Kindergarten ages

A&R will either be 5 or just about to turn 5 when they start in 2 years. I will not hold them back a year, first of all daycare is super expensive, so paying for just a half day would be way cheaper, and secondly, they already know their alphabet, they know how to cut, they know how to trace letters and are working on reading words (sight memorization but still), they are fairly mature for 3 year olds, and TBH, I was the youngest person in my class and I turned out okay. I would have skipped 5th grade if it hadn't been for my age, I would have been a year and a half younger than everyone at that point.

 

Again, the original poster contemplates holding her boys back until they are nearly 7. That is so beyond redshirting that I don't know what to call it.

 

I've asked my mother (retired K teacher) before about the best age group for Kindergarten and she said that 4, 5, or 6 didn't matter, it was an adjustment for all children, but it was less of an issue for a child that was in preschool or daycare than it was for children that came directly from home (either with a full time sitter or a SAHP). It was easier for someone that had consistently been in a different environment than at home with a different teacher than a family member, and if they came from a structured "learning" environment, great, but a good home daycare with enforced rules, walking in lines, sitting in a circle, cutting paper, doing projects, singing songs, sharing was generally "enough" of social learning to make the first bit of Kindergarten easier on the kid, parent and teacher.

IMO 7 year olds should be in the first or second grade. I'll ask her how old her oldest student was tonight.

 

She said that her oldest student was 7 in Kindergarten, but he was severely behind, even the 5 year olds when he came in to her class. He didn't know much about anything.

She also said that there was a 9 year old in Kindergarten, but that was a special case because the mother had Münchhausen by-proxy and kept her children out of school until the social workers stepped in. The 9 year old tested into Kindergarten.

And she gave me the disapproving look when I mentioned a 7 year old in K.

 

If I don't hold em back they will only be 4 AHHHH :woah: They are October babies.

 

My boys are September 26 and will be 6. I would have held them back tho until age six as I think that's better for them anyway. The book "Outliers" has some good info in it re: this topic.

I am a cutoff baby "outlier" at September 11th and I LOVED it! Older is great!

 

Mine are Oct babies and if I could have sent them this year (4 turning 5) I would have!! (disregard my user name, we live in Iowa now and it has a Sept cut off date).

I think a lot depends on your child, the area you are in, and the programs available (young 5s?, 1/2 day etc).

 

This is such an interesting discussion and something I think about a lot. In New York State the cut off date for entering kindergarten is Dec. 1st. My son was born Nov. 22nd and although he could have started when he was 4, I chose to wait until he turned 5. There were many factors that I considered when making my decision. The first was that his cousin who lives in PA and was born 10 weeks before him was not eligible to start K. That seemed crazy to me that I would start my son when my nephew, who was older than my son, couldn't start in his home state. Another factor was that we live very close to New Jersey and often consider moving there. If we were to do that my son would be at least a full year younger than those in his grade in NJ. When I did my research I learned that there are only 5 states with a cutoff date of Nov. 15th or later. I took that into consideration as well. The final factors were the age that my son would be when he enters our high school 13 vs. 14. and when he enters college. Do I want my 17 year old living on his own? My husband has a late November birthday and went to college as a 17 year old. He was not ready to be away all the time, and spent most weekends going home the first semester. We decided that we wanted to give our child one more year to mature.

My twins start kindergarten next week. They turned 5 in July. I didn't consider not starting them. However, if we lived in a state where the cutoff was August, I probably would have held them back. My daughter is also a November birthday and I will wait until she turns 5 to send her. I think the decision can vary based on the cutoff date where you live. There are many children who start school here as 4 year olds.

I am a teacher and do find think that it would be much harder to address the needs of all the students if I had to teach to a large range of ages. I also do find that some of my youngest students would have benefitted from some extra time at home or in pre k. Going back to the original post, if those children started K as 7 year olds, in my school they could be in a class with 4, 5, 6, and 7 year olds for kindergarten. That doesn't seem like the right thing to do for those 7 year olds.

 

New York doesn't have a cut off, each school district does. New York city schools have a cut of of december 31 as does some parts of Long Island. Other Long Island districts have there cut of in November/December.

 

Yeah, I dont know what to call it either.

But there are a few who have already 6 year olds going to Kindergarten. I wonder if that will be the "new" normal at some point in the coming years as it seems that more and more parents "wait/hold back/redshirt" their 4 year olds from starting Kindergarten.

 

I think will be a bigger issue as time goes on. They need a nationalized cut-off date- with the potential for some flexiblity on the 4 weeks preceding and after that date. I applaud K teachers that could have 4- 7 yr olds. That is a HUGE developmental range in one class. Usually it is suggested no greater than an 18 month span in one setting unless it is a multi-age/grade set up.



Right now we are in a state that a 4 yr old cant start K after Sept 15th no matter what (no testing in early at all- even if you are one day past cut off). PLUS a lot of parents redshirt...so there are a lot of 6- 6.5 yr olds starting K around here.

IT is so different from MI, where you could start (and most eligible did) at 4y 9m and redshirting in the area we were in was rare. It would be unusual for a child to be 6.5 when school started there.

 

This is correct. In my district on LI the cut off is 12/31. My girls will be 5 1/2 when they start K (turning 6 in March).

 

There is also an age that varies a little by state when school becomes compulsory. In TN, that age is 6. You couldn't hold out a child until they were 7 unless you have written permission from the school for a child who is developmentally delayed and needs that extra time. Good luck with getting that considering that the school's position will be to put your 6YO in school and provide them with extra help!

I also think that I could have waited until next year and then shouted from the rooftops that it was the best decision ever since my kids are doing so well. But they're doing so well now! I cannot imagine at this point what they would have gained by another year at home. 2" in height is about it. Sure, they probably would have been reading at a 2nd grade level instead of 1st, but how is that of benefit in kindergarten? And frankly, they either haven't noticed that they're small or don't care. I told them before school started that most of the kids would be 5, a few would be 6, and they might be the only 4-year olds but that they were going because they're ready. And they really are; they're not the ones their teacher is seeing struggle. Academically, they're ahead. Socially, they are fitting in and they might even be popular. Everybody knows their names and makes a point of greeting them. There is a child in their class who is repeating and he has a March birthday so he'll be 7 before the school year ends. He stands out, but not in a good way (my kids know his name because he's in trouble so often ) I'm not convinced that being so much older than your classmates is of benefit.

 

My boys turned 5 on June 27 and went to K the following Sept. They were very ready, and if you asked their teachers, they would say that unless you knew their birthday, you would never know that they were among the youngest in their class. I think that is truly the key. Put them with the peer group that they would be with. If you can't pick them out as being older or younger than the others in the group, they should stay with that group. This summer I had a summer camp group that consisted of 4, 5, and 6 year olds. I had one 6 year old who proudly told me that he was repeating K. I had one boy who just turned 6, and very ready for 1st. I had another 5 year old boy, who, if I could have, would have begged his parents NOT to send him to K this year--he just isn't even close to ready.

All that said, I do believe that it depends on each child, and you really should see how they fit in with their peers before making a determination. And, if they are in preschool, listen to their teachers!