Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would send her in less you have a reason not to. We are in MC and went private for two year for our September child. If you go private for K and 1st, you can then transfer to public in 2nd.

I would not do this. I have friends who kept child in private Montessori school and transferred to public in 1st and had a really bad time adjusting. most of the other kids had been there since pre-k 4 and knew each other and the school well. unless you have a specific reason, I would let your kid start school with everybody else.

Maybe that kid finds transitions hard. I know for a fact many other kids would have been fine with that move. Pretty ludicrous to say no child can ever be moved after pk4 because for sure they will have "a bad time adjusting".

Anonymous wrote:I would send her in less you have a reason not to. We are in MC and went private for two year for our September child. If you go private for K and 1st, you can then transfer to public in 2nd.

I would not do this. I have friends who kept child in private Montessori school and transferred to public in 1st and had a really bad time adjusting. most of the other kids had been there since pre-k 4 and knew each other and the school well. unless you have a specific reason, I would let your kid start school with everybody else.

We live in Moco so our DD missed the cutoff by a few days. I'm glad she is getting an extra year to mature. She has some developmental delays and other issues. Like a PP said, make the best decision for the kid you have. For us, waiting was clearly the right move. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:After seeing first-hand the curriculum that's required in K, I would wait. It's intense for these young kids now!

K. is really basic. I don't get the big deal. If anything, it should be harder.

After seeing first-hand the curriculum that's required in K, I would wait. It's intense for these young kids now!

We held back our late September DD. It was clear when she was 4 that she did not have the social skills to manage being the youngest kid in the class. We were concerned not only with kindergarten, but with having relatively weak social skills as she got older and girls got more sophisticated. Four years later, it was clear that we made the right decision -- she still has weak social skills compared with her (younger) peers, but being the oldest instead of the youngest is allowing her to barely hang on, instead of being totally out of her depth. She also has some learning disabilities and was a late reader (could not read fluently until the middle of 2nd grade) so again, I'm glad that we kept her back. I would likely have made a different decision with a different kid.

You know your child best and whether they have the social, emotional, and language skills to keep up with older kids.

My son was the youngest in his PK3 class and it was a bit of a disaster He repeated PK3 and is doing much better this year. Despite the issues we had I was very glad we sent him he'll have 3 years of PK before kindergarten and I think that will serve him well.

Ditto to all this advice. Consider that, until just a few years ago, the cut-off was actually December 31. We have a late-October birthday girl and she has always been (and continues as a 10th grader to be) one of the strongest students in her class. The only disadvantage is that, once you hit high school, DD is not quite as old as she thinks and her peers think she is.

Sigh. Little children, little problems. Big children...

Thanks again everyone.... I received an interesting article today that many of you with younger kids in their grade may really enjoy... New research that seems to demonstrate younger kids not only do OK but possibly even better... Besides probably feeling validating for many of you, I would love to know if after reading this you feel your younger kid has cultivated some strengths because of it!

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/youngest-kid-smartest-kid

We will be sending our mid-August DD to K on time at a WOTP elem this fall. Seems to be the norm in our neighborhood.

Anonymous wrote:You could send her to private K in the fall with a plan to do 1st in public next year if she is successful, or repeat K in public if she needs more time.

Did you even read the OP? She doesn't want to pay for another year of PK. So why would she want to pay for private school?