Cutting the Umbilical Cord

[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.

[AGDee]

Our cutoff in Michigan is December 1st but they are continually talking about moving it back to September 1st. In our school district, kids take a readiness test if their birthday is after December 1st. You could fight for your child to take it a little bit earlier if you wanted to. Kids who don't pass the test go to Young 5's. The test includes an evaluation of social maturity as well as intellectual achievement and fine motor skills. My daughter's birthday is in mid January so she is one of the oldest in her class. She was advanced in all areas except fine motor skills. I chose not to have her take the test early because of the fine motor skills although she was reading long before she went to kindergarten. She is at the top of her class always and that's not a bad thing. I don't know if she would be at the top of her class if she was a grade ahead. I like the Young 5's concept in our district. If a child does extremely well in Young 5's, they sometimes go to first grade afterward. Most start kindergarten after Young 5's though. Development is so varied that a skill can suddenly appear or a child may mature in spurts. So, they may not pass the kindergarten readiness test but after one year, they may be ready for first grade. Flexibility is good. No matter what the cutoff date is though, there is potentially a difference in age of 364 days between the oldest and the youngest and that year can definitely make a difference.

In my mom's day, they had two classes each year. One started in September and one started in January. They graduated at different times. This seems like it would make things more individualized for each group, but it also seems like some aspects of it would be terribly complicated.

[alum]

Hmmm, I lost my post. I should have started school at 6.5 instead of 5.5....

If you have a kid who will miss the cut-off AND you think he/she is ready, enroll him/her into the closest university laboratory school. Those schools (at least the one my siblings, my inlaw sibs, and I have encountered in various states) are much more concerned with intellectual ability as opposed to chronological age.

[DeltAlum]

I hated being one of the youngest in my classes all the way K-16.

[Munchkin03]

What's the hurry? I'm sure people told my parents that I was "ready" for kindergarten at 4 1/2, but they knew I'd still be ready at 5. They declined an offer to allow me to jump forward a year because they didn't want me to get ahead of myself. Plus, they were aware that every year counts when you're that little as far as personal development and social skills go.

As much flack as I get now from clients who had no idea that I'd be "so young," I don't want to imagine what it would be like if I was a year or two younger.

In some areas, the opposite situation is occuring--some parents want their children to be in the top reading group, and to be better athletes than their classmates, so they're holding them back a year and enrolling them in enrichment classes or sports camps to achieve that goal.

[SWTXBelle]

My eldest daughter was reading at 3 (taught herself, really) and at 5 was reading at a 1st grade level. Her birthday is Dec. 9. When I talked to the headmaster at the private school she was to attend, he asked if I wanted her to go to college at 17. Good point, I thought. She might be ready then, she might not. So I didn't enroll her at 4.
She went to a wonderful pre-school, read tons of books, and went to kindergarten months shy of 6. She did great - and all things considered, I'm glad I didn't "push". I think you need to ask yourself what is going to benefit your child on all fronts - not just scholastic.
As an aside, she has been home schooled since 6th grade, and her ACT score is in the top 5%. She is actually a very mature young lady - more than ready for college (though I'm not, necessarily!) and I think the extra year out of the system benefited her. That said, it's a call for a parent to make with input from the school, I think.

[christiangirl]

Hmmm....I'm one of those who swing back and forth. I spent my entire childhood clinging to my mother for dear life and she tried to make me as independent as possible. Now, she, and everyone else, are telling me that I'm too young to really be independent and that I have my whole life to learn how to support myself. I'd rather work and support myself, but my parents won't hear of it (and, to be honest, I enjoy living comfortably). So, I have a job and can provide for my own personal expenses, food and whatnot, but that's really it. My mom invited herself to come with me when I move to my new apartment by my grad school next week (a cross-country move). This is my first apartment without roommates, so she wants to help me move in and I don't mind. It's like a mother-daughter thing, decorating my first place by myself. But I'm driving her to the airport before I go to orientation--I'M NOT TAKING MY MOMMY TO GRADUATE SCHOOL. NO.

After this program is over, I plan to be financially independent of my parents. I think it really depresses them to hear me say "I don't need your help" and that's partially way I'm not more insistent about it (the other part is I like having minimal resposibility because I know, once it's gone, it's gone). But I don't want to be one of those spoiled little girls who wake up one day, 28 and married, and her parents are still paying her part of the rent.

[scbelle]

I was enrolled in a laboratory school when I was 4. I attended kindergarten there at Stoner Hill Elementary Laboratory School (that was a mouthful, and now that I'm older, a really funny name). But we moved from LA after I completed kindergarten to SC. I was 5, and the state law was that you had to be 6 by October 1 to be enrolled in 1st grade. My mom made a mini-fuss, and the principal of my new school tested me. She said I was ready to roll into first grade, but the law was clear. So, mom piped down. I don't really guess I missed very much, but now I have a great story that I had to repeat kindergarten. Go figure.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

I hated being one of the youngest in my classes all the way K-16.

Ditto.

(August 31 birthday here with a September 1 cutoff!)

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AGDee

The test includes an evaluation of social maturity as well as intellectual achievement and fine motor skills. My daughter's birthday is in mid January so she is one of the oldest in her class. She was advanced in all areas except fine motor skills.

What are "fine motor skills"? Tying a bow & things like that? I could read before I started kindergarten, but I couldn't tie a bow till I was almost 7. I could do other things, just not that. It was some sort of freaky mental block, I guess.