Child going to Kindergarten Early...

[Bliz]

In addition to the test, I would suggest a scheduled meeting with your kid's preschool teacher. Really talk to them and see what they think, not just a conversation in passing as you're picking them up. They'll have a lot of insight, particularly on the maturity issue. My daughter is July 31, with the cutoff Sept 1, so will either go to Kindergarten next year as one of the youngest or we'll hold her back. So we'll be in the same boat. I have no doubt she can handle the academics, but a little more concerned about the maturity issue.

For us, school choice may factor into the equation as well. Our zoned public school is unacceptably terrible. So we'll try to get into one of the local charter schools, and if we don't that would weigh heavily in favor of holding her back.

[SnyderShrugged]

ditto.

my wife and i actually just held my son back to have him repeat the 9th grade. he was starting at a new school, so it made sense socially (i.e. not a year behind all his friends) and it has helped his maturity. he's still taking the courses he would, by and large, as a 10th grader, which gives him the chance to take more higher level classes but have them spread out a bit.

***edit***
we held him back just for maturity reasons, and even those weren't all that great. he was a 4.0 student in his public school and just got a 3.8 in his first marking period at his new public school (taking pre-calc and chem as a freshman). his confidence socially and personally is 100x higher.

we did almost the same thing when we moved except it was 4th grade instead of 9th. It made such an awesome difference in her confidence.

[pjfootballer]

Everytime I see a thread like this, everyone has to remind us how much smarter their kids, grandkids, neices, nephews, etc. are. Glad to see some post with just average kids (which is usually the case most of the time) and some that admit that their kid struggles. Not all kids are great in school. I was above average, but not brilliant. My sister struggled in school and ended up with a GED. There was some good advice in here for Dictator. I'm with alot of them that say, hold her back one more year instead of having to hold her back 1 year later on. She won't know the real difference right now, but in 7th grade it might become embarrassing to have to hold her back. I'm a January baby, so I was 5 and half when I went to kindergarten. I was a probably a B student and I got my undergraduate degree.

[Dictator]

Everytime I see a thread like this, everyone has to remind us how much smarter their kids, grandkids, neices, nephews, etc. are. Glad to see some post with just average kids (which is usually the case most of the time) and some that admit that their kid struggles. Not all kids are great in school. I was above average, but not brilliant. My sister struggled in school and ended up with a GED. There was some good advice in here for Dictator. I'm with alot of them that say, hold her back one more year instead of having to hold her back 1 year later on. She won't know the real difference right not, but in 7th grade it might become embarrassing to have to hold her back. I'm a January baby, so I was 5 and half when I went to kindergarten. I was a probably a B student and I got my undergraduate degree.

I'm a member at another forum. And everyone's kids there are either:
A. going to be the next world leader or
B. On the autism spectrum
Nobody has an average kid. By and large, my daughter is pretty average. Which is why I posed this question in the first place. If she were exceptional, I'd already have her in a real school. Our other child (our neice who we raise) is very much average. We know she's not going to be in GT classes. She also not the dumbest kid in class either. We just expect her to try to her best.
And yes, there is a lot of food for thought in this thread and I thank everyone for sharing. Some of this my wife and I did discuss last night after dinner.

[airborneskins]

Having gone through this with my oldest (Born Oct 1), I would suggest that if syour daughter is ready, put her in K.

My daughter had started Pre-K while I lived in NC and when we moved to MD we put her in K (prior to her 5th bday). She is now in 8th grade (just turned 13 this week) and still getting straight A's (in NJHS) with 2 HS credits already. She may be the exception, but if you and your wife feel that your daughter is ready, then I wouldnt hesitate to enroll her in K.

[Huly]

My parents put me in Private School 4K where I could go to Kindergarten in public school the following September as my birthday is 9/18 and was after the cut off but if you passed 4K you could go. No downfall at all through school with learning. The only issue I might have had if I opted for it was I could have graduated my Junior year and I would have only been 16 starting college but I chose to take the one course I need and a few electives/APP courses my SR year and have early outs both my JR and SR year.
(part of middle school & high school I went back to a private school as I had issues with loosing my brother and he had some of the same teachers I had and the cemetary was close to my middle school so I had to see it daily)

I still was a little young starting college and since I breezed through regular school I did not have good study habits as teachers actually taught in my Private School and Public School. I still to this day can not read a book and remember it. I read the same things for fun so it could be part of my ADHD too. Also being so young got into the freedom aspect so all the beer didn't help my grades either but I met Pez

[pjfootballer]

I'll toot my own horn a little. I needed Senior year English to graduate. I already had surpassed all the credit hours necessary to graduate from HS a year early. I could have tested out and went to college at 17, but my parents thought it would be good for me to enjoy my Senior year. So, I took 3 classes my Senior year- English, Computer, and Band. I was a teachers aid for 1 period.

I went to HS in the morning and went to Charles County Community College and took 2 courses in the fall and 2 in the spring. By the time I graduated HS, I had 12 hours towards my degree that transferred to my 4 year college. They decided I should do the college waiver program and that would prepare me for actual college. I don't regret it. Plus, I worked and stayed in marching band my Senior year. Suffice it to say, I had zero time for anything.

HS part time, college part time, working part time and marching at football games.

[Huly]

I'll toot my own horn a little. I needed Senior year English to graduate. I already had surpassed all the credit hours necessary to graduate from HS a year early. I could have tested out and went to college at 17, but my parents thought it would be good for me to enjoy my Senior year. So, I took 3 classes my Senior year- English, Computer, and Band. I was a teachers aid for 1 period.

I went to HS in the morning and went to Charles County Community College and took 2 courses in the fall and 2 in the spring. By the time I graduated HS, I had 12 hours towards my degree that transferred to my 4 year college. They decided I should do the college waiver program and that would prepare me for actual college. I don't regret it. Plus, I worked and stayed in marching band my Senior year. Suffice it to say, I had zero time for anything.

HS part time, college part time, working part time and marching at football games.

SR English was the one I was missing too! I hate English but I had to take it so I took it and for fun Marine Bio, Psychology, & AP Calc. I like Science and Math Even though I stayed for my SR year I started college at 17.

[jnhay]

I find it hard to believe that a few months really has that much of an effect.

[Special K]

My daughter is currently 4. She'll turn 5 next 9-28-13. The cut off for normal enrollment in to K is Sept 1 (students must be 5 by Sept 1). I can apply for early admission for her to go next year. Or she'll need to wait until 2014 (by which time she'll almost be 6).

One of the benefits from my POV is a serious reduction in the amount of Childcare costs we're currently paying. I honestly think, intellectually, she'd be ready for kindergarten NOW (ask Buford. She's a smart kid). She knows everything that would be required. I have heard that many don't recommend early admission for children into pre-k. But I don't know anyone who's been in this position with their children.

So, after all the rambling, what would be a drawback to having her go to kindergarten a "year" early (even though she misses the "cutoff" by only 28 days)?

My parents sent me early (my birthday is Sept. 17) and I'm only mildly screwed up

My advice is to not take advice from anyone on this message board. If you feel your daughter is ready and chomping at the bit, put her in. I loved it and excelled both academically and athletically. If you're wanting your child to get an athletic scholarship to a DI school and go pro her sophomore year, I suppose I would hold her back a year...

[zskins]

Good thing my son was born on Sept. 3rd. So didn't have any problems. The other two kids were born in Aug. I planned to have my kids born before school started. I wanted to make sure my kids graduate from high school when they are only 17.

As for you it would be early in America as in K they really start teaching at a advance level. Not sure about the country you are in as to what the curriculum is. Only you can make that decision.

[Dictator]

I had a parent teacher conference with my kids pre-school teacher a few weeks ago. She said my daughter would be ready for K now, So I submitted my letter to the school requesting early admission. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

This is my father's theory. He was an elementary school principal for 30 years so he kind of knows his stuff.

With girls, the maturity level is not that important. With boys, it is extremely important.

"Summer baby" boys made up something like 90 percent of all the children who failed or were held back in his schools.

So, if this was a boy, I would scream "No! No! No!" With a girl - eh - it's probably too young but may not do any lasting damage.

[skinsmarydu]

I had 2 full years of what we called "nursery school" in the 60s. By the time I got to K, I could read, write, tell time (my dad thought it would be funny if my first watch was Roman numerals, and even though I didn't know the add/subtract of it all at the time, I knew what numbers went where, and mastered it), dress myself, tie shoes, etc. (My grandson is 8 and can't tie his shoes...or won't...) My only issue with K was that they made me COLOR!! Because I learned nothing from it, I refused, and got notes sent home. My parents laughed, 'cuz I never colored anything, even as a toddler. They suggested the teacher find other things to keep me occupied, and back then, teachers were more intent on having and mentoring smarter kids, so they did. ( I got an extra math sheet or two, and was forgiven for not coloring.)
I saw on GMA some time ago about "red-shirting" your kids...wait till 6 to get them into K, because then your kid will be bigger, older, hopefully smarter, and more of a "leader". Of what? Musical chairs? I was on the fence, but then I remembered that school is NOT what it used to be. Sad that we can't always know what we're getting when we send the little ones out there.

[ATown Jacoby]

Read "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell a few years ago. He has some interesting theories as far as success in life goes. First chapter of the books explains how a disproportionate majority of elite youth hockey players in Canada were born exactly on or very close to or afterJanuary 1st of each year. (these are kids that have a real chance to make a career out of playing hockey) He explains how these players are at such an advantage not because they were fortunate enough to have a stronger skill set, but rather, they just had more time to practice in life compared to their peers-for example a kid that was born on January 10th plays in the same league as a kid that was born December 10th of the same year. Similar to the school argument. A kindergartner that was born in October, will be in the same class as a student that was born in say, July of the following calendar year. Nothing wrong with that, and their is no way around it, but just a fact of life. Kids that are "older" seem to have an advantage.

http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/52014/index2.html