4 year old kindergarten ("4K")

[Agaliha]

I'm curious how many people enrolled their kids in 4 year old kindergarten ("4K") rather than the general age of 5/6 years old? Did you find it help or hinder your kids intellectually and/or socially? Any thoughts on it? How young is too young, etc?

I was trying to find some articles on any pros and cons, but didn't see much. I must be looking with bad keywords. :2G:

I was in preschool when I was late 2s to 3 and put into kindergarten right when I turned 4. Though I passed the little exam, looking back I wished my parents waited a year...I sort of felt a little out of place socially... though that might also have to do with my shyness and anxiety I had. I found myself lying about my age in high school, I was only 14/15 when I was a freshman when most of my friends were turning 16...I just felt sort of weird. When I eventually told my close friends they had no idea :lol: After that I didn't really care much. I do wonder if waiting one more year might have helped me out a little more or not....

:weirdsmil

[RainInanna]

The system must be different there. Here kids go to pre-kindegarten at 4 and regular kindegarten at 5. It wouldn't matter if you didn't go to school at 4 here, you'd just go into kindegarten at 5 like I did. There was an age cut-off - the only one I know who got put into kindegarten early only did because her birthday was so close to the cut-off her parents got to choose. That said, she was only about a month younger than me, it was just that I was on the other side of the cut-off.

[RubyRose]

The legal age in Australia is 6, but you can send them to prekindergarden at 4.

According to the west aussie government... here's the following stats for my 3 kids.

Xander:
Child can start kindergarten in 2010
Child can start pre-primary in 2011
Child can start Year One in 2012

Lily:
Child can start kindergarten in 2012
Child can start pre-primary in 2013
Child can start Year One in 2014

Caleb (who is yet to be born)
Child can start kindergarten in 2013
Child can start pre-primary in 2014
Child can start Year One in 2015

So by the time my youngest starts school I'll be almost 30.

[Agaliha]

The system must be different there. Here kids go to pre-kindegarten at 4 and regular kindegarten at 5. It wouldn't matter if you didn't go to school at 4 here, you'd just go into kindegarten at 5 like I did. There was an age cut-off - the only one I know who got put into kindegarten early only did because her birthday was so close to the cut-off her parents got to choose. That said, she was only about a month younger than me, it was just that I was on the other side of the cut-off.

I'm in WA state, not sure how different things are. I was never put in any pre-K then K grade. Just kindegarten at 4, 1st grade at 5, etc. My b-day is September 26th, so if was very soon after school stated in September and I had just turned 4. Technically I think I was suppose to wait a year, but like the girl you knew, I was allowed to get passed on due to some cut-off date. I think because I passed the little exam they had me do well, the person okayed it or something. I don't know... I wasn't in any pre-K besides preschool (and I was around 3 then). When I was 5 I was placed in the first grade, so I was always give or take some months for the other kids, a year younger than them.

Edit: I can ask my mom later to double check things, though. It's possible I'm confusing something.

Either way, I'm curious people's thoughts on it.

[Athena-Nadine]

Things have changed since we were children. Al states require that a child be 5 to enter Kindergarten now. Each state has its own age cut off date--the date in which they must be 5 by. If their birthday is after that date they will have to wait until the next year, when they are almost 6. More and more people are waiting until their children are 6 anyway now.

here is an article about it with a list of cut off dates for the different states. Some cut off dates have changed a bit so yours may not be accurate.

http://journal.naeyc.org/btj/200503/01Kauerz.asp

[Brónach Druid]

I don't think it is possible to enter a child in regular Kindergarten before the age of five anymore. As to whether or not I personally feel that would be a good thing, my answer would be no. In fact, in the school my children attended most of the kids who had Sept. - Dec. birthdays were often "kept back" an additional year in a program they called T-1.
My daughter was the youngest in her class, this often presented certain difficulties for her as she was often a little less mature then her peers. It did seem to even out in HS some what. But she spent a great deal of time in school feeling like she just didn't fit in.
My brother was sent to school at 4, although he was always able to keep up with the class work, he also struggled to "prove" himself among his older classmates.
I am sure there are some children that could easily make the transition and not have any problems at all. In general though, I just think its better to keep kids within their own age peer group.

[Lunacie]

50+ years ago I started kindergarten at the age of 4 as the cutoff was after my birthday in November. I probably wasn't ready at that age, but I think that had more to do with my being undiagnosed with Inattentive ADHD than being so young.

When my daughter started school they had changed the policy here in Kansas and even though her birthday was only a month after school started she couldn't start kindergarten when she was 5, so she turned 6 one month after starting school.

Her oldest daughter was also undiagnosed with ADHD (inattentive including hyperactivity) but I think starting Pre-Kindergarten through the school was a good thing for her, helping her to adjust to the social aspect (which she still struggles with 6 years later).

So when we had the opportunity to send the youngest to Pre-K at the age of 4 we thought it would be a good idea for her, especially since we realized she had some issues and thought that the educators would be helpful in sorting those out. Turns out she had a wonderful Pre-K teacher who did get her tested and helped to put an IEP in place for her. Just before she started Kindergarten we began seeing a family therapist who confirmed our guess that she has Autism. We are really grateful that she had the chance to go to Pre-Kindergarten and get some of the basics of how school works and what she needs help with. Many Autist children end up being homeschooled, but she has learned so much in just two years that we'd like to keep her in school as long as it's not too stressful for her to cope with. Neither of us feels very qualified to give her a well-rounded education at home.

[RainInanna]

not sure how different things are.

I'm not sure either, although I'm in Canada so it may be quite different. There was no pre-k when I went to school either; you just went to kindegarten when you were 5. I also didn't go to pre-school. Now so far as I know all kids go to pre-k when 4. It amazes me the things they are supposed to know for school to - I'm sure when I went we went *to* learn about counting and letters etc. We weren't expected to go to school knowing those things already. And the only thing I remember that we had to learn to pass was tying our shoes, if only because I had a hard time with that ;)

[Tanya]

I started my daughter this year in kindi when she was still 4. It depends n the kid, she was an old 4 for started (turned 5 a week or 2 in to the first term)

I have noticed she struggles a bit socially.. some kids were nearly 6 when they started and that is a BIG difference in terms of maturity....

despite that I felt she was ready, she was starting to read and knew her numbers an UNDERSTOOD them.... in that she understood adding, subtracting and even verses odd #

The outcome I'm most pleased with I didn't anticipate...mostly i started her early because I was concerned she would be bored with another year of preschool... being the youngest she really has to WORK to keep up..... its so easy for a smart kid to be lazy, that this learning to work right out of the gates I think is REALLY good for her.

truely though it depends on the kid. The first sign of my dyslexia was being unsure of left and right, and because of that, my parents waited til I was nearly 6. I still really struggled to learn to read.. I uld have felt like a total loser if I had started earlier....

overall I'm pleased because she seems very happy.

[Twinkle]

I was a four year old kindergartner. I was intelligent, but very immature emotionally. I struggled up until about 2nd grade, where the teacher thought I should be held back. My mother pushed to keep me in, because I was a very good student and already a year ahead of my grade in reading.

As a result, I entered my senior year at 16 years old, where everyone else was 18 and some closer to 19.

It was awkward, and in hindsight, my mother now thinks that keeping me back until I was 5 would have been better for me emotionally.

[Willow Rosette]

In California kids have to be 5 before a cut off date of October 1st I think. But a child can test to get in at 4 years old. I know a little girl that is 4 and doing kindergarden twice. That way she still gets to the maturity level needed but can lean all the kinder stuff as well.

I dont know about other kids but Toria wouldnt have been ready. Although she can and did learn alot of it before Kindergarden she wasnt ready to sit there and pay attention for as much time as she needed to. Even now she talks way more than she should and I keep threatening to duck tape her mouth shut :lol:

[Amethyst Rose]

Here in Alberta (at least in our school district), your child has to be 5 by March 1st to go to kindergarten. My son starts in the fall, because he turns 5 in October. He'll be one of the younger kids, most likely. :) His friend, Madison, will be going the following year because she turns 5 March 21st. So she'll turn 6 while in kindergarten.

Likewise, my friend and I both have babies close in age. Hers was born in February, mine in May. Her's before the cut off, mine after he cut off. They're growing up together, but may end up not being in school together, unless she chooses to keep her son back a year (which I'm hoping. :)).

When I went to school I don't think there was such a thing as pre-school (which my son did this year). However I wanted to go to school really badly, so my mom put me in a private kindergarten which allowed me to be there at 4. I did two years of kindergarten. My birthday is February and I was older than most of my friends by no more than 6 months.

[Lyrien]

I went to pre-school when I was a kid, but that was strictly because my mother was a single mom, worked two jobs, and needed some form of daycare. I started Kindergarten when I was 5.

My daughter's b-day is in November and was forced to wait to enter K. She completed pre-k4 THREE times because the school district refused to evaluate her for early entry. We moved in the middle of her 1st grade year and the new district wanted to advance her two years, she did not want to. Now after homeschooling her she is entering the school district as a 7th grader instead of a 6th. I would have MUCH rather had let her start school at 4 than to have gone through all of this. She was intellectually, socially, and emotionally ready to enter kindergarten at 4.

My son's b-day is in October....he needed to wait for every reason possible.

[Glowy]

I think it is better to wait if you can. But it always depends on the child. My neice wanted to go to kindergarten at 4 she was born in Oct. They tested her and the school refused her. She is very intelligent and outgoing. She is one of the older kids in her class.

My newphew who is 6 months younger than my son started at 5 as did my son. * cut off is like in September* His birthday is in August. He has struggled and his PARENTS ended up holding him back last year so my son went to middle school alone and Jakey stayed in 5th. That being said. His mother did not want to start him at 5. He and my son are very different children but still best friends. My son does not want a HS graduation party now until he and Jakey can have one together.. * worried about what that means**