I promised myself that I wouldn’t get worked up about this because it is so far away…but I. can’t. help. it.
As you may, or may not, know – Logan was born on September 4th. And what is the HARD-SET cut-off date for starting school in our community? You must be 5 on August 31st to start Kindergarten. Ya. He misses by *4* stinkin’ days. (Of course, he turns just 1 this year…but that’s beside the point!!)
As a parent, I have the choice to hold my kid back if I don’t think he’s ready for school. But I DON’T have the choice to start him “early” if I think he’ll be ready? What the hell? As I keep telling everyone, if this kid is anything like his daddy, he’s going to be super smart…so, what if that means he’ll be bored in school, and therefore gets into trouble?
I totally understand that parents aren’t always the best judge of what their kids can and cannot do – most parents think their kids sh*t roses and can do no wrong; but that shouldn’t mean that there’s a HARD-SET cut-off date. What about working with parents who think “hey – perhaps he IS ready” ..? Maybe talk with the pre-school teachers. Wouldn’t they know if the kid should go to school – even if he’s FOUR DAYS too young? Hell – give the kid a test of some sort. They test for everything else under the sun.
So now I don’t know whether to hope that the school system will listen to pleas from me, or if I should hope that Logan WON’T be ready.
Filed under: Logan, venting | Tagged: 4 stinkin' days, ready for school? |
The Zimmer Zoo 
That sucks…. you would think for 4 days that they would make an exception….
Aaarrggh! I know this frustration. Bee’s b-day is 6 weeks past the cut-off, but I felt that she was ready for kindergarten last year. Judging by the work she’s bringing home, I think I was right. My husband and I agree that she could have done this stuff when she was 3! I just hope she doesn’t start acting up out of boredom.
Yeah that does suck, but it’ll give him an extra year to stay home, relax, and watch cartoons! 🙂
I agree. The cut off thing is odd to me too. Isn’t there a “test” for kindergarten readiness?
That would make sense especially since I have classroom’s full of different ages in the middle school. What difference does a few days make? NONE
I highly doubt the school system will change their policy. They’re sticklers. However, I have a potential work around. I missed the cut off in NY by 7 days, so my parents sent me to a private kindergarten. Since I “passed” kindergarten, the public school district accepted me into 1st grade rather than making me repeat K. You might want to look into if that would work here.
Or you can do what my MIL did since her son missed the cut off by 3 days: forged his birth certificate. Yes, you heard that right. She found a forger and just made up a fake birth certificate and never told her son what his real birthday was. He found his original birth certificate when he was leaving for college, and couldn’t believe it had a different birthday written on it!
totally feel your pain. A&C miss by a month but considering they were preemies and on the smaller side….I don’t mind holding them back. I’d sooner have them be the oldest than the youngest. And if they are brilliant smart than they will just be advance the next grade. They do that here in MA, yes?
We’re a September 5th birthday, but in our district, we actually MAKE the deadline (or did last year)…we electively kept ’em home…
Think ours WERE ready, but as our pre-K teacher said (and try to take solace in this! 😉 ), there are MANY, benchmarks in development….including a big one around third grade, and then again in junior high (where I, even as an “older” kid in my grade was an emotional nightmare). It’s far easier to make an “elective” (or in your case, not so elective, but maybe there will be benefits…) decision at K than it is say in third grade or junior high to “keep ’em back” for any/all reasons.
OR…maybe you could just move here!?!? 😉 We’ll have coffee and bemoan the weirdness in judgment calls from place to place…. 😉
Your better off, and I will tell you from two perspectives.
My birthday is indeed August 31st, and I started Kindergarten at 5 years and a couple days. I was not ready, not mature enough, very, very young compared to all my peers, and so I stayed back in first grade. (I’ve commented about this over at Mommy.esq) This was the best decision that was ever made for me, and I know I wouldn’t be who I am if I hadn’t had that extra year.
I am also a teacher. Logan will be better off with an extra year. Boys especially have a very hard time when they are so much younger than their peers.
Private Kindergarten- wouldn’t recommend it. I love when people, even my own friends say, “oh we’ll just send them to private school”. Private school teachers are paid much less and much less qualified than a public school teacher.
And, um, isn’t Logan only like almost 2? ( I can’t see your cute countdown thing from here)
🙂