Late Birthday and VPK

I really didn't think it was a big deal to start kindergarten close to six. I didn't consider it "being a year behind" or "being kept back". My daughter has a September birthday. Where we live the cut off is Sept. 1st, so she went to kindergarten last fall just before she turned 6. There were kids of varying ages in her kindergarten class. Some had just turned 5, some 5 1/2, some almost 6 and some that had already turned 6. My point is don't think your child will be the "oldest" kid in class.

To prepare for kindergarten she attended preschool 3 days a week and worked on things she would be expected to know when entering kindergarten. Recognizing letters, numbers, working on writing skills, learning how to follow directions in a classroom setting...

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Don't worry about it. I am assuming that your son will attend VPK in 2010-2011 and he will be in the same boat as anyone else with a birthday cut-off situation. As other posters have said, in many other countries, with better test scores, children start school "later". Also, typically,boys are less socially and emotionally quick to develop than girls.

We might face this earlier in FL than in other states - but that is only because we have state funded VPK. We are from Northern VA and they don't have anything for 4 year olds that is state funded. Also, in that area, kindergarten is only a 1/2 day - as it is in many states.

Honestly, your son is not "being kept back" and from a developmental / educational perspective he is not "missing out". He will be fine - but be warned that when he gets to high school - he will be one of the first ones to get a driver's license. Then you have REAL problems!

Enjoy your time with your son and put your worries to rest.

C.

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i would say, no, they are not missing out. Studies have found that children who are a little older in the class are more likely to develop leadership roles than children who start younger. In addition, it is really tough for a 4 year old to be that structured. I had friends that put their 4 year old boy (the age cutoff is five before december where I live) and he suffered the whole year.
He's a bit more mature now that he is 7, but it was difficult. He hated kindergarten, and begged his mom to stay home. He's a smart and sweet little boy, but it was too structured, and he was in need of constant redirection to focus.

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Hi there , my son will be 4 Sept. 30 missing the cut off my a few weeks. He has been in daycare since he was 3 months old. I just found out that he will be moving to the pre-school (vpk) class in August. They think he is ready. I would look at putting your 4 year old in pre-school somewhere. I think he would be a great head start for him/her.

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My son misses the cut off my 2 weeks, so I am in your same boat. I have him in pre-K this year, and am just focused on getting to really enjoy having him home with me one last year before I lose him to all day school.

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Look at it this way...your child is not missing out on anything developmentally by being home until they are 6! They will be one of the oldest and fair much better then kids who just turned 5 in the summer before K. K is the new first grade and American kids for the most part are not ready developmentally in their bodies or brains for that kind of academics. Look at Sweden, Poland, and other countries that do not teach thier kids to read/write till 7-8 years.....what are we doing teaching kids at 4/5?? The US kids test below those countries and that is very concerning. Let your child use their bodies as much as possible and get that right brain up by doing music, art and movement. THAT'S what gets them ready for academics. Let them play and socialize with kids their age. You can't go wrong.....and when it comes time to get that driver's permit...they will be the first one amongst their group!

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My daughter's birthday is Dec. 1 and I feel the same way--she can read and write and I think she is definitely ready for school, but she misses the cutoff. She is going to VPK this fall. However, for the past year I have been working with friend of mine to "homeschool" preschool and it has been great. We've had a relaxed schedule which has been really nice but we've accomplished a lot. I recently posted our ideas/lesson plans online. If you are interested you can check them out here: http://sahmpreschool.weebly.com/ Just go to archived lesson plans and you can see what we did from the beginning. Good luck--and be reassured that research has shown that the older children in the class (Sept., Oct., Nov. birthdays) tend to show more leadership skills and do better overall than their younger counterparts.

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I wouldn't worry about it at all if you can...my twin boys turned 5 June 16 so they could go to kinder this year...we are intentionally holding them back and letting them start kinder as 6 year olds, I feel confident it will be better for them. Unfortunately, since they are 5 and "can" go to kinder, they can't do VPK so we are having to pay just over $6k this year to send them to preschool :-(

My son misses the deadline by a day! He was born Sept. 2 and the cut off is Sept. 1. He'll be going to VPK this fall and then when he starts Kindergarten he'll be almost 6. I think it's better for boys to be the older ones in their classes because they usually mature slower than the girls do. Even if my son was born a few days early and would have been eligible for VPK last year, I would not have sent him. Neither of us would have been ready for it but we're both excited for him to start this fall! When is your sons birthday? Does he miss the deadline to start VPK this fall? If he does, maybe you can look into some half day preschool programs or something. Good luck with everything!

I don't understand something I guess, he's 4 not 5, and he's NOT going to Pre-K? But you want him to go to Kindergarten?

Kids are supposed to be 5 and turn 6 in kindergarten, this makes it where they are 17 and turn 18 as a senior and are graduating. If he is just missing the cut off date then he will be really ready for kindergarten next year. I say get him enrolled in Pre-K. They should have it somewhere. Maybe a private school that is not too expensive offers a half day program. One of our local Christian schools have both half day and full days.

IT's silly not to put him in VPK. IT's free, and they learn SO MUCH! My son is going into kindergarten already knowing how to sound out words. He reads everything and he's not in Kindergarten yet.