We are having debates about the best aga that a kid starts elementary school.
Oficially kids go to school between age 6-7. My doughter is exactly 6 years old and I am thinking to send here to school next year because if I send her this year the majority of her classmates will be 7 years old and she will be kind of inferior in this class. Any advice? What do you think? I am aware that she might lose one year but on the otehr hand she might gain more knoledge and be more energic to start the school next year.

regards, lisi

J_9

Wow, 7 is actually really late where I live to send a child to school for the first time. Where I am from, most children start kindergarten around age 5. My son actually started pre-kindergarten at age 4 and is now in first grade learning to read and write.

I can't imagine sending a child to school for the first time at age 7 where they will be way behind all of the other children in the class. It may be different where you live though.

blackrain1987

7 is way too late to send a child to school. Some start preschool as early as age 3. Most are in school by age 4. I believe 5 is the max to start school. I am going to be an elementary teacher, my advice to you is to get your lil girl in school as soon as possible. I cant imagine where you live that would want your child starting at age 7.

DoulaLC

Since the norm for where you live is 6-7 years old, you may want to consider how mature you feel your daughter is. How much exposure has she had to being in a structured enviornment? Did she attend pre-school?

For some children, being on the older end of the class can have real advantages....especially maturity wise. Some may find it a real boost to their self-esteem when they can manage the tasks required both in behavior and academics, and that confidence can start them off with a very good foundation for their education.
After you get farther into elementary school, you start to see the gap narrow as opposed to early on where you might see quite a difference in children's abilities, especially in relationship to who had early exposure to a more formal education and who did not.

If you feel she is quite mature, can follow directions, can stay on task for a reasonable amount of time, has an adequate grasp on social skills, she would likely do just fine starting at six.

ConfusedInAK

I sent my children (so far) at the age of 4 to preschool and they started kindergarten at age 5/6....

You can always put her in school if she feels ready to start, and if worse comes to worse she can stay a year behind and will be the same age as her classmates with 1 year of school experience

I suppose it also comes dow to how prepared she is and what requirements your school system has...

Ours expects them to already know how to read at age 6....

NowWhat

My daughter started kindergarten 2 weeks before she turned five. (She made the age cut off by 2 weeks)

She was one of the youngest in her class. (but the tallest )

fastforward to the end of 1st grade - they tell us her academic maturity was not what it should be and she had trouble with reading. We were asked to hold her back.

We did. It was a great thing. Had we waited in the first place - we may not have had to go through all that.

bec587

My son was the youngest in his Kindergarten class at age 5. The teacher recommended holding him back. We didn't and sent him into 1st grade thinking that it would be more of a challenge instead of ABC's, arts and crafts. There were other things in Kindergarten that were important that he wasn't grasping. He struggled through 1st grade and was still the youngest. He was always 4 - 5 months behind the other kids and getting really frustrated. The teacher was great and we trusted her recommendation of holding him back. It was hard to convince the principal and the school board, but it got passed. He is doing 1st grade over at 7 and scores 100% on just about everything and is alot more confident and secure. I would recommend a 5 and a half to 6 to start kindergarten. It does depend on the maturity of the child though. The school system changed the entrance into kindergarten from 5 at Nov 1 to 5 before Sep 1.

danielnoahsmommy

my son started kindergarten at 51/2 . he is clearly one of the oldest in his class since cutoff was dec 1 and danny is an early in the year baby. he has been in preschool since 2 years 9 months till this past june. he is well socialized but has become a normal crazy boy with now two missing teeth (front bottom) and all other teeth in the front are loose now. what a pretty picture he will be.

anyway, when a child is ready to learn it should be on his/her own schedule. yes i do think 7 is too old for kindergarten. other kindergarteners will not (at least in my locality) be her contemporary. this can create social issues for your child. thinking ahead most children graduate at 17-18 your child will be 19-20.

NeedKarma

Hi danielnoahsmommy,

Same here. We have two January children. Having go into kindergarten at 5 1/2 was a very good thing. The extra 'maturity' serves them well and kicks off the school process on a good note. From age 4 to kindergarten start we do own form of pre-schooling where the kids are learning stuff without knowing they are learning stuff because I make it fun. Good times....

lisi

Probably I wasn't clear enough. She is in kindergarden for 4 years already. She already can write and read well. My question was relating to sending her in basic school, 9 years long.