skipping KG

[Anonymous]

Has anyone done this for their DC? whats are pros and cons?

[Anonymous]

Oh, don't do that to your kid.

Kindergarten is the best year of school, whether your kid can't spell her name or is the next wonder kid genius.

Why take that year away from your child?

[Anonymous]

My sister skipped KG. It was my mom's decision (obviously) but my sister has regrets. She had real social issues in HS being so much younger than the other girls (and girls can be really mean). She hit her stride in college and made some close friends but still I think her HS experience might have not been so miserable if she hadn't been a year younger than everyone else.

[Anonymous]

My dd didn't go to kindergarten. We were traveling out of the country and moving around so much. We got back to the US about 2 weeks before school started. She was almost 5, and they put her in kindergarten. Two weeks after school started they called us in for a meeting and asked if they could move her to 1st grade. It wasn't until third grade that she hit her stride and felt stimulated intellectually.

[Anonymous]

Ask any teacher of most any grade. They're going to tell you that skipping kindergarten would be a huge disservice to the child for years afterward. Teachers, please post on this!

If your concern is, "My very bright child is going to be bored stiff, is reading already prior to K, is doing math already...." please consider that K is as much about adjusting to the school environment and preparing for the structure and faster pace that hits when K is done. You can work with the school to find things to keep a bright child engaged, and believe me, even a bright kid whom you fear will be bored in K is going to be engaged and excited by the social side of it -- and that side matters.

I can't believe any public school would allow a child to skip K anyway. A private school of course could allow it, but I would seriously question the decision and whether the school was doing it mostly to keep the parents happy -- not because it's the best thing for the child.

[Anonymous]

Bad move, she may be academically capable of skipping kindergarten, but she will not be emotionally, socially or physically.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you talking about skipping a grade, or just keeping your DC out of school for a year and starting school a year later with agemates?

[Anonymous]

Why would a child skip kindergarten? It's their transition period into a school system and no matter how wonderful a preschool program is, kindergarten is still a big transition and milestone.

[Anonymous]

K really IS the best grade! make lots of friends and so on.

[Anonymous]

Did you skip preschool too?

And aren't there truancy laws? Even homeschoolers have to write a letter to the stating they are homeschooling, no?

[Anonymous]

I'm not certain, but it used to be that a child was not "truant" until 7. I don't think K is mandatory. It may have changed.

[Anonymous]

oops! just checked. School is mandatory at age 5 for MD, VA, and DC.

[Anonymous]

If she is really advanced and has been in a good preschool for enough time to gain solid social skills, by all means allow her to skip k. We did not and had a horrible time in k and 1st grade with a kid bored stiff, who actually had to unlearn her skills and relearn everything from scratch. Tears, boredom, trouble with discipline, hated school. Now that more subjects are actually more interesting, she's back to happy, but why put yourself through this?

There is no mandatory k attendance, so 1st grade is actually structured wery much like k.

If dc in on an upswing, why break it? Go to GMU, spend $250 on a unbiased assessment and take it from there. There is nothing magical about k which does not exist in1st grade.

[Anonymous]

If she is really advanced and has been in a good preschool for enough time to gain solid social skills, by all means allow her to skip k. We did not and had a horrible time in k and 1st grade with a kid bored stiff, who actually had to unlearn her skills and relearn everything from scratch. Tears, boredom, trouble with discipline, hated school. Now that more subjects are actually more interesting, she's back to happy, but why put yourself through this?

There is no mandatory k attendance, so 1st grade is actually structured wery much like k.

If dc in on an upswing, why break it? Go to GMU, spend $250 on a unbiased assessment and take it from there. There is nothing magical about k which does not exist in1st grade.

STRONGLY disagree. Maybe this child was unfortunate and had poor teachers. I am a former first grade and K teacher. There is so much more to this.

[Anonymous]

I know several people who have regretted putting their children ahead (regrets usually come in high school). I also know a family who moved in order to put their child back with his peers.