Now, I'm wondering what kind of advice you parents of older kids can give me. Colden misses the Kindergarten cut-off in Missouri by 24 days, but when we get to AZ, we could register him in Kindergarten with no problem. I'm just wondering if I should wait a year and put him into Kindergarten next year or get him ready to go when we move. What is your advice? And you reasoning behind it? (Either based on personal experience growing up or with your own kids now.)
8 comments:
I think it is wonderful that you are thinking about this and really I can only give you my opinion but I would wait a year. I'm holding Grace back and feel very confident in my decision. Alexandra is one of the oldest in her grade (November) and Trevor one of the youngest (June). I wish I would have held Trevor back. Academically it is a non-issue but socially I think it is hard for the younger children. Not so much when they are in the younger grades but as they progress there is just so much they are faced with that I have found an extra year of maturity makes such a difference. Aside from the fact that if they are younger, when they are in high school their friends will be dating, driving etc. and that will be a source of hardship when their friends are the ones driving them around and being the 'older' influence.
How does Rob feel about it? He was one of the very youngest in his grade level, as was I.
Good luck with your decision. You have so much going on right now I think it is impressive that you are so mindful of such a major decision.
Well, when my kids started school...
Just kidding. But, I think I recall having heard in some discussion with my good friend who's getting her PhD in education, that most kids seems to do better starting school later rather than earlier. So, I guess I'd go with Maren's opinion on waiting. What's the rush anyway? There's a whole life time of learning ahead.
Also, it may be nice for Colden to have some time to adjust to the new environment/home etc. he's in, before you throw something else at him that's new. Just a thought...
Well, I don't have much experience in this, but I think you should start him and if he's ready, he's ready! If he's not, then he can just repeat Kindergarten. No biggie. But I have no research backing this up either. :)
Josh's Mission President was Brother Hunter (son of PRes. Hunter) Anyways they own their own private school in Caloifornia and they said they have seen such better results with those children that are held back. I obviously don't have any experience but I am holding Lilli back and feel very good about it...heck once they start they are there for "life." Anyways there is my two cents. Good luck with everything!
Thanks for everyone's responses. That's what I feel best about, too (holding him back). I actually talked with Rob about it last night (he's finally not stressed about school and practice stuff). We decided to give Homeschool a real try this year. Rob's totally on board with homeschooling (I couldn't do it without him)...so we'll re-evaluate in a year.
Rob actually didn't mind being one of the youngest...he bummed rides off of everyone until he got his license at 18 (a requirement for his mission). I don't know how dating went...he seemed to hang out with girls enough anyway.
If you're oldest in the class you either have the stigma of being dumb and/or having been held back. If you are the youngest you get beat up.
Henry
Henry's comment made me laugh so hard.
Sorry, Colden. No love from U. Henry.
I think it would be good for Colden to wait a year as he will be facing so many changes this year anyway.
Maybe it would help for him to be involved with other kids he is not already familiar with in some way to prepare for the future. I don't mean the safe environment of familiar friends, which he has already with church, but maybe with a more varied group like the one he will see in his own school. That way he will only have to see some of the kids who might be challenging once a week rather than every day; plus he will learn some skills in interaction.
Maybe the local kindergarten teacher wouldn't mind if you and Colden helped out in class once every 2 weeks for a couple of hours starting in April. You and another mother could trade babysitting each others kids. If that didn't work out, you could visit the actual school, walk in the halls, meet, play at the playground, etc.
So much advice, so little time.....
It would be so much fun to home school too because you could do things without a deadline. You would have fun with hands on activities and all the kids would benefit. I am thinking of some of the things I did with the kids at home. One of my passions is studying what works for learning for different individuals and I will pass on some of those if you are interested. Multisensory... Yes!
I loved all the other comments... So wise.
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