Re: Kindergarten in September

April 21, 2009

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I'd appreciate anyone can share their experience or opinion as to what

would be best for a child having this type of issues.

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Is there an option to wait another year before putting her into

Kindergarten? My daughter didn't have the anxiety issues until first

grade but we are SO grateful that a very wise kindergarten teacher asked

us to hold her for a year before starting school.

Kate's birthday is September 7th and our cut-off for Kindergarten is " 5

years old by September 15th " . I don't know what your cut-off is but Kate

was reading well and was academically ahead of the game when we had her

tested in February (the year she was 4). At that time the K teacher told

us she was academically ready for K in the fall but she expressed concerns

about Kate's attention span and her social skills. She suggested we wait

another year and we decided we'd rather give Kate the advantage of age . .

.. besides, she is such a tiny little thing.

So we waited . . . Kate turned 6 in the 2nd week of Kindergarten and was

the oldest in her Kindergarten class (and still 2nd from the smallest).

She was reading at the 4th grade level starting K and she could do simple

math, knew her letters, etc. In spite of her age, though, she had real

issues with handwriting and some social skills.

Today, in her 3rd grade class of 30 kids there are at least 5 children

that are older than she is. Three are kids that transferred from other

schools and repeated K or 1st grade. We are SO glad we waited and I would

see if that is an option for your daughter . . . even if she seems ready

academically . . . there is a whole lot more to school than academics and

another year to work on her social skills may benefit her in huge ways!

Just my take on things, of course. I'm not a professional educator or

anything . . . just a mom of a Fall baby.

Beth

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