Thursday, April 18, 2013

Kindergarten at 5 --or Not?


So this year Grace went to preschool. Love the A-becca curriculum. She has a excellent teacher we feel has done a great job with her. So then comes the big question...Do we send our little girl who will turn 5 on August 4th to Kindergarten or do we wait?  Well all year actually we thought she would go to Kindergarten next fall. Her teacher kept saying she is definitely very smart "gifted" and will be more than ready to go. 
So kindergarten orientation comes..I took her to that. They evaluate your child and you wait. Yep papers say she is academically ready. Socially she is ready. But why are we suddenly having doubts about her being the youngest. Maybe God is trying to tell us something. So I asked the question on my adoption chat I am part of . Of course I got about 40 plus comments saying many different experiences. Some people children were fine starting that young, some struggled later.. Well it was the struggling later that caught my attention on this. So I kept asking more people. Not asking them what I should do , but to get to hear maybe  some more experiences.  Still many of the same stories with both sides. I asked my sister who works in the schools as a counselor. She consulted with 4 different teachers. The consensus was wait- this surprised me. She gave me reasons I had not thought about. Looking way ahead....She would graduate at 17, youngest in class. She may be ready academically but they have seen children that hit about middle school age and being the youngest catches up to them. Not only will she always be small, but also younger. Honestly she still loves her nap time too..all day kindergarten could be really hard on her.   Her friends would all get to drive a whole year before her. Just different things that would come up because of a younger age. With every thing gathered and really praying about this. We both suddenly felt great peace ( i love when God does this) about waiting off another year until we start kindergarten.  With all taken in ....there was not one person that regretted waiting. While many did regret starting them so young. In my opinion you can never go back!!  In talking to her preschool teacher she also felt that waiting would be best...she wished she had waited with her daughter too.....She will advance Grace up another level in the A-Becca curriculum and work with her on K-5. So she will not be bored but challenged.  When she goes to Kindergarten the following year she will be older, but probably always at the top of her class . 
 I can't seem to post with out pictures can I!! 

I am happy that I get another year before my little one starts full time school....This younger age is so precious...thank you GOD for giving us peace about this decision!!!

1 comment:

Angela said...

Thank you for writing about this. I'm already thinking about this very thing concerning my daughter who isn't even a year old yet (Sept 8 birthday). As a former elementary school teacher myself, I'm leaning toward starting her at 6 vs 5 but know I'll continue to have doubts until the time comes to make the decision. I look forward to seeing how Grace progresses this coming year and next, hoping it will help with our future decision :)