[Tylers mom]

Hello everyone,
My 4 year old son turns 5 on October 7, 2007. The cut off for automatic admission into Northwest Local School district in Cincinnati, Ohio is August 31, so he misses the cut off by 1 week. The district has put him through a series of "early entrance tests" to see if he "is ready". My son has also attended 2 years of preschool already. They gave him what is called the K-SEALS test, my son scored in the 95th percentile, the district wanted 98th percentile. This test has word recognition, addition/subtraction, abstract thinking etc. The second test is called the VMI - visual motor integration - , my son scored an above average, the district wanted an average. Does anyone know what the normal expected score on the K-SEALS is? They won't allow my son to enter kindergarten this year because of his 95% score was not good enough. They also told me that less than 1% of all children actually get accepted early into kindergarten in this district. Any advice for us? He is so disappointed that he cannot "go to the big school". He is not going to be challenged enough in preschool for a third year. I work with him everday at home as it is because he enjoys learning new things. It seems like such a waste not to let a child into school that truly wants to learn and is ready for it. Does anyone know if I can home school him this year, so he'll be able to start 1st grade next year?
Thanks for any advice you can offer!

[Emland]

There is more that a week between August 31 and Oct 7. Don't rush him. He will be better off being the oldest in the class rather than the youngest. Their maturity level is also very important.