Kindergarten Ages

D.

Welcome to Indiana here soon. You didn't say what side of town you are moving to, and that will make a difference on what is available to you.
You might try this link to help you get to know Indy alittle better.
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Good Luck with the move and hope things go well for you.
If you would like to have a stay at home job, once you get here or even before you get here. Let me know, we have a great one that can be done part time........see my website
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We have 2 children at The International School of Indiana (www.isind.org). My son has a May birthday, but the International School birthday "cutoff" has always been Sept. 1st, so there are several students in his class with later, summer birthdays. Because ISI is a small, private school, they are able to work with individual students and families to place children in the right class for them. In both of my children's grades, there are students who were brought forward from the grade below, in order to make sure they are where they should be academically. Again, because of the community in the school, the teachers and administrators are also able to sure the student is nurtured emotionally and socially.
In addition, ISI has been a wonderful experience--we've been there since my oldest was in Kinder(7 years), and plan to continue right through high school. They have a diverse, international student body and faculty, all HS school students participate in the full International Baccalaureate diploma program (www.ibo.org), as well as language immersion at the lower grades.
Good luck with your move!

Obviously with him turning 6 in July he is "age appropriate" to go into 1st grade, however only you know how he is "maturity" wise. I have twins that aren't summer b-days, but they are Sept. so they turned 6 shortly after starting kindergarten which makes them older ones in their class. I am ok with that because we felt the boy needed that extra year for maturity reasons. I guess you need to ask yourself, "how did he do socially this year", "did he struggle with following along in class or following rules and direction?" Those are the type of things he needs to be able to do to go on to first grade. If you feel he still struggles, then redo kindergarten. Goodluck

Abbie's birthday is July 14. She is 6 and in first grade, so she'll be turning 7 before she enters 2nd grade.

When we moved to Indianapolis 12 years ago the cut-off date was quite early. Indiana wanted children to have had their 6th birthday by June 1st to enter 1st grade. I think they changed that several years ago to August 1st. I don't think your child would be too big to wait that extra year. You could also contact the school district that he will attend and have him take a placement test to see where the best fit would be. By law if a parent request testing the school needs to provide it at no cost to the parent, whether that parent is planning on sending him to public or private school. PS when you get to town if you need help with window coverings check us out: www.abdawindowfashions.com.

My daughters were both April babies and we were kinda like you. I could choose to start them when they turned 5 or wait until they were 6. My oldest is actually the only one to go to public school, but I did start her in kindergarten after she turned 6. I have heard many people say that waiting has turned out to be much better. I remember in first grade she seemed taller than her class, but learning seemed to come easier just because I think she was ready.

I would suggest you put him where you think he's ready. I think you'll find both ends of the spectrum in schools around Indy. We live on the westside in Avon, IN. It is a very good school system from our experiences so far.

Good luck and welcome to the area!!!

I think the official cut-off in Indiana is still June 1. Many school districts have moved it back to September 1, so your son would be ready for first grade.
My son started full-day kindergarten on his 6th birthday, and it was a good thing for him, maturity-wise. I had him at home for a year longer than I had anticipated, but none of the schools were willing to take him the year before (when he would have gone to Kindergarten in most other states) because he was so far past the cut-off. (they were stricter about the Jun 1 cut-off then)
We have been very happy with the schools in Washington Township on the north side of Indianapolis. The high school my son now attends (North Central) is one of the top public high schools in the country. And as one of the other respondants noted, there are a number of good private schools in the area as well.

Good luck with your move!

D.,

Hello,

I am an accredited buyer's agent, and I belong to the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors. I would be happy to get more information from you like the areas you are interested in moving to. Therefore, I could send you extensive information on the schools in the area you are looking.

I also have a little girl in kindergarten. She goes to a 4 star elementary in a suburb of Indianapolis. I understand how important the school is that your children will be attending.

Please feel free to contact me at your convenience if you are interested in my help.

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A. Clemens
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I think the cut off is May? I'm not sure. Depending on where you will be living, depends on if it's all day kindergarten. I live in Avon and we have 1/2 day kindergarten. Is he reading? He would probably do well in 1st grade depending on what he is able to do. I would ck with the schools you are looking at and see what they expect for kindergarten and then 1st grade and see what he does the most in.

A Little about me:

I'm a sahm of 3--son 12yr, daughters 7 & 3. I am married to my high school sweetheart of 18yrs...and we have been together for 25yrs.

We were in a very similar situation to yours. Our son has a June birthday. When we moved to Indy from Oregon 2 years ago, we were very surprised at how many people here wait until their kids are 6 to send them to kgarten. We had never considered waiting until we moved here and decided last year to send our son to kindergarten at 5. He is the youngest boy in his class and there is only one girl that is younger. There are actually kids in the class 18 months older than he is which is a huge difference at that age. We just met with his teacher yesterday and decided to have him repeat kindergarten. We really want him to enjoy school and think giving him some extra time to mature now would help. You know your child better than anyone but I would do kindergarten again in Indy.

My kids go to Washington Township schools in Indianapolis and they both have summer birthdays (late June and late July). I put them in Kindergarten shortly after they turned five and they are doing fine. There are some kids who are about a year older than them in their classes but to the kids it doesn't really matter. Good luck with your decision.

We live in Indiana. The state-wide cut-off date for Kindergarten is age 5 by Aug 1 (it changed a couple years ago). However, many school districts allow an 'early entrance' of age 5 by Sept 1. My son's birthday is the middle of July. He went to kindergarten soon after he turned 5. He's in 1st grade now and doing great. Never had any issues with kindergarten. He did go to preschool a few days a week since he was 2 so he was used to a school-type environment, being separated from us, following directions, walking in a line, waiting turns, etc. That's the biggie for kindergarten - those social skills. I don't know your son of course, but since he's already in kindergarten I'd say he'd be fine entering first grade. However - check with your new local public school to find out what they expect incoming 1st graders to know. In our school district, most kids are reading simple chapter books and writing stories daily in a journal by March or April of the kindergarten year. If your son isn't do those things in his private kindergarten but your new local public school is, he may start 1st grade 'behind' and have some catch up to do.

My son is the youngest in his class. Several kids are more than a year older than he is because apparently some parents believe that May or even April is a "summer" birthday and think 5.5 is too young for kindergarten. I think it comes down to sports.... parents are/were delaying their children just so they'll be the biggest and best at sports. The schools were I'm at are cracking down on that. The teachers really hate that 1.5 year gap between kids - it's HUGE at that young age. As my son's kindergarten teacher told me last year "if I wanted to teach 7 year olds, I'd teach 1st grade". The cutoff is there for a reason... 5 year olds, even 'young 5s' can excel at kindergarten. I have some neighbor kids who were 'delayed' a year because of a summer birthday and they all hate it now that they are in 4th and 6th grade... they are much more mature than their classmates and have trouble finding friends in their grade level.

Keep in mind that many states have a cutoff date of Oct or Nov or even Dec so they have 4 year olds starting kindergarten in Aug... and they do just fine!

Bottom line... talk with the principal, counselor and a 1st grade teacher at the new school and get their opinion. Some kid has to be the youngest in the class!