School deadline is 10/1, DDs bday is 9/24...wwyd?

[ellairiesmom]

If your DCs bday was less than 1 week before the deadline, what things would you look at over the next 6 months to decide whether to enroll in K for next year?  What other factors would you take into consideration unrelated to your DC, if any?  Like, if waiting the extra year bought you another year to save for a house in a good public school district & kept your DC out of the crappy public school for K next year, would that matter?  Would you consider waiting so that siblings could be closer in school years?  Or would it only come down to whether or not DC was ready?  And what if you weren't sure when it came time to register?  

I am a 9/30 bday & started K at 4.  I believe that in middle school, I was less mature than the other girls & it may have impacted my social skills slightly, although I was popular, very involved & had lots of friends.  Other aspects that stunk were I couldn't drive until a month into my Senior year & in college, I couldn't go out with my peers until a month into my Senior year.  (superficial concerns but they were reality for me at the time)  

DD has completed 1 year of 2 day a week preschool & is now in her 2nd year of PS & is attending 3 days/week.  They go 9am to 1pm.  She loves it & would love to go 5 days but for now, we don't want to pay the extra $.  She is writing her 1st & last name, is very social, loves to color/draw, talk etc.  She is still struggling with being quiet when it's time for someone else to talk and stuff like sharing...pretty age appropriate stuff.  

We are moving in 3 weeks & the Preschool I want to enroll her in has a 3 year old program, a 4 year old program and then their own K program.  Ideally, she will be there for K since we will be renting in a crappy, failing school district for 2-4 years & I do not want her to attend that public school if I can avoid it.  She just turned 4.  I can't decide if I should have her go into the 4 program now and repeat, then do K.  Or do 4 then K.  Or do 3, then 4, then K.

[TiredX2]

It actually sounds like you are in a really good position moving to a preschool that also offers Kindergarten.  In that situation, I would definately send DC to kinder "on time" with the knowledge that the following year you could send her either to K or 1 at her new school (depending on what seems best at the time).

Is there any chance you will be moving out of your current state?  In many states, the cut-off would be earlier so she wouldn't qualify (age-wise) for kinder next year anyway (here the cut-off is 8/31).

[pianojazzgirl]

My dd's b-day is Sept 16 and the cutoff here is Oct 1.  So she's the youngest in her class and only makes the cutoff by 2wks.

My take on it is that I would enroll her in the class she's supposed to be in (ie. not hold her back a year) unless I had serious concerns that she wouldn't be able to cope.  If she was giving signs of being significantly behind her peers at preschool, for example. 

In our case I am very glad we did not hold dd back a year.  2nd grade is a perfect fit for her (she just turned 7).  She does well in school, but is challenged, and to date hasn't had any social problems.

I was the youngest in my class after skipping grade 4.  I didn't feel like it impacted me in a negative way.  My biggest problem (in my young mind!) was that I didn't get my period or need a bra till high school.  But that was just me being a late developer.  My best friend (one of the oldest in our class) had the same problem.  The range of "normal" for entering puberty is so big that being youngest or oldest in the class is no guarantee of anything.  As for once I was a (developed, lol) teenager, I had the same freedoms as my classmates.  I guess my parents saw me as being a "grade 11" (or whatever) and treated me accordingly.  Not so far as to let me drive a car before I was legally old enough, but in every other respect.

[ellairiesmom]

Thx for the feedback Mamas.  We will be remaining in the same state, just one town over or so.  We aren't sure how long before we can buy & I think it's safe to assume we might be in the bad school district in 2 years still.  

I guess the biggest thing is to of course see how she does over the next few months with the move & switching to a new school.  I will have to see how things go.  

And it is good that this school has the Pre & K program.

[Peony]

DD2 barely misses the cutoff here, also Oct 1st. We attend a small private school with a preschool. We had the option of keeping her in preschool this year or sending her on to K and having her do it for 2 years. Oddly enough there were 3 of them in the preschool last year, all big girls who had birthday the same week in oct. The other two elected to go on and do 2 years of K, I kept DD2 in preschool. I freaked out right before school and tried to get her into K (they changed teachers on me a week before school started) but they were full.

Eh. I'm still not sure how I feel about everything. She has been enjoying being the big kid in PK, bossing the other kids around... She still enjoys doing all the drawing, and fun things they do in PK. She gets to work on letters and numbers while the younger kids are sleeping, she is starting to recognize sight words. The PK teacher is thinking of sending her over to the K room for reading now. I also think she gets bored. She is actually sitting home with me right now when she would normally go to school today because she freaked out over rest time today. She has to lay there and be quiet for 30 minutes until the other kids fall asleep (state day for full day preschool) and then she can get up. She HATES that time of day and I can't pick up at half day, 4 kids and too much time in the car already. But then to have been one of the youngest in K... I don't know. There are boys that were 6 before school started and then she would of been 4. 

I do have to say that I was thrilled the decision for long term wasn't mine to make because she did miss the cut off.I didn't want her to forever be the youngest. I also made the cut of by a week, was the youngest in my grade always. I just always felt one step behind everyone. And I do blame a lot of my troubles in high school on emotionally immaturity. Being barely 14 and in school with 18 year olds, that was a recipe for trouble for me! Good luck. It is a hard decision with no clear cut right or wrong answer. I don't envy you. 

[mar123]

My youngest DD, was born on September 25th (I was due October 3rd), and since she was breech and I had already had 2 sections, I got to pick the date. I wanted a September birthday for her; Our deadline is also October 1, and I wanted it to be my decision whether or not she started school- not have her miss the deadline by 1 or 2 days. Anyway, she started on time and has done incredibly well. First of all, girls typically do well if they are younger in the class as opposed to boys. Also, she was my third child, so she is more socially and academically advanced simply because she learns from her brother and sister(I had 3 in 5 years, so they do lots of things together). Those are things to consider. She is now 11, still the youngest in her class and also the tallest, makes straight As, behaves in class, etc. I shudder to think how bored and out of place she would have been had I held her back.

The school all my children have attended is more than willing to start kids in a higher grade level and move them down if need be. I know a few parents who have elected to do this- starting in K and moving to Pre-K a few weeks in. This can be a great option as opposed to committing to an entire year and having it be a rough one, potentially souring the child on school as a whole. Maybe talk to the school and see if they would be willing to do this.

[NZJMama]

My son is Sept 16 and the cutoff is Oct. 1. We waited and so far I have no regrets.