September 6 birthday girl - Early Entrance to K? WWYD?

[Anonymous]

I regret holding my child back. We are in a preschool where they are working on basics and he is far beyond that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess that there are some people who believe that no child should ever start school early. If the cut-off is September 1, and you were born at 12:01 am on September 2, then you must go to school a year later than if you were born 2 minutes earlier, or your life will be ruined -- I guess?

Or should the guiding principle be more generally that your child must never be the youngest child in the class? That's a prescription for an arms race.

I think that's the idea.

[Anonymous]

Then move him up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess that there are some people who believe that no child should ever start school early. If the cut-off is September 1, and you were born at 12:01 am on September 2, then you must go to school a year later than if you were born 2 minutes earlier, or your life will be ruined -- I guess?

Or should the guiding principle be more generally that your child must never be the youngest child in the class? That's a prescription for an arms race.

Personally, I think the county should say:

Sept 1st.

Aug1st to Aug 30th can have a chose to redshirt

Sept 1-30th can advance (if test is passed)

All others must wait/go on time. The end

[Anonymous]

I redshirted my son (July birthday) and it was the right decision. We are moving to private and he will be in exactly the middle of his class age wise because of their "informal" earlier cutoffs.
That said, I have met very few little girls that need to be redshirted. She is so close to the cutoff, I think it really won't make a difference either way, assuming she passes the early admission test.

[Anonymous]

There's a reason for a cutoff date. Stick to that and move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a reason for a cutoff date. Stick to that and move on.

There's also a reason for an Early Entrance option, don't ya think?

[Anonymous]

There's a reason for a cutoff date. Stick to that and move on.

Make the best decision for your own child. Other decisions will be made for you soon enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I regret holding my child back. We are in a preschool where they are working on basics and he is far beyond that.

Oh please. Every parent feels that their child is special. So, if everyone moves up, then what's the purpose of a cutoff date?

[Anonymous]

I'd send her.

[Anonymous]

OP here. At fall preschool conference, teacher said nothing but good things about her social/emotional maturity. We mentioned that we had enrolled her in the 4s class because we may be considering starting her "early" for K. The teacher (Teacher B) was surprised that she was one of the youngest and said our daughter was fitting in really well.

Fast forward to when we made a request this January to talk to teachers re: daughter's progress, with an eye toward Early Entrance. Teacher A immediately launched into "as early childhood educators we could NEVER in good conscience recommend starting early." She then went into a fairly impassioned speech about it, including how she wished she'd held back her now adult spring-birthday son because he took five years to get through college. She absolutely did not look at my kid as an individual - she had a fixed position that was firmly held. She acknowledged that our daughter has advanced academic skills, but then expressed deep concern about her social skills. She have as an example that my daughter is "just now emerging from parallel play". Um, fascinating, seeing as how she seen well past that for about two years and is very social and chatty with friends. Her "social delays" popped up only after we indicated an interest in sending her to K. Teacher B also informed me that they ALWAYS write on the teacher report (required for Early Entrance app) that they see no benefit to advancing the student and recommend against it. So - I just don't get the sense that I'm going to get an objective read on my child on social/emotional. Teacher B did her best to dismiss the academic as well. Her goal was to talk us out of it entirely.

We will likely complete the application process and see where it goes.

[Anonymous]

Of course early childhood educators can in good conscience recommend starting early. My child's preschool teacher did. (I'm the PP with the EEK child in third grade.) Although it's true that I didn't specifically ask her whether she was doing it in good conscience.

But the good news is that if you're in Montgomery County, then you do not have to submit a teacher report. You just fill out the preschool information on the form. If the teacher would give a good recommendation, I would submit it, but since the teacher won't, I would find other people (somebody from your daughter's extracurricular activities, if she does any) to give a recommendation, or just skip the recommendation.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't worry about the teachers' recommendations. They mean well but their philosophy just seems to different from yours.

If you think she's ready to for the not so great parts of K like being able to sit for long periods of time, do a lot of worksheets, managing relationships with older students who can be bullies, deal with criticism/reprimands from teachers without freaking out then I would go for it. If she passes the exam, which it sounds like she should, I would ask her what she wants and I think you said she's already indicated that she really really wants to go to K.

If you do send her through EEK, the age gap between your child and the next youngest kid will be negligible. In our school there are at least six children that I know about who have birthdays between Aug. 1 and Sept. 1. Plus two kids who got in through EEK.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. At fall preschool conference, teacher said nothing but good things about her social/emotional maturity. We mentioned that we had enrolled her in the 4s class because we may be considering starting her "early" for K. The teacher (Teacher B) was surprised that she was one of the youngest and said our daughter was fitting in really well.

Fast forward to when we made a request this January to talk to teachers re: daughter's progress, with an eye toward Early Entrance. Teacher A immediately launched into "as early childhood educators we could NEVER in good conscience recommend starting early." She then went into a fairly impassioned speech about it, including how she wished she'd held back her now adult spring-birthday son because he took five years to get through college. She absolutely did not look at my kid as an individual - she had a fixed position that was firmly held. She acknowledged that our daughter has advanced academic skills, but then expressed deep concern about her social skills. She have as an example that my daughter is "just now emerging from parallel play". Um, fascinating, seeing as how she seen well past that for about two years and is very social and chatty with friends. Her "social delays" popped up only after we indicated an interest in sending her to K. Teacher B also informed me that they ALWAYS write on the teacher report (required for Early Entrance app) that they see no benefit to advancing the student and recommend against it. So - I just don't get the sense that I'm going to get an objective read on my child on social/emotional. Teacher B did her best to dismiss the academic as well. Her goal was to talk us out of it entirely.

We will likely complete the application process and see where it goes.

[Anonymous]

BTDT. DD has late Sept bday. We are in FFX Co so she started K on time and turned 5 in K. Currently HS senior, has never had any issues socially or academically and we have never regretted the decision. It really depends on the kid. One of her friends has a birthday close to hers but was redshirted and it was the right decision for her.

[Anonymous]

I have one who went on time but is on the older side and in some states could have started K a year earlier, although not in our state. He is a senior this year, and all I can say is that I am so glad that he is at home this year rather than already at college as he would be if we had lived in a different state when he started K. A kid who is a year more mature is likely to make better decisions and choices when senior year comes around.

And twelve years goes by in a flash. You will blink, and your child will be in high school.