"fall babies" entering K

Moms of fall babies, when are (or did) your LO starting Kindergarten? My LO will be 5 in October, was premature and would have been born in December if she was full term. I don't want her in K next year with the other 2011 5 year olds as she will still be 4 when she starts. Did anyone wait and put them in when they were closer to 6?

Not looking for (or will to participate in) a debate...thanks!

Re: "fall babies" entering K

My dd is a late November baby. I chose to put her in kindergarten at the advice of her pre-k teacher. She felt she was ready. I definitely see a difference at times between her and the kids that are 11 months older, but it hasn't affected her socially or academically. I think it totally depends on your child.

Re: "fall babies" entering K

My daughter will be 4 when she enters kindergarten...she wont turn 5 till begining of november...if her teachers think she is ready i cant see holding her back a year...i think she will be board and id rather keep her with the friends she has made in pre school

Re: "fall babies" entering K

My daughter will be turning 5 in September. I have been asking her pre-school teachers their thoughts since she was in the 2's program. I felt they knew best and trust their judgement. We are pushing ahead and she will be going to K in September.

I had a friend debate this with her son who was born in late November as well, and finally decided to just push ahead and everything was fine. It is totally personal opinion. You know your child best. Kindergarten is not what it used to be, demands are a lot higher than once was. It is the new first grade and the children will be expected to be readers when them leave at the end of the year.

Some food for thought. If your child will need special education services. If they are of "school" age they will not be able to receive them if you hold them back and do preschool again. I know a couple of parents that have done this, and then the kids couldn't get the support that was needed. They thought an extra year to mature would help. But would have been better served in a K program with services. What I have been told is it is best to put a child in K, and have them repeat K rather than preschool. Services and intervention services are better at the school level.

Re: "fall babies" entering K

Re: "fall babies" entering K

My child was 4 until the beginning of November and was fine.

Re: "fall babies" entering K

I have one October kid in first grade now and she is doing great academically, my other is a nov baby and will be going into K at 4 years old in sept.

Re: "fall babies" entering K

My son was a fall bday, I saw no reason other than his age to hold him back, so he started K in the fall at 4 years old. Behaviorally, academically and emotionally, he was ready or just as ready as anyone else a few months older than him. He is now in 3rd grade and doing great. It hasn't been an issue.

Re: "fall babies" entering K

I'm in Queens. My twins will turn 5 at the end of November. NYC cutoff is calendar year so all 2011 babies must enter kindergarten (even 12/31 birthday-my friend's son has this birthday) this year.

Re: "fall babies" entering K

I'll be different....my son is an October baby and we held him back for the year. He's repeating Pre-K at a different school this year and is thriving. He needed this extra year to grow socially and with some hand strength issues that he had. I could not see putting him into K and being completely frustrated bc of all the writing that is expected now in K. I wanted him to love school, not be frustrated by it.

Re: "fall babies" entering K

Re: "fall babies" entering K

Re: "fall babies" entering K

My son's bday is 10/26 and he started K this year at age 4. He is the 2nd youngest in the class and THE youngest boy. He is doing wonderfully. My oldest is a September baby and is in 5th grade now--honor student all throughout even achieving highest honors first trimester this year.

Holding my child back would not have been a thought in my mind unless there was an actual problem and/or the teacher recommended it.

Re: "fall babies" entering K

My son is a December b-day so the choice was made for us. People tell me I'm lucky that way after the time they sent deliberating.

I know those who have held and those who have sent - nobody I know regrets their decision.

My son is in K now - there is one kid who's parents held him - he turned 6 in October. There are also 4 kids with December birthdays as well as a girl who turned 5 in October. The rest of the class tends to have spring/summer birthdays.

Good luck with your decision!

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We are in NYC with a Dec31 cutoff and my daughter has a Dec12 birthday. She started K at 4 and has done very well with no issues at all. She is now in 6th grade and on the high honor roll. I will say that children do notice birthdays and ages and they tend to assume the older children in the class got left back at some point, especially if the child wasn't in the same school since K. I didn't want my DD to be older and different unless the reasons would have been outstanding to hold her back.

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I'll be in a similar boat as you in a few years op. My youngest is I November birthday, a preemie who was due in December. She's also in the 3rd percentile for height so she's the shortest and youngest looking when with kids her age and then to have kids a full year older I can't wrap my head around. But she's only 15 months so while I do worry I'll probably start her in upk at 3 and see how she does before making any decisions. I won't base it on her size but with how ready she is as we get closer. If it were my older dd I would send hey without a second thought but my lo may be a different story.

Re: "fall babies" entering K

Re: "fall babies" entering K

My daughter was 8 on Nov. 12. It is only this year that I'm regretting not holding her back. The curriculum picks up so quickly in 3rd. She was always a great student but this year often complains it's too hard. I believe it's due to the developmentally inappropriate common core standards but that's just me. She just turned 8 and last night we were working on finding the area of house floor plans. I feel so bad for these kids! If I could do it over, I'd hold her back in a heartbeat!!!

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Just sharing my circumstances:
We moved OOS months prior to K. Had we stayed in NY my October child would have started K at age 4 and then turned 5. But, we moved to a state with a Sept 1st cutoff so my child had to do an additional year of pre-K and started K at age 5 about to turn 6 (and we start school here in mid-August). It's the best thing. I am always so grateful it worked out that way. My child is exceptionally bright and thankfully has no difficulty in school but I see how his peers struggle. What they expect of the children is just not developmentally appropriate. I know some people say that their child would be bored if they did an extra year of pre-school but my son definitely wasn't and in some areas he was ahead of his peers but the nurturing environment of preschool helped him develop that love for school and learning and just confidence in his abilities. My DS2 was born in August just 5 days shy of the cutoff here. We have decided to hold him back a year. It's 5 days and honestly there are people here whose children have March and April birthdays and they hold their kids back. In a situation like that, my son could be 17 months younger than a child in his class and I believe that would put him at a disadvantage. Now, in our case it's 5 days before the cutoff so the decision is easy for us. Were his birthday in July or something I don't know what we'd decide. I am late October and went to school at age 4 and excelled and all that but things are different now. It's just a personal decision but just do what you think is best, everyone has something to say about it.

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My oldest was a September baby & we held him til he was 6. It was the best decision for us & him. He wasn't ready socially or maturity wise. Plus the workload is a lot!

In turn, my youngest was a preemie & was born in July 2010 instead of September. We held him back also ' he will enter in September at 6

Re: "fall babies" entering K

DC started k at 4. We debated for a tiny bit but started him on time. He is doing so well 3 years later, made me realize kids adapt easily. If he is struggling later we can consider holding him back. For now, he is best where he is.

Re: "fall babies" entering K

I will offer you a different look.
My DS is a late summer baby (he turned 5 days before k).
He's by far the youngest in his class. 2nd youngest is June.
The TWO youngest boys (I recently found out the June boy too) are having issues with fitting in to a class that is largely a year older. Most of the class are winter babies & are either born in January or were redshirted. The other boy is having a harder time than mine.

They are both very smart (operating above the rest of the class at a 1st & 2nd grade reading & math level)... But they are immature at heart.
Will this effect go away? Yes.
Is it hard to deal with now? Yes.
Silly things like his motor coordination (while normal) is behind his classmates. He had bad handwriting, trouble cutting. He can play sports & soccer amazingly (the other boy is a sports star), but it's not fine motor.
He has emotional control of a 5 year old (like it or not, it's different than a 6 year old). He cries, he tattles (not all the time & he plays well with older kids, but it comes out). In my DD's preK, kids the same age as my son are napping. I napped in K (KWIM?).

With all this, I changed my mind from eye rolling at red shirting to understanding that if so many others do it, it can hurt your kid too be the youngest. Maybe more so boys (but not sure). My youngest is a September birthday. Going to be hard to decide...

Re: "fall babies" entering K

My daughter is also turning 5 in October. She will be starting K in September at age 4.

Re: "fall babies" entering K

Message edited 2/25/2016 8:38:18 PM.

Re: "fall babies" entering K