4 Year Old Son May Not Be Ready for Kindergarden Next Year.

I was saying the very same thing when my son was at the age of entering kindergarten with a Aug 29th birthday. Ready achedemically but not socially. So I held him back and did 4 yr. old preschool again (at a different school) well he is now in 5th grade. It turned out when he did get to school he caught on very quickly the teachers even had to give him extra work to keep him busy. Also, socially he did a 360 his shyness/mommas boy thing just dissappeared after a couple weeks in kinder and he became Mr. personality. When he realized I held him back (in 2nd grade), he would bring it up and let me know he was not happy about it on several occasions. I think because school was not difficult for him he enjoys it more than if he had to work hard at it. Then....

When my daughter was 4 with an Aug 15 birthday and was doing great in preschool. I made the choice to send her to kinder, the choice seemed much easier. But by 1st grade she was not reading well and school was more of a struggle for her. I think she might have a slight case of Dyslexia but the teachers say no. She is now in 4th grade and has to work harder to keep up, I can only think that holding her back would have given her more of a head start.
The thing is at that age it is so hard to determine what will happen when they get into school. I was a SAHM mom and keeping them home an extra year was an easy choice. Once they get in school holding them back a grade is difficult in many ways. In my opinion you can't go wrong keeping them home 1 more year.

Spanish Schoolhouse in Frisco offers a 3 day kindergarten, but it's all in Spanish. If you're interested in that you might want to call them right away and see if they have an opening in one of their pre-k classes for him now. The earlier kids start to learn a new language, the better (and easier!).

You might also want to check into Cornerstone Christian Academy. Their 3 day program starts in pre-k and goes through 10th grade.

http://www.cornerstonewarriors.com/

My son's school offers a Kinder-readiness class that is 3 days a week (also have a 5 day program). My son started in the 3 day last year and we switched him to 5 days after the Christmas break. It was a great program. I found out later they do much the same things that some of the public kindergartens do. We really love the school. In fact, we ended up sending our son to their kindergarten this year even though we had NEVER considered private school before!! The school is North Texas Christian Academy. It is at the corner of Hwy 75 and Wilmeth (just north of hwy380).

I teach at Suncreek Children's Development Center on McDermott. I completely understand your concerns about whether or not to send him. My son will turn 5 in July and is in a class where about 1/2 the kids will be old enough for kindergarten next fall. I already know of several of them that will be at SCDC for another year. From teaching these kids Movement I can see that there is a huge difference in maturity between them! I have some children that will not participate in any of the activities, they're just not ready. Sending them on to K would be more stressful for them than beneficial. Go with your gut feelings and of course, lots of prayer!
At SCDC we got 3 days a week. We don't have a K, but out Pre-K classes are terrific. Those kids will be very prepared to meet anything academically in K. If you'd like more information, just let me know.

I totally understand...my daughter turns 5 in June...and I've had the same questions. I'm leaning towards putting her into a Pre-K 5 program that her school has....I've gone back and forth. She would be the youngest in her class by far but I think I'd rather her be way ahead of her classmates later on than have to struggle in any way. We send her to Legacy Christian Academy in Frisco. good luck with this tough decision.

If you feel like that is what would be best then I recommend holding him back. Don't worry about him being upset, he'll be fine. I promise. I have a son with a summer birthday (June) and we went ahead and put him in when he was supposed to go. His preschool teacher said he was ready and socially he seemed fine (and has been). Looking back it would have been better to hold him back. He has always struggled a bit in school and is a very late bloomer. You really can't know those things when they are 4 but if you have reservations at all it is better to hold them back now rather than wishing you could later. It is so hard to know, just do what feels right.

I had a similar issue with my middle son. Our oldest son was in 1st grade and he was going to turn 5 right after school started. We decided to go ahead and put him in the kindergarten class at the school with his brother. He matured well with the other kids. But he wasn't ready for 1st grade the next year academically so we held him back in Kindergarten one more year and now he is in first grade and doing well. It was the best decision we made. Going to kindergarten really helped him.