Private school wants to move 4yr old to K
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Anonymous
| This was offered for my DD too. If she's ready and the day won't be too long, go for it. There may be more space in the kg class too. |
Anonymous
Omg, please stop basing this outlook on dated opinion pieces. |
Anonymous
Lol I think it is a given there is more space, since the preschool director is trying to move her kid and free up a preschool spot! |
Anonymous
| OP, my DD sounds like she was similar at that age. She started K at age 4 (turned 5 in November). She always excelled academically, but the older she was, the more we noticed that socially and emotionally she was not as mature as the other kids This became more apparent and pronounced through middle school. My DD ended up voluntarily repeating a year of middle school (at a different school) and it was absolutely the best thing we ever did for her. She told us that she finally felt like she was in school with kids the same age as her (and there were still many that were older in her class), and she got everything she needed academically. She ended up top of her class and went on to an Ivy, and recognizes that she made better friendships after she was held back. I would STRONGLY encourage you to keep your DD with her age cohort. I have never talked to a parent that regretted it, but have talked to some that regretted accelerating their child. |
Anonymous
I thought *exactly* the same thing. That said, if the kid is bright, and might move up a grade eventually, I’d do it now. |
Anonymous
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OP, this happened to me, except I ended up skipping kindergarten.
Your DD sounds a lot like me. I was a January baby. I'm also prone to anxiety. It is what it is -- grade level isn't going to change that. I don't think you can really make a mistake here. If she's really that bright and curious, she'll find a way to learn and challenge herself regardless of her environment. |
Anonymous
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I would not. In my Catholic school as a kid, they sent the gifted kid to do specific classes in a higher level classroom. That could be an option.
I had a little one like yours - anxiety, vocab and all - and although she's still very smart, I believe she was just more of an early bloomer than some kind of genius. This is especially common with girls and vocabulary. When she was nine months old she had 100 words - I counted. Eventually Algebra, Physics etc. caught up with her. I am glad she was in her regular age group. Her peers will eventually close the gap and you want her to be with her real peers by then. She'll be fine. |
Anonymous
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I would keep her I. Pre- K — to have a developmentally appropriate, more play-based learning experience. It sounds like she can work on social skills enjoy a classroom experience with kids who may be more likely to be her peers, and continue to get academic enrichment from copying her older brother - if she wishes to. If problems do come up, you can deal with them if and as thy arise.
My bias is that it’s easier to move kids up academically then it is to move them back — while this may be her best opportunity to enjoy an enriched play based classroom environment. As an older kid, it could be easier to have her move to other classes for specific subjects or give her advanced instruction or homework. In a few years, if you’re still considering skipping a grade, it can be with her input — which isn’t really possible now. TLDR: It’s a lot easier to provide advanced academic instruction in a variety of ways, should she need it. It won’t be easy, later on, to provide her with the peer experiences and relaxed, play based experience should you realize in a year or two that she missed out on this by skipping an early grade. One more piece: young kids don’t often have even academic development. You don’t want her to be a young third grader struggling with social skills and possibly with more structured academic demands. On the other hand, if, after a semester or a year or more she seems academically and socially advanced, you can always revisit the idea os skipping a grade. You might even investigate schools with mixed grade or mixed aged classes. Wishing you well with these decisions! |
Anonymous
Actually if it’s a sept 1st cutoff sept bdays will be the oldest. And there will be more of them than you think. |
Anonymous
Realize that many kids in the class will be 12-15 months older than her. |
Anonymous
Spoken like a true idiot. You use the phrase “than you think” b/c you actually have no data to back up your beliefs. Did your kid go to Winchester by any chance? |
Anonymous
I was a December kid who skipped a grade. My sister has a June birthday and was legitimately gifted and also skipped a grade. It was totally fine for me, but I would say it was a social-emotional disaster for my sister from which she didn’t recover until college. I don’t know if she would have been OK with those extra6 months. Maybe she would have been mature enough? She’s great now, 40 years after skipping kindergarten. 
All that’s to say that I probably wouldn’t let my kid skip a grade unless she was exceptionally socially mature. |
Anonymous
I said “one“ of the oldest. And I say that as a parent of a DD who barely missed cutoff and I‘m going to “greenshirt“. All these people who redshirt have no clue how slow our education system is for even remotely bright children who ought to be challenged. |
Anonymous
| Putting her in a class where she's 2 years ahead academically isn't going to help her with social skills. She's going to think they're all idiots. |
Anonymous
| Just as a counter, I let my DD do this. Honestly, I regret it because she wasn’t socially precocious, and she’s has, ever since, been a shrinking violet in her classroom. Still does well academically, but... she likes being with younger friends. |