September 6 birthday girl - Early Entrance to K? WWYD?
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Anonymous
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Our daughter's birthday is 5 days after the cutoff to go "on time" for K in 2015. She's currently in a pre-K class with kids that would be her 2015 K peer group (the preschool was fine with her joining the 4s class despite being 5 days too young). Family context: she has two older siblings that have tested very high and are in accelerated programs/work groups, despite both being "summer birthday" boys who were sent on time. She seems in line with the ability of her brothers. She's currently doing some simple math and has, just this week, decided she wants to read (so she's working her way through the early Bob Books and sounding out words in her other favorite books). She's an eager learner and DESPERATELY wants to go to K next year, though I really doubt she understands what K is; she just knows it's more school and in the same place as her brothers.
Upsides to sending her in 2015: she'd likely be working in the appropriate academic peer group versus waiting to go in 2016. I am thoroughly in favor of kids having to strive to achieve, versus being top in the class and having it come easy to them. I think she'd continue to be excited about learning if we send her in 2015; I'm concerned that in 2016 she may end up paying a whole lot less attention to the "teaching" components of the day as there wouldn't be a lot of new challenges. Downsides: she'd be the youngest and would stay the youngest. She may, in comparison to her older classmates, appear to be less advanced (and we all know that teachers do judge kids as "smart" or "not so smart", even if they try not to; it's just human nature). IF, like her brothers, she tests into advanced programming (testing is age-normed, not grade-normed), she may end up being the youngest in a classroom full of other equally bright kids; in that case, she may be a bit overmatched by her peer group, instead of more appropriately placed with an older peer group if not in the advanced program. Thoughts? Recommendations? BTDT? We're struggling a lot with this decision because we do believe she's ready now - but don't want to make a wrong decision that could ultimately have a more significant downside for her than waiting a year to go to K. When we attempted to talk through this with her pre-K teacher, the teacher got teary-eyed and talked about how hard it is for 17 year olds to make big life decisions, taking away a year of childhood, etc. - but I don't know that speculative difficulty 12+ years from now is reason to wait (and I also don't believe childhood is stolen away by being in school - we're not magically deleting a 12 month period from her life - she just spends it differently). Anyway - I welcome your thoughts! |
Anonymous
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BTDT, did early entrance, kid is in third grade, it would have been a disaster to have waited another year.
If she's ready, you should send her. If you haven't seen this article yet, you might find it interesting: http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/youngest-kid-smartest-kid |
Anonymous
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2 early entrance kids.
one is 9/10 and is in 8th grade another 9/25 and is in 3rd grade. No regrets. Both were ready. Actually both were bored in K. You won't believe how many kids come in not knowing letters, phonics, etc... |
Anonymous
| Also did EEK with no regrets for my youngest. Remember though the decision is oh partly yours. Your child has to test in. |
Anonymous
| She'll probably do fine, but I wouldn't do it. The high school years concern me more. |
Anonymous
If she'd been born a week earlier, it wouldn't be early entrance, it would be going on time. Or would you recommend redshirting? |
Anonymous
| Have her take the test and then decide. She may not pass. I knew a sept 7 birthday girl who did not and she was seemingly bright |
Anonymous
| OP here. Yes, she'd obviously need to pass the test. Let's assume she'll get past that hurdle and we have to make a decision. That's where my head is at right now. |
Anonymous
I would seriously consider it. |
Anonymous
| BTDT, DD Mid-Sept birthday. She is in high school now. Only issue is that for many summer internships, she must be 14. Puts her aT a bit of a disadvantage, but she can work around it. |
Anonymous
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I have a September 3 kid who is in kindergarten now. He's the youngest kid in his class by a few weeks. I don't regret my decision to move him "ahead" as he was ready. Another year of preschool would have been really boring for him, and he's enjoying kindergarten and really engaged now.
I talked to his preschool teachers in making the decision, and they agreed that he was ready and were very encouraging as I deliberated. Can you talk to your pediatrician, or a preschool teacher, to get some input about how they see your daughter's readiness? |
Anonymous
OP thinks that OP's child is ready for kindergarten in fall 2015, on-time would be fall 2016, and you would consider having the child start in fall 2017? TWO YEARS after OP thinks OP's child is ready? Really? |
Anonymous
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If you were in one of the many school districts that draw the cutoff at 9/30, your child would be "on time" starting K next year. Is she really less ready than the kids in those districts simply because of where she lives? Doubtful.
If you ever move to one of those districts, your child will be right in line with the age group for her class (on the younger side, true, but not "early"). If you start at the regular time at your district, but then move to one with a different cutoff, your child will suddenly be the oldest in the class. My kid was born mid September. The only difference is, we're in FCPS and it was "on time" to start him at 4-almost-5. In my opinion, within about a month on either side of the cutoff, it makes the most sense to look at each child individually. I wish the cutoff date was presented as more of a 2-3 month range, within which parents can decide what's best for their kid. It would save a lot of this start-early, on-time, redshirting stress. FWIW, my mid-Sept kid is thriving (although he's young, only 2nd grade, so who knows what will happen in middle and high school) despite being a full year younger than many of his classmates - or more than a year younger than some (redshirted or moved in from another state). How's her social readiness? It doesn't sound like academics will be an issue, but can she socially keep up with a group that's mostly older? If her current pre-K class is like that, is it working out, or does she get left behind? I don't know your child, obviously, but I have to say your Upsides list spoke more to me than your Downsides list. Good luck with whatever decision you make! |
Anonymous
Can you elaborate please? We are also considering it for our September boy. |
Anonymous
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]Mom insisted on sending very bright Sept bday boy against the advice of Preschool teacher. K teacher also recommend another year in K, but mom refused as he had excellent academics. He was a GT kid and tested into old GT center. Mediocre performance in high school. College drop out.
This kid is extremely bright. He is a good kid—not in trouble. I can’t help but wonder what another year would have done for him. We will never know. He was socially immature, though. |