My son Randy misses the kindergarten cut off in our district by 19 days. I was going to request an evaluation for 'early admission' to kindergarten, but they would have to put him through the whole ed eval process.

Out of the blue I ran into an aquaintance of mine who owns/runs a preschool that has a kindergarten. She told me that if the school district would not take him, she would, because she knows how bright and capable he is. I decided not to put him throught the whole eval process, but just to place him in private school for kindergarten as long as the district would go for it.

I got the go ahead from the school district that if he completes the kindergarten program at the private school I will have no trouble registering him for first grade in September 2007!

I am so excited! My baby is going to kindergarten in the fall! It's a half-day program and the cap is twelve students in the class!

He is so bright, I'm afraid he'd fall through the cracks in a large class and if I wait utill his age makes him eligible, he will be bored.

So ... off he'll go in September!

Ame

By Emily7 on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 04:33 pm:

That is awesome Ame! I like that the class size is so small, more one on one time with the teacher.
I need to get Joe registered for pre-school soon.

By Melanie on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 04:42 pm:

Think carefully about whether or not it is in his best interest to start a year early. Our oldest missed the cut-off by 6 days, so I do understand your POV. Our son was multiplying and dividing in his head by the time he was in K. We talked at length about whether or not we should put him ahead a grade. In the end, we decided it was not in his best interest. He is at the top of his class academically. Talk about great for his esteem! He loves to play sports. When he is in high school he would be at a real disadvantage physically if he were among the youngest as opposed to one of the oldest. And when it comes time to graduate, he will be 18 instead of 17. I feel a lot better sending an 18 year old off to college instead of a 17 year old.

I understand that your son is very bright and shows signs of being ready. But I would encourage you to look at the long term benefits and drawbacks to starting him now. There are a lot of factors to consider.

Either way, I wish your son all the best! It's a very exciting time!

By Kiki on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 04:49 pm:

How lucky are you to have your son in such a small class. My daughter could have waited another year before starting kindergarten but we decided to let her go early like your son. The only issue we have is that at times she's not as mature (concentration level) as the other girls in her grade.

I took the day off from work to bring her to her first day of school. I remember taking her picture and crying about how fast the years had gone by. Enjoy the day when it comes! It's a keeper.

By Amecmom on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 04:52 pm:

Thanks for your advice, Melanie. He really is super bright and is actually beyond ready. He is also big for his age and his vocabulary is frightening. My fear is that he will be so bored by school that he'll be turned off to learning, rather than challenged academically if we wait a year.

I don't see it as putting him ahead a grade at all. If we were living one town over, he would make their cut off.

The cut off here is December 1st - so really they are only discriminating against the children born in the last 30 days of December. If the cutoff were something sensible, like the 1st of September of the current school year or the end of the calendar year, I wouldn't be so quick to do it, but he'll have kids in his class a lot closer to his age than he would if we wait a year.

Thanks for sharing and for your good wishes.
Emily, thanks also! I'm sure Joe will love preschool.
Ame

By Tink on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 05:25 pm:

This week, I registered Bella in an "alternative" kindergarten program that the public school offers. It's a fully theme-based curriculum and allows for a lot of exploration for the kids. They plant a garden, turn the room into a space station and have a weekly cooking lesson. It was a tough decision for me to make but Bella is so bright and is so NOT a sit down at your desk and fill out a worksheet type of kid. Registration just puts her in a pool where they assign classes by lottery so she may still end up in a regular kindy class but I'm excited by the chance she has to learn in an environment that will teach to her learning style.

It sounds like your ds is going to have a good time at this school. If you're sure he's ready, I am glad you've found an alternative to the public school kindy class.

By Colette on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 06:46 pm:

I've worked in kindergarten and preschool in a public school for years. Basic skills needed in kindergarten are shape recognition, the ability to hold and use scissors properly (thumbs up - unless they are left handed - in which case they may or may not be able to cut with thumbs up), the ability to recognize colors, letters, hold and use a pencil, he should be able to write his name, etc.

I think a private kindergarten sounds great, if you had said his birth date was in August, then I would be skeptical, but we've got tons of kids that turned 5 after 12/1 and they are fine.

By Amecmom on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 07:42 pm:

Thanks, Colette. I taught kindergarten and worked as a specialist in PreK so I know he'll do fine.
Ame

By Melissa on Monday, February 6, 2006 - 10:03 am:

We did the same thing with our dd. Technically she should be in 2nd this year but is in 3rd for all the reasons you listed. She went to K and 1st at a private school and is now in public since last year. She is at the top of her class and socially is doing great. For her it was the right fit. Do I think about her graduating at 17? Yes. But I also know she would have been bored to death if we did it the other way.

By Karen~moderator on Monday, February 6, 2006 - 10:15 am:

I mostly ditto Melanie, as I had a very similar situation with Jeff. Jeff tested K *at risk*, when they did the Kindy testing. I wish I could put my hands on my previous posts on this several years ago.

He was definitely academically ready, very bright and quick, but he had been sick a lot and was not *socially* or *emotionally* ready for K. I went through a lot of anguish and soul searching over this decision. I met with the pre-K and K teachers, the school principal and the counselor. All agreed he was academically ready, but my gut kept telling me differently. Finally I just asked one of them to tell me what she'd do if he was HER child. She told me she would put off K for one year. As it turned out, our Parish started a pilot program for those kids who were at/just past the age cutoff for K, they called it Developmental K, sort of a bridge between pre-K and K.

I opted for that, and he was on top every year after that, one of the oldest, most mature, most confident in his class.

BUT - as you mentioned Ame, he WAS bored more than I thought was *normal*, so as much as I was sure I had made the right decision, I did have some doubts along the way.

Bottom line is, you know your child, you need to go with your gut. I'm sure you're making the right choice for him.