Right Decision? Moving Forward or Wait on Kindergarden

My 5 yr old is in kindergarten. She did not go to head start or preschool before hand. I taught her myself at home the basics...abc, write name, shapes, counting, coloring, etc. I got little preschool books to work on.
She has done excellent in Kindergarten. She has made friends, is reading, and really has blossomed.

I feel it is totally up to the parent (who knows their own children better than anyone) to make such a decision. The type of teacher your children will get should also be taken in to consideration.

My sister held her son back because of speech problems. I mostly think she held him back because she didn't want to miss him. It gave her an extra year with him home. I think schools nowdays have so many different techniques for teaching and can really help children with certain needs.

Now, my other sister has a son who had a speech problem and they put him into speech classes and everything from K and up. The school wanted to keep him in K another year, but my sister wouldn't let them. She felt he would miss out academically and wanted him to follow his fellow classmates. He is now in the 2nd grade and has excelled wonderfully.

I hope my response has helped you. I know it is really lengthy....my bad habit :)

1 mom found this helpful

hey,
My daughter is only 3, so I don't know much about K and pre K (though I am going crazy with preschools). Anyways, I was just going to tell you to remember that the kids you saw when you observed the class have been in K for almost the whole year. So they have been doing the same routine and learning how to focus and stuff like that for months now! I am sure they acted much differently when they started back in September.

hi C., it is totally up to you whether to start your children in kindergarten or not. what i would advise doing is talking to your chldrens prek teacher(s) and getting their input. after that go to your home school or your towns board of education and speaking with someone there about your concerns. schools nowadays have excellent resources and programs available to children with differing abilities. i myself have a 5 yr old son who is emotionally disabled and he has been able to receive a tremendous amount of help through our school district. just remember no one is a better judge of whats best for your children than you, so continue to do your research and that should be really helpful. oh, if its possible you may also want to look into private and/or charter schools. a lot of these schools are very beneficial because they tend to have smaller class sizes and better teacher child ratios.

You should definitly start them. My son was at home with me until he was almost 4. Although he was reading and math skills are far beyond his years, he was socially delayed. His preschool teachers suspected autism. He was born in August, and the cut-off here is September 30th. We could have held him back, but we pressed forward. We were especially nervous putting him in a public school. We really believed he just needed more time with kids his age to know what was expected of him. His kindergarten teacher was great. She was encouraging and supportive of him. He grew a great deal in just a year's time with her. His first grade teacher is just as wonderful. Our son has grown so much socially, you'd never expect that he got off to such a rough start. Your little ones may struggle at first (they may not!), but how else are they to learn what is expected of them unless they are emersed in it. And after the year is over, if you believe they need more time, have them held back then. At least give them the opportunity. You may be surprised. They may flourish with the structure of a school day. My son did.

Hi C.
My son he was delayed he start talking when he was almost 4 now he is five and he is been at school Early Intervention Programs (Clark County) since he was 3 years old. Next year he will start kindergarten. Also because his birthday is in oct. he couldn start this year but i am looking forward for him start and see how he handle it>
I don’t agree with parents holding their kids back my reasons are the same as Linda’s sister, I want my kid go with his fellows classmates.
My daughter she was hold back and now she is sixteen I remember her friends on middle school asking her why she was too old for her to be in junior high she should be already in high school so I don’t think is right what this teacher did but it is more my fault because i was an ignorant at that time and let the teachers decide for my daughter’s education. Now I am more educated about this staff so my advice to you it is a big
“PLEASE DON’T DO IT TO HIM”
I hope this help, believe me he will catch up with the others.
i dont know what kind of school program they have found out what they offert to kids with delays.

josie

C.,

I have two boys, one is 6 and the other child is 10. Both of my boys are hard of hearing and both have received Occupational Therapy and do receive speech therapy. My oldest no longer receives OT, but my youngest still works with an OT.

I do disagree with some of the parents as far as not holding children back. My oldest son was held back in K and I am very glad that we decided to hold him back. We decided to hold my youngest back in Pre-K this year and again I am very glad that we made that decision. I don't think he was ready for K and I wouldn't want my child in a class that he wasn't ready for. Some kids do OK with moving on to the next class, but some need that extra year of Pre-K or K. Kids can get frustrated if they are in a class and they are not able to keep up with the curriculum.

Are your children in Pre-K right now? If so, has the teacher of your two children discussed whether or not he/she thinks that they are ready for K. Do you feel that they are ready for K?

I think it's good that you are doing your research.

Good luck to you!

If your girls go to preschool now, their teacher will be a great help in assisting you with information in regards to their readiness for kindergarten. Public schools also have guides that will help you assess their readiness. Personally, with my oldest, we sent him to kindergarten when he was "suppose" to go and wish now, (he is a junior in high school) that we would have waited. School has always been more difficult for him and he is usually always one of the youngest students in his classes. He'll be 17 when he starts college. With our 3rd child, we have waited and he is in kindergarten now and doing very well. We did have him in preschool and had his current (private) school evaluate him prior to making our decision on waiting. Hope this helps!

C.,

I would talk to the school your twins are planning on attending. I know when my daughter started kindergarten (now granted this was 6 years ago) her school did a pre-k screening to make sure she was ready to start kindergarten. This was back when she was in year around school and she turned 5 a couple weeks after school started in August. Hope this helps..

I agree with Lynda, I was very worried about my daughter going into Kindergarden because she is more of the "fragile" type but she has done wonderfully and had progressed very good. As parents sometimes we think our children can't handle things but in reallity they can. If your children seem like they are having a harder time I would definetly consider waiting a bit. Also get to know the kindergarden teacher--this helps both of you. You can express your concerns to him/her and most of them are very understanding. Good Luck and I hope I have helped some. D.