Cutting the Umbilical Cord

[nikki1920]

They do have that right.

I started school overseas (military brat). The cutoff stateside was September 1. For DoD schools it was December 31. I made it by 2 days. Parents can ask that their child be tested if they want to start them early. I was a smart kid. I lost most of that smartness when I got to college though, lol..

[alum]

Originally Posted by nikki1920

They do have that right.

I started school overseas (military brat). The cutoff stateside was September 1. For DoD schools it was December 31. I made it by 2 days. Parents can ask that their child be tested if they want to start them early. I was a smart kid. I lost most of that smartness when I got to college though, lol..

Parents do not have the right to request early entrance in all school systems. It depends on the policies of the system.

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by alum

Parents do not have the right to request early entrance in all school systems. It depends on the policies of the system.

so much for parents knowing their children best. I would have no problem with all kids going through a kindergarten readiness evaluation. If they pass, they are in. If not, then a pre-K readiness program.

[33girl]

I don't think parents always do know their children best. Some parents think their kids are Einstein, Ghandi and Fred Astaire rolled into one when they can barely put their pants on.

FR, your son MADE the cutoff. He'll have other kids in his class that will be his same birth month. It would be different if he wasn't turning 5 until February or March of 2008 and you wanted him to start kindergarten this fall.

[alum]

Again, when one makes the assumption that all 4 1/2 yo children are not ready for a structured kindergarten, one is assigning an arbitrary maturity level to certain age groups. There are kids (not mine) who are born in the early spring of the following year that are ready for kindergarten at 4 years, 6 months. Having a kindergarten readiness test available for these kids will determine if the kid is truly gifted/precocious as opposed to what the parents think.

[minDyG]

Originally Posted by alum

Again, when one makes the assumption that all 4 1/2 yo children are not ready for a structured kindergarten, one is assigning an arbitrary maturity level to certain age groups. There are kids (not mine) who are born in the early spring of the following year that are ready for kindergarten at 4 years, 6 months. Having a kindergarten readiness test available for these kids will determine if the kid is truly gifted/precocious as opposed to what the parents think.

The difficulty here becomes evident when choosing whom to allow to take the test in the first place. If you argue that saying four and a half is an arbitrary figure agewise, then under that same argument, someone with an extremely bright and gifted three-year-old might think her child deserved to take the readiness test and, assuming the child passed the test, start kindergarden with the rest of the five- and six-year-olds. Physically and developmentally, it is more obvious to see where three years of age is nowhere near ready to start school with these children regardless of mental capacity; however, the lines are blurred when the age in question approaches closer and closer to the norm for kindergarden, which is usually five years old. I'm personally a fan of the September 1 cutoff, which is pretty standard in my area and AFAIK in my state as a whole.

[carnation]

I don't know if all the GA public schools have the Sept. 1 cutoff but a lot of the private schools have a later date. I like that. Several other fall birthday girls and I formed the majority of the top reading group all the way through school. While Sept. 1 works for most kids (especially boys), there are many of us out there who were glad to be able to get around it--we needed to be in school early.