Moms of December kids - question

Just curious, how old were your kids when they started pre-k and/or kindergarten.

I have a while yet but I know some districts cut you off by dec. 1 and some give you an option....

Moms of December kids - question

My district cuts off at dec 1 and ds is dec 28. We might put him in catholic school for K but it will be a decision we make when the time comes.

Re: Moms of December kids - question

Our district cutoff is December 1st and my DS birthday is December 9th.
He just misses it, so he will be 5, turning 6 in Kindergarten... 4, turning 5 in PreK.
He is currently 3, going into his second year of nursery.

Re: Moms of December kids - question

Dec. 1 is the cutoff. I was a December baby too and one of the oldest in my grade.

Moms of December kids - question

Where I am in NJ the cut off is October 1 so some people do private school or transitional kindergarten if their kid misses the cut off.

Moms of December kids - question

I work in a school in Westbury and our cut of is Nov. 30th. We are a private school and get a lot of parents trying to send their December babies to us for K. We used to take them no questions asked. Problem is that now the district (manly East Meadow) won't supply the students the books they need for our program if they are passed that Nov. 30th cut off.

Moms of December kids - question

The cut off is December 1st in our district and my twins were born December 2nd. They start preschool this year and will do preschool next year and then go to kindergarten. They are 3 now and will be 4 December 2nd. I was born on December 1st and my mom made the decision to keep me back so I was the oldest in my class too.

Moms of December kids - question

My niece missed the cutoff for kindergarten in my sister's town by 13 days so after talking with her pediatrician, who felt my niece was ready to start kindergarten, my sister enrolled her in catholic school for a year then transferred her to public school for first grade.

Moms of December kids - question

The cutoff in my district is December 1st but a lot of people around here redshirt. If their child is born in the fall, especially October & November, they have them do a second year of Pre-K so they are not the youngest in their class. My neighbor has a son who's birthday is late June, and she held him out of K this year because his pre-k teachers told her that he was very immature.

Message edited 9/6/2014 8:23:28 AM.

Re: Moms of December kids - question

My son was born December 20th. School cut off Dec1

He went to nursery school (3yos) at 3y8m. Turned 4 that december. He was the oldest kid in his class.
He was soooo bored in nursery school. Academically he was advanced so he felt like there was no need to go to school because he didnt learn anything and he had playdates with his school friends so he could jsut see them then!

We sent him to Catholic school for kindergarten the following year. If you do this, you need to ensure that your district will accept them into first grade should you decide to return. We needed something in writing.

It was a great decision for us as my son just entered 2nd grade in the public schools. But its not one to enter blindly.

Things to consider:
Are you okay with repeating kindergarten if need be?
Our school District did take 2 kids born after dec 1 who did private K and moved them back to K within the first month -- our plan was to send him to Private K and then if need be we he would repeat K in public school, but that wasnt necessary

is your child not only academically ready, but maturity wise ready

The one area where my son did and probably still does lag behind is motor skills such as writing. Its not something he really cares about so that is part of the issue, but when he entered K it was an area we had to focus on.

Also sports. My son is very big for his age and I dont suggest using sports are your decision making factor but my son has noticed that he is not as advanced as some of hte other kids in certain sports. He was playing Deck Hockey and went from the 4-K team to the 1st and 2nd grade team. He started to feel like he was the worst kid on the team because these kids had played more, were bigger and just overall moreadvanced. He is not very sport minded and never really was but its sad when they do notice the difference!

GL!

ETA: thats another thing a PP touched on. Because transportation and books are paid for by the public district, I had to drive my son to catholic K every day. I was also told that I MAY have to pay for books, the Principal said sometimes the district will send them a bill for kids who essentially should not be in school yet according to the cut off dates, but I never did get charged.

Message edited 9/6/2014 10:24:41 AM.

Re: Moms of December kids - question

DS's birthday is in mid-December. Our cutoff is January 1st. We sent him to K at 4. I went back and forth about it a lot, but he was clearly academically ready. He's in first grade now and loves it. He had a great year last year, made a lot of friends and excelled in school (highest reading level, advanced math group, etc.). A lot of people in my area tend to hold their late summer/fall boys back, but it really depends on the child. So far, we made the right decision.

Re: Moms of December kids - question

Mine is not December, but November 15th. I will hold him back if I feel he is not ready, even though he is within the cutoff.

Moms of December kids - question

I'm due with a December baby and hope for an early arrival in November to avoid this, and at least have the choice to start K or holdback depending on readiness.

I'm a Dec baby and always was in the top of my class in school.

Honestly I don't understand the Dec 1 cutoff. Regardless of cutoff date, there will always be a 12+ month age gap among the kids. I can understand Sept 1 so all the kids are 5 when entering K, but why single out the Dec kids?

Message edited 9/7/2014 10:32:25 AM.