Should I start K this year?

[dubatatamama]

Ds is 4.5 and will be 5 in January. He would technically start Pre-K this year and go to K in the Fall of 2011 if he was going to PS. So I am wondering if I start K with him this fall, will it mess things up when I go to report next fall? In other words, if he does K work this year, and is working on 1st grade stuff by next fall, do I still report him as K next fall simply based on his age? Does any of this make sense? I guess I am mainly concerned with if he ever enters PS for some reason and is above grade level, how is that handled?

I am only asking because he is asking to do more "school" and is already reading fluently at a 1st grade level and doing simple addition/subtraction just from everyday life/being read to a lot!

Thanks for your input!

[caefi]

My suggestion is to keep him on their schedule as far as grade level is concerned but teach him what he is ready to learn.

Keep them out of your business as long as you can. Also, if you do have to slow down later in life there will be less pressure b/c of what the state has him registered as. If your state has mandatory testing, he will do better being counted the lower grade level, too - that helps you not have to "teach the test" and fret over if you've covered what they will test him on. (well, you might still fret, but it will be less, ime.)

This will also help if you need to enroll him in school at some point. Another consideration is that he will be placed in peer activities based on his 'grade level' and if you start this year with K, he will be one of the youngest.

[pigpokey]

Are you sure MA registers grades? Georgia does not. We declare our kids' ages once a year but not their grades.

[karemore]

It does get confusing! We started DD with K last fall, she was about 4 1/2. By this spring she was working in the 1st grade books we have. We'll be doing 1st this fall, but she'd be starting K if she were in public school.

I'm in NY so I don't have to officially report her until next year when she's 6. My plan is to report her at the level she'd be in in public school. She may actually be working a year or so ahead of what I report, but I want to keep her on track for mandatory testing.

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

i would wait another year for K. I contemplated counting this coming year as k with ds when he was younger, but now that he is 4 I definitely see no benefit in counting him as k right now. If he does go to public school he will already be one of the youngest in his class, so even though he will be learning mostly from K/1st grades lessons this coming year, he's still Pre-K.

[dubatatamama]

I have contemplated stretching out K into 2 years to keep him at K level based on his age, but I don't want to hold him back if he's ready to go further. My DH had also suggested keeping a portfolio for a year behind so that I can just submit that to the school district and keep working at his pace. Not sure what I think of that.

I am also a little confused by the MA regs...They say compulsory attendance is when the child is 6 by December 31 of that school year so he would be 6 on January 18, 2012, so do I report in August of 2011 for the 2011-2012 school year, or wait until August 2012 which is when he would start 1st grade for PS.


See why I am confused??

[meetoo]

I would call him what ever grade he would be in if he attend public school, but then work at whatever level he needs.

[LoMaH]

Yeah, it's confusing.

Keep in mind that the compulsory age is different than the cut off age.
Compulsory age is when he must legally attend school - also it's the age for reporting him. Since he's 6 on Jan. 2012, then you'll be reporting him fall 2012 (2012-2013), please doublecheck.
You don't have to decide what grade to place him in 'til then (it doesn't have to correlate with the grade level of the books or materials you use-gear to his individual ability).
In the meantime, you have all of this time to learn the regulations and what's required of you.
Have you joined an online MA homeschooling group yet?
http://mhla.org/support/egroups.htm

The cut off age is what districts use to determine what grade to place him in. That may vary from county to county. That's what they use to accept him into K for fall 2011. School attendance for that year is optional for him because he won't be of compulsory age yet, see what I mean?

Find out the criteria the public school uses to place him if he were to enter school. Some places will simply place the child in the grade according to their age (cut off) at least at the elementary/middle school level. Others might assess the child or request copies of any assessments that you have given him.

If I were in your place, for now, I'd let him work at his own pace- very relaxed. Keep a portfolio of his work just for your own personal records since it'll be quite a while before you have to turn in any paperwork.

Originally Posted by dubatatamama

I have contemplated stretching out K into 2 years to keep him at K level based on his age, but I don't want to hold him back if he's ready to go further. My DH had also suggested keeping a portfolio for a year behind so that I can just submit that to the school district and keep working at his pace. Not sure what I think of that.

I am also a little confused by the MA regs...They say compulsory attendance is when the child is 6 by December 31 of that school year so he would be 6 on January 18, 2012, so do I report in August of 2011 for the 2011-2012 school year, or wait until August 2012 which is when he would start 1st grade for PS.


See why I am confused??

[nov05mama]

Originally Posted by karemore

I'm in NY so I don't have to officially report her until next year when she's 6. My plan is to report her at the level she'd be in in public school. She may actually be working a year or so ahead of what I report, but I want to keep her on track for mandatory testing.

Ditto this, only I am in NC. We have to report the year DS turns 7, and he, too, wouldn't go to Kindergarten in public school until 2011. I plan to "report" based on what it would be if he were in public school, but our actual curriculum will be at whatever level he happens to be at. We did mostly K stuff this past year (finishing now) and will be doing some 1st Grade stuff when we are starting "Kindy" in August, but to make it easier when it comes to the state reporting, I am just sticking to what it would be if we were a public school

[Savoir Faire]

My son is also 4.5 and a January birthday. He has an older sister 18 months older who just "finished" K.

(Really, she's pretty much going to do a second more waldorfy-K though it is called first.)

I don't know if I'd start much K work at this age, at least knowing what I know with my son. He also really likes to do "work," but I find that he's just happy to be busy.

Does he like games? Puzzles? Coloring? Crafts? Play-Dough? I'd maybe do some light school work but keep it fun for another year.

[skueppers]

Here in Maryland, there's no need to connect the schoolwork the child is doing at home with the grade they're officially registered at, which is done entirely by age.

When you bring in your portfolio twice a year, you just bring whatever they're doing, regardless of whether it meshes with what a public school student at that grade level would be expected to do.

So it's no problem for a "Kindergartner" to be doing "first grade math". You just bring sample pages of whatever they're actually doing.

I don't know much about the laws where you are, but I have trouble imagining that the school district would find it concerning if your child is doing work that is more advanced than the norm for their grade level.

My opinion is to let your kid work at whatever level they're actually at, but make it entirely voluntary at this age.

[VisionaryMom]

Originally Posted by dubatatamama

I am also a little confused by the MA regs...They say compulsory attendance is when the child is 6 by December 31 of that school year so he would be 6 on January 18, 2012, so do I report in August of 2011 for the 2011-2012 school year, or wait until August 2012 which is when he would start 1st grade for PS.

I'm not in MA, but when I checked with our district, here's what I found out. Compulsory attendance begins at age 6 (Dec. 31 cut-off). DS is 5, will turn 6 in Jan. 2011. If I don't report that we're HS this year and wait until the "compulsory" age, they will count him as K that year. So if I were schooling, I could put him in K this year or next year, but either way, you begin in K your first year. So by declaring our intent to HS this year, I'm putting him in K, according to the district.

The only thing I've considered in terms of school curriculum vs. what we're doing is whether we're covering the basic topics the school covers so that if we were to go to a brick & mortar school, he wouldn't be completely lost on certain topics.

[kgianforti]

[QUOTE=dubatatamama;15637600] My DH had also suggested keeping a portfolio for a year behind so that I can just submit that to the school district and keep working at his pace. Not sure what I think of that.
QUOTE]

This is what I'm doing...I have all the books my big girl has completed and samples of her work stored. I've been writing start and end dates on the inside covers as well. This is "just in case" because this won't be produced to the school unless they ask.

I believe when I have to report, I don't have to include what level she is working at when I list the material we are using. For example, I think I can just put "Singapore Math" for math.

[dubatatamama]

Originally Posted by LoMaH

Keep in mind that the compulsory age is different than the cut off age.
Compulsory age is when he must legally attend school - also it's the age for reporting him. Since he's 6 on Jan. 2012, then you'll be reporting him fall 2012 (2012-2013), please doublecheck.
You don't have to decide what grade to place him in 'til then (it doesn't have to correlate with the grade level of the books or materials you use-gear to his individual ability).

THIS! OK, so this is what I was thinking! And yes, we are part of 3 large HSing groups here and have our own preschool-K co-op that came about because of one of these groups, so they have been great, but one of the moms in my co-op said that I need to report in 2011 because he will turn 6 in the 2011-2012 school year, so I was super confused.

[dubatatamama]

Originally Posted by Savoir Faire

I don't know if I'd start much K work at this age, at least knowing what I know with my son. He also really likes to do "work," but I find that he's just happy to be busy.

Does he like games? Puzzles? Coloring? Crafts? Play-Dough? I'd maybe do some light school work but keep it fun for another year.

We definitely keep it fun and only do "school" when he asks for it. This is why I said earlier that he learned to read and do simple math through playing, every day life, and being read to. We do puzzles, coloring, crafts, play-dough, etc every week, so he is ready to add to this.

[dubatatamama]

Originally Posted by skueppers

When you bring in your portfolio twice a year, you just bring whatever they're doing, regardless of whether it meshes with what a public school student at that grade level would be expected to do.

So it's no problem for a "Kindergartner" to be doing "first grade math". You just bring sample pages of whatever they're actually doing.

Ok, this makes sense...thanks! I guess my worry would be that if for some reason he had to enter PS, how would the school handle it if I, for example, had a child who was the age of a typical 2nd grader doing 4th-5th grade level work? Not saying my child will be like this, just wondering hypothetically??

[dubatatamama]

Originally Posted by VisionaryMom

I'm not in MA, but when I checked with our district, here's what I found out. Compulsory attendance begins at age 6 (Dec. 31 cut-off). DS is 5, will turn 6 in Jan. 2011. If I don't report that we're HS this year and wait until the "compulsory" age, they will count him as K that year. So if I were schooling, I could put him in K this year or next year, but either way, you begin in K your first year. So by declaring our intent to HS this year, I'm putting him in K, according to the district.

Ok, this is what I was thinking...thanks!

[dubatatamama]

Originally Posted by kgianforti

This is what I'm doing...I have all the books my big girl has completed and samples of her work stored. I've been writing start and end dates on the inside covers as well. This is "just in case" because this won't be produced to the school unless they ask.

I believe when I have to report, I don't have to include what level she is working at when I list the material we are using. For example, I think I can just put "Singapore Math" for math.

Ok, so Dh's idea is not too far out there then

[skueppers]

Originally Posted by dubatatamama

Ok, this makes sense...thanks! I guess my worry would be that if for some reason he had to enter PS, how would the school handle it if I, for example, had a child who was the age of a typical 2nd grader doing 4th-5th grade level work? Not saying my child will be like this, just wondering hypothetically??

How would you prevent this situation? Think about how that would work in math. You could:

1) Put off formal math study until some future time when the other kids had caught up.
2) Teach math that's outside of the usual "scope and sequence" so that he gets interesting math work, but doesn't get too far ahead of the other kids.
3) Teach stuff he already knows.

Either of the first two actually has some advantages; I would personally lean toward (2), because I would want my child to continue to be exposed to interesting material in his areas of strength. Option 3 is a major reason why I wouldn't want my kids in public school; I don't think being bored in class is good for anyone.

As for how the school would handle it -- probably badly. But most schools handle gifted and/or advanced kids badly even if they've had them all along. I don't personally think this is a good reason to try to hold a child back. Of course, there is a difference between "holding him back" and focusing on other things. You can certainly avoid explicit teaching of math, reading, penmanship, etc. at this age, instead spending a lot of time on other pursuits, such as nature study, sports, and board games. Of course he'll continue to progress in reading and math even if you do nothing, but he doesn't need formal instruction unless he demands it himself.

[Reebekah]

i havent read the other responses....
my son is 4.5 also...he'll be 5 at the end of december. we are not starting k until next year because i want to keep him at grade level in case he ever has to enter school. however, we will be doing some k level work (and beyond) this fall (and are doing some now) in the areas where he is ready and willing....i'm just calling it preschool though. for example, he BREEZED thru the preschool handwriting without tears (it's one of his strong areas)...then we just finished the K book and he had no trouble at all with it....so we will move on to the 1st grade book. in other words, i'm letting him move at his own pace, with no pressure, but i'm calling it whatever grade he's "supposed" to be in.