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 other hand she might gain more knoledge and be more energic to start the school next year.

Regards, lisi

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.

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 little girl in school as soon as possible. I can't imagine where you live that would want your child starting at age 7.

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Originally Posted by lisi

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

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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 environment? 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.

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...

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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 a lot 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.

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.

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...

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

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Originally Posted by 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.

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She's been in kindergarten for 4 years? So, your daughter is 6 years old and has been in kindergarten since she was 2?

I don't know where you live, but where I live kindergarten starts at age 5 or 6. Preschool starts around age 2 or 3.

In our area, the enrollment is for children whose birthdates is from, specific month,day,year to another date. If your children's birth date fall within those months, you HAVE to enroll them, it is not a optional issue to enroll them. I would check with the local school board.

My son turned 5 the day he started kindergarten. He was in pre-school starting age 3.

You said that your daughter has been in kindergarten for 4 years. Does that mean that she'll attend a 5th year of kindergarten and then begin grade 1 next year, or is she taking a year off?

At this time it might be a good idea for us to ask where you live so that we can better understand your educational system.

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Originally Posted by 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 can't imagine where you live that would want your child starting at age 7.

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As soon as possible may be too soon. Where I teach, the entering age for kindergarten in 5 years old. Sometimes, students that just make the birthday cut-off may be physically old enough, but not mentally mature enough to cope with the concepts in their current grade. They may struggle throughout their schooling because their peers are always one step ahead.

There's nothing wrong with starting preschool early, not you don't want to start elementary school early. 6 or 7 years old seems kind of late to start school to me. But as others have said, maturity is the key. To do this, you really need to be able to compare them to children in their age bracket.

You should send her when she is six so she will be the same age as her classmates

Holy crap!! I went to kindergarten at 4 years old!! I say send it at six, besides, It might be fun being youngest in the class!

Send her to school soon! I am an elementary teacher of fourth graders. My students are 9-10 years old. I cannot imagine having an 11 or 12 year old. By the time the child graduates high school, they would be 20. Get her enrolled this year!

In my state you HAVE to have your kid in school by the age of 7. They can fine you and even take your kids away if you do not have them in school or home schooling them with an accredited home schooling program by age 7.

Most kids start the first grade at age 6 so I really don't understand your debate because you would be starting her in the second grade for her to be older than the other kids.


Edit:
I just caught this on page one.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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I am having a hard time believing a school would hold her back so long. They usually push kids through saying they will catch up.
Are you in the USA or what country?
The school should be making accommadations for her to be getting caught up.

Are you working with her at home?

I am having a hard time understanding.
She has been in kindergarten for four years and seven years old.
She has been in kindergarten since four years old?

What is keeping her back?

Why are you concerned about putting her in school because of her age
If you keep holding her back she will be way older than the other kids and I think that would be more of a problem.

I THINK (correct me if I'm wrong) its obvious lisi is not in the US, as we don't refer to it as basic school I don't think.

If you feel that she is ready for basic school, I say go for it. As others have said, if she doesn't do well you can hold her back in the same grade next year.

I personally was sent to school when I was 5 instead of 6 (I know yours was 6 vs. 7 but this might still help) I had a very hard time throughout all of gradeschool because of this. It is important that a child gets a chance to be a child. Sending your kid to school when he or she is too young will fallow them through their lives. I recommend holding back. But I was also in a different situation being my age was 5 vs. 6. I feel like that might make a difference.