Ready for Kindergarden?

Hi C., my name is C......anyhow, I have a 5 year old son who is about 18 months delayed and is struggling in kindergarten. He is being evaluated for several things and we just found out has to repeat kindergarten next year. I would suggest holding her back. If I had known about the dtruggles he would have this year, I definitely would have waited another year. I hope this helped.

Is your daughter already in some sort of pre-k or preschool setting or early intervention program? If so and she can continue that for another year - it might be better for her - yet she will start to grasp the social aspect of going to school. My daughter was a preemie and due to her birth day were forced to send her in a year eariler then we liked because all the programs we had locally told us that due to her being old enough to register for kindergatern they would not accept her (her birthday day is Nov 30 - school cut off for NY is Dec 1).

I am new to this site, actually just logged on. But I had same situation with my son. His bday is Sept 1st and I held him back till this year when he started Kindergarden. I was quiet unsure about it but now I am very glad I did it! She will do much better if you hold her back. Good luck!

Maybe I can help. My son was not mature enough to leave kindergarten and start first grade. The tacher and I decided this. et her go to kindergarten and then work with the teacher. Two years of Kindergarted will be better than an extra year at home. He did great and is now in the marines. Kindergarten is a great time for kids to not just learn but interact with others. She may surprise you.

I am a mom of 3 boys ages 13, 4 and 2. I am in the same spot you are in. My 4 yr old has been attending preschool since he was 3 and he is supposed to move onto Kindergarden this Sept. I had some concerns at the beginning of the year and spoke to his teacher, she expressed same concerns. She gave me helpful advice that made my decision holding him back easier. She has been teaching for 18yrs and said that its better to hold them back now and let them grow and catch up to the rest of the kids. Our preschools and schools would rather the parents wait an extra year to enroll if they have any concerns wether their child is ready. My son has some fine motor delay and slight articulation. I wish I had this advice for my 13 yr old when he was this age. He was 4 when he entered into Pre K and has struggled, even more so now. This year we are actually moving to another school district due to job situations. I will be keeping my son in the same grade. I believe he had an extra year it would have made a world of difference.

Hi C.,

I am a former Kindergarten teacher. If your child is delayed she will most likely have an IEP, which means that her work load will be most likely be modified in some way if you chose to send her to Kindergarten. Does she attend any early intervention program? I think alot depends on her socially ( can she be part of a group, participate, etc.) I have found that sometimes ( children that are delayed or not), if they are not ready socailly for kindergarten than they will be behind academically. It will not hurt her in any way to not send her to kindergarten this year. If you decide to keep her home with you for the next school year, she might be more ready to go the following year. If she is not in some sort of preschool setting I would highly recommend sending her to one. There are many out there that specially cater to children with delays. If you don't mind me asking, is she cognitivly delayed ot delayed in gross motor/fine motor, speech? If I can be of any additional assistance please feel free to respond. I wish you all the luck.- C.

the worse i could see happening is after she does attend they may be able to pass her up a grade or two. i would suggest however some type of pre-k typ enviroment so she does start to learn what she would be learnign and talk to her pedi.. see what they say..
weigh out all ur options.
good luck

My eldest was born in the beginning of November (many years ago.) At the time he would turn five, I just did not feel he was ready for school. I can't remember now all the reasons that my husband and I felt he was not ready, but we did hold him back. So the following year he was one of the elder kids in the class and in a way we hoped it would give him more confidence. I don't regret the decision to this day. At times, later on, he felt he would have been happier in the <<other class>> because he just happened to like the kids in the other class better, but athletically and academically, I think he would have been a year behind the others and more of a struggle for him.He was a skinny, quiet kid. Maybe it would have been better, but as it turned out he had a lot of concentration problems and I don't think that would have been any better had we not held him back. Being a <<late bloomer>> is rather genetic in our family. He is now 30 and getting his masters degree. So holding him back did not really make a difference in the long run.

My parents "held me back" an extra year when I was a young child before sending me to school. My birthday is late in December, so when it came time that I was eligible to be enrolled in kindergarten--4 years old, but would be turning 5 before the new year, though barely--my mother decided to keep me home until the next year, and work with me and prepare me for school herself. This turned out to be the best decision she could have made. When I went to school the next year at 5 years old (turning 6 halfway through the year) I was prepared, able to pay attention, eager and ready to learn, and had an easier time than many of my classmates. In fact, I believe this set the stage for the rest of my education: I got straight A's throughout school my entire life, was in the National Honor Society in high school, was always in special classes like Gifted and Talented, and received a full college scholarship. I'm not saying this to brag, only to point out that one year can make all the difference in the world. You know your child better than anybody, and if you feel she would benefit from staying home an extra year to prepare for school, then you should follow your instincts.
Incidentally, growing up, my next door neighbor had a son who was younger than me, and she sent him to school at the same time as me, so that he was only 4 when he started, and he ended up having behavioral problems during school for many years, and never did very well academically.
Obviously, these are both individual cases, but I feel that you should do what you think is best for your child in the long run.

You know her better than anyone! My daughter was friends with a little boy before we moved.... they are only 6 weeks apart age wise(both would have started before they turned 5) and both could have started kindergarten the year Alex did but he was about a year behind emotionally, and congnitavly! His mom kept him home and he did good the following year when he started kindergarten, she had him in preschool 2 days a week for 2 hours so he got interaction with other kids his age.... for him it was best, hes in first grade this year and struggling a bit with some things. Trust your instincts!