Early Entrance for Kindergarten

[Anonymous]

OP, please read 14:04's post closely. I don't know what area you are in but in ours the kids who do EEK and succeed are really outliers. These are kids who are super advanced and will be in the top reading and math groups and probably go on to gifted programs. In the old days before they made skipping almost impossible they might have even been skipped another grade.
From your description of your son's skills he be in a middle reading group.

[Anonymous]

I have a DD who started K at 4 (Nov bday). She is still young (1st grade) and she was always socially immature for age but a quick learner. We were told that she's a top reader and her primary teacher was concerned about her being bored with the material (I'm not). I think the biggest benefit has been her social maturation. She's made significant leaps socially as the youngest in class. In our experience, at least, she did not benefit from being the oldest at all. Her friends are 5-12 months older and it's been primarily a good thing for K and 1st. Ironically, this was my biggest fear about pushing her forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I came back to this post because the EEK application is due this week for where we live. I am 95% sure that not sending him EEK is the best decision, but there's still 5% of me that's questioning that decision. It could be that I've been reading too many redshirt threads where people talk badly about older taller kids in K .

As of now, he's not quite reading but he recognizes some sight words and can sound out CVC words. I have not explicitly been teaching him how to read, but he's learning the letter sounds in his preschool/daycare and he puts the sounds together to create a word on his own.

He can count up to about 120 and he recognizes all the numbers and can write them. He can add and subtract 1 digit numbers without an issue and he can sometimes add and subtract 2 digit numbers accurately. He will sometimes use his fingers to help him, especially with subtraction.

He can write all the letters, but I have not seen him write any words.

In terms of behavior, he can tend to be more of a follower than a leader. He usually is a good listener, but can go through phases of testing boundaries. His teachers have been telling me lately that he's been calling out answers during circle time lately, without giving other kids an opportunity to answer the question. We've talked about that at home and it's been a little bit better lately.

My gut is to have him use the extra year of Pre-K to have him work on his listening skills, waiting his turn and to become physically stronger. He's tall, but he had a congenital heart defect that was corrected last year that caused him to have little strength/energy when most kids were developing their gross motor skills. He was in PT, but met all of his goals so he no longer attends. He could also use some extra time to strengthen his grip and acquire some more writing skills. The K curriculum where we live has a lot of writing, and kids who don't come in with some writing skills can tend to get frustrated (understandably).

If you were in my shoes, would you also not opt to test for EEK? I know only we can make the decision, but I'm curious to see what others in our position have done.

OP, here are your two choices:

1. Don't apply for EEK (i.e., send him on time).
2. Apply for EEK.

If you apply for EEK, and he doesn't get admitted, then you send him on time. If you apply, and he does get admitted, then again you have two choices:

1. Send him EEK.
2. Send him on time.

What would be the disadvantage of applying for EEK and seeing what happens? Even if he gets admitted EEK, you can still decide to turn down the EEK offer and send him on time instead.

[Anonymous]

Or, you send him to a private for K. who will accept him and then if he needs another year, do a public K to repeat. If not, do private 1st and then transfer into public in 2nd.

[Anonymous]

October bday here. Lived in an area with a late cutoff, so started K at 4. No problems whatsoever (other than being slightly annoyed that I couldn't get into some age 18+ clubs with friends for the first couple months freshman year in college). Did well on SATs, had full academic ride to college, went on to earn a PhD. I think it depends on the kid, but being on the young side in and of itself shouldn't be the main driver for deciding not to enroll such a kid in K, IMO. Also, there's the risk of a kid starting a year later and being bored and not challenged.

I now have a 4yo with a September bday, but live in DC where the cutoff for K is Sept. 30. I actually want my kid to be challenged to keep up with the slightly older kids, both physically and cognitively. If there was a specific issue/reason for holding back, we'd consider it. However, kid's already been in PK3 and now PK4 with these kids, and is doing well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or, you send him to a private for K. who will accept him and then if he needs another year, do a public K to repeat. If not, do private 1st and then transfer into public in 2nd.

It's April 2016. Isn't it a bit late to apply to a private kindergarten for August 2016? That's assuming that the OP even has $20,000+ to spare, of course.

[Anonymous]

I say at least take the test and see what feedback you get. We decided to send our son with a November birthday to K at 4 based on the pre schools recommendation. Here's what they said: he is extremely curious and when there is a lull in preK he asked a million questions, he focuses well, he "takes care" of other kids, he's was big for his age and very Afvanced with gross mortar and fine motor skills. The test showed he as academically ready so we sent him. It has been great. He's now a senior and will go off to college at 17. It was never an issue and he always did well academically. Socially he fit right in. So I would listen to the folks who administer the test and the pre - school recommendations.

[Anonymous]

My child has a November birthday and was reading by the time he entered PK3 (i.e. he was nearly 4) -- two years before he began K. He's always been academically advanced. But he needed that extra year to get the social and emotional skills.

Can your kid unpack their lunch and pack everything back up again and put it in a backpack? Can he negotiate another kid who is having a lousy day and who verbally lashes out at him? Can he weather a setback if he is doing schoolwork, and get himself back on an even keel? These are all things that are really really important to a good K experience and to setting kids on a path of actually enjoying and being engaged in their school experiences for life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or, you send him to a private for K. who will accept him and then if he needs another year, do a public K to repeat. If not, do private 1st and then transfer into public in 2nd.

It's April 2016. Isn't it a bit late to apply to a private kindergarten for August 2016? That's assuming that the OP even has $20,000+ to spare, of course.

Depends on the school. A smaller less know may have space. We didn't pay $20,000, almost did but didn't love the school. We paid about $11000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or, you send him to a private for K. who will accept him and then if he needs another year, do a public K to repeat. If not, do private 1st and then transfer into public in 2nd.

It's April 2016. Isn't it a bit late to apply to a private kindergarten for August 2016? That's assuming that the OP even has $20,000+ to spare, of course.

Depends on the school. A smaller less know may have space. We didn't pay $20,000, almost did but didn't love the school. We paid about $11000.

Two years = $22,000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or, you send him to a private for K. who will accept him and then if he needs another year, do a public K to repeat. If not, do private 1st and then transfer into public in 2nd.

It's April 2016. Isn't it a bit late to apply to a private kindergarten for August 2016? That's assuming that the OP even has $20,000+ to spare, of course.

d

privates are known for redshirting. not a good choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or, you send him to a private for K. who will accept him and then if he needs another year, do a public K to repeat. If not, do private 1st and then transfer into public in 2nd.

It's April 2016. Isn't it a bit late to apply to a private kindergarten for August 2016? That's assuming that the OP even has $20,000+ to spare, of course.

d

privates are known for redshirting. not a good choice.

Not ours. Several Sept, October kids. All doing great.

[Anonymous]

OP, long story short, we've been there. You are wise to look ahead to middle school & high school. There are definitely social & emotional challenges for the youngest kid in the grade, even if the student is at the top of his or her class academically.

I would give almost anything to un-ring the bell. Our DS might have a very different, possibly much happier life if I could. There's so much more to school than academics, which you as an educator likely recognize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, long story short, we've been there. You are wise to look ahead to middle school & high school. There are definitely social & emotional challenges for the youngest kid in the grade, even if the student is at the top of his or her class academically.

I would give almost anything to un-ring the bell. Our DS might have a very different, possibly much happier life if I could. There's so much more to school than academics, which you as an educator likely recognize.

There are POTENTIAL social and emotional challenges for the youngest kid in the grade. But on the other hand, there are potential social and emotional challenges for any kid in the grade. I think it's would be silly to say, "Larlo is ready for kindergarten now, but I'm not going to send him, because it's possible that he might have problems in middle school and high school." If he has problems in middle school and high school, which he might, or he might not, then you can deal with this problems if and when they actually happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, long story short, we've been there. You are wise to look ahead to middle school & high school. There are definitely social & emotional challenges for the youngest kid in the grade, even if the student is at the top of his or her class academically.

I would give almost anything to un-ring the bell. Our DS might have a very different, possibly much happier life if I could. There's so much more to school than academics, which you as an educator likely recognize.

There are POTENTIAL social and emotional challenges for the youngest kid in the grade. But on the other hand, there are potential social and emotional challenges for any kid in the grade. I think it's would be silly to say, "Larlo is ready for kindergarten now, but I'm not going to send him, because it's possible that he might have problems in middle school and high school." If he has problems in middle school and high school, which he might, or he might not, then you can deal with this problems if and when they actually happen.

+1. Also, if socio-emotional problems do occur later on, you can't definitively say they were due to being the youngest in the class. They could be due to a number of other things, in combination with the kid's temperament. Further, even if you redshirt, there's no guarantee that these problems would NOT still occur.

Correlation does not equal causation, folks.