Give it time. Kindergarten is a whole mix of abilities, some kids don't know how to write all of their ABC's, some kids are reading, some are not reading yet but are adding triple numbers. You will be shocked that at the end of the year those that didn't even know how to write ABC's are reading better than the kids that were reading when they started. Things will balance out eventually. They are still really young kids. Give your child some challenges yourself after school and on the weekends if he is up for it.

I didn't "hold him back". He has a LATE Sept birthday (end of the month) and would have been the youngest kid in the entire class AND school b/c anyone after Sept 1 had to "test in". My son and 2 others were tested and my son "passed" and the other 2 didn't. So, we decided to wait and let him grow socially and here he is in kindergarten. There is no perfect answer in these cases. I could have sent him "early" and then he would have been the YOUNGEST and might have been unprepared...

Thanks to those with HELPFUL advice. Those that were rude - really? Where did that get you?

Anonymous wrote:My DC had a child in kindergarten held back with a birthday in April!! He is now in 2nd grade this year. I don't know what they were thinking.

That's right you have no idea. You should not judge. Sometimes holding back is for a darn good reason (not sports oriented or anything like that). Some kids actually NEED it. It does do some children some good. You don't have any right to judge. Worry about your own child. And no, I do not have a dog in this fight.

My DC had a child in kindergarten held back with a birthday in April!! He is now in 2nd grade this year. I don't know what they were thinking.

Your first grade aged kid is bored in kindergarten? Maybe he should have been in kindergarten last year.

of course he will be! Hopefully he has a teacher that is able to keep him occupied with something so he won't act up. Poor child.

This is to be expected for many. Some kids enter kindergarten reading and some have never seen an alphabet. Most are somewhere in between. Kindergarten is about learning new subject matter but it's also, and probably more importantly, about learning how to learn in a group setting. How to interact socially with peers (or ongoing reinforcement of this skill). Additional work with fine motor skill development (better printing). And applying what he already knows to new concepts.

I would wait until the end of September. You can discuss with the teacher the possibility of DS's having some assignments beyond the curriculum. A good teacher will pace the students differently. My DD's kindergarten teacher sent home books paced for each child at different reading levels. Even if the students are doing something he did last year (planting seeds, learning about butterflies, whatever), he can and will learn new vocabulary and new concepts. And this is a social experience as well.

I would slow down, talk to the teacher, and see what develops.

You do realize that you ran this risk, right? He passed the early entrance exam so clearly he was ready - last year. Not a big surprise.

Welcome to kindergarten and a not entirely unexpected result of holding a capable child back.

So, he probably won't learn a lot. He will learn something and he will mature. That's the year in a nutshell. The good news is that it won't hurt him. It will bore him. But, there are many years of substantial learning to come... be patient (and do fun learning things outside of school).

You could wait a few more weeks and request an evaluation to be moved to first grade. Especially if he passed the entrance exam last year and you have a record of what he did in pre-K, you will have a strong case for this once his current teacher gets settled from the first few adjustment weeks.

How do you already know what they're going to do for the entire year? I would expect that the first week for anyone is mostly getting used to the classroom and review.

You could homeschool him for a year, then have him enter first grade next year. That would not help so much if there are concerns about social maturity unless you enroll him in other classes or homeschool co-ops. Additionally, if you are a working parent this might not be an option for you (although I know a teacher that homeschooled his children while working full-time, they just did non-traditional school hours). Anyway -- you asked what can you do and this is just one option!

You can realize that it is only the second week of school. I am sure he will learn something this year - they all do, no matter how smart and/or mature they are.

DS has a late Sept birthday and last year we decided to wait for him to enter kindergarten (socially maybe not ready) rather than send him early (he passed the early entrance exam, but we waited). Well, he was in a pre-K class all last year that has ALREADY DONE what it looks like he is going to do this ENTIRE year. I am feeling bummed about this. So we could have sent him last year but thought he needed another year to mature. Now he IS more mature but this is like a repeat year for him. What can we do?!