanish language immersion school but when we moved we switched to homeschool. If I were deciding between grade accelerating and full time GT class I would definitely go for the GT class!

 

Another aside is that a lot can change in two years - your circumstances, your location, your child, your school district's offerings. Be flexible, and open minded. Gifted children are gifted, even if they aren't in a GT program or accelerated. It won't be the end of the world to wait a year, or to not get GT services at all :-)

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