Would you start kindergarten mid year or redshirt?

[snarky]

Planning ahead. My DD was born 12/21. We currently live in a school district with 8/31 cutoff, so she would start kindergarten here in 2012. However, we are planning a move to a new town in 2011. The kindergarten cutoff date in the new town is 12/31, which would start her in kindergarten in 2011 school year. The catch is that my work pays out bonuses on 9/15, so it is very likely that I would not be able quit and enroll her in a school in the new town until October or November 2011.

In this scenario - would you enroll a young student mid year in the kindergarten (with no previous public school background) in a new town, or would you hold her back for 1 year? My daughter is a bit shy and I wonder if this might cause problems to be the youngest student in the class starting late.

Thanks

[whatsnextmom]

Kids can grow and change tremendously in a year (or 14 to 15 months like you are saying.) I wouldn't even attempt to make that decision until you are only a couple months out. Give her a nice preschool year this year just in case (whether in an actual preschool or at home with a playgroup, a little structured activity, ect.) If you can't check out the school prior to the move, just wait until you get there. Take a tour, ask your questions and decide then if your DD fits at that particular moment.

It's just too soon to make that decision especially when there really isn't anything for you to do about it until Fall of 2011.

[meemee]

the magical age to figure this out would be 4 1/2. not all kids but many many kids go thru this 'maturation' process at that age and suddenly develop in leaps and bounds. many of my friends sons had to wait till 4 1/2 to get an idea if they were even ready for K.

the answer to your question lies with the personality of your child. so if your child is shy and lacks confidence i would much rather err on waiting.

by fall 2011 you will know or come close to knowing whether dd will be ready or not.

also depends on the length of the K program. if the new place is half day then i would say oh cool try 2011. full day i would have more hesitancy. esp. if you dd doesnt handle structure very well.

we had great kind teachers. i would move my dd midstream. apparently in our district it is a common thing to do as i saw the stream of constant moving and new student coming in almost completely new to the semester.

[snarky]

It's full day kindergarten. She is in daycare now.

Do kids typically do just fine starting kindergarten starting late in the school year? If late starters are typically successful then I think I'll be more comfortable with the wait and see approach.

Thanks

[velochic]

It's too early to tell plus every kid is different. There's just no way to predict now what to do so far in the future... especially at such a young age.

Also, you may want to find out what the school policy is. The new school may not allow you to enroll your child mid-year without having been previously enrolled (or without an assessment).

[whatsnextmom]

Do kids typically do just fine starting kindergarten starting late in the school year?

We live in a town with a lot of military housing and kids are in and out all the time. I've never heard of any problems.

[amma_mama]

Originally Posted by snarky

It's full day kindergarten. She is in daycare now.

Do kids typically do just fine starting kindergarten starting late in the school year? If late starters are typically successful then I think I'll be more comfortable with the wait and see approach.

Thanks

DD started Kindy one month late and she was also the youngest in her class. She did fine. But we were super confident of her readiness and she was pretty adaptable to new surroundings. She was also accustomed to a full day program in pre-K. We had actually just returned from two years overseas (where she did pre-K) so it was a big transition for her but she handled it beautifully. Not to say that there were not a few bumps in the road, but she did great.

That said, I would not have guessed her readiness for such a transition if I had thought about it more than a year before that. I agree with the other PPs that you should take a wait and see attitude for now as you never know how much she will develop by Fall 2011, what the actual circumstances will be with timing, etc.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by whatsnextmom

We live in a town with a lot of military housing and kids are in and out all the time. I've never heard of any problems.

Yes, but not leaving home straight for school; they're probably transferring from one school to another. I live in a military town too.

[Girlprof]

We live in CT, which I think is one of the few states with a 12/31 cut-off. I would talk to the school when the time gets closer. It wont' be the first time they have experienced this. There were kids in and out of my son's KG class, but I don't know what their prior school experience was. One kid we knew from PS. He had a speech issue and had spent time in a foreign (non-English speaking) country. That is, he had two language issues against him. He did brilliantly! He was not at the "top of the class" at the end of the year or anything like that, but his progress was exceptional.

Anyway, definitely contact the school. They'll more than likely have ideas about how to handle it.

[rabrog]

Honestly, if you can't start her on time, wait to start her. There will be kids starting fall of 2012 with January birthdays who just missed the cut off, etc. and I don't think you're redshirting her by definition, either. She'd be going from a daycare situation to a full day K situation and not being there at the beginning with the rest of the class. Wait it out and start her fall of '12.

Jenn