Young 5s - start K or delay

Sharing my story in case it’s helpful.  My daughter was born early August and we put her into kindergarten at 5 years old.  While she is younger than most in her grade, there are definitely a bunch of girls born in June / July and overall her experience has been totally fine.  Now in 7th grade, I can’t imagine her being happy with the 6th graders.  She is on the taller side and hit puberty when she turned 12 and I think she would have felt like a fish out of water with all the younger girls.  

 Alot can happen and change in the next few months. Your daughter may not seem ready but she might be by the time August rolls around. There were a few kids in their young 5s in our daughters K class. From our observations, the girls had an easier time adjusting and keeping up socially more then the boys. One of the boys had no issues academically and was very bright but he required with dexterity (help opening his milk) and understanding social dynamics and relationships. But by the end of the year, the boys were acclimating too. Does she go to preschool now? If so, what do her teachers think? 

Sink or swim in public! But swim, really. Our young 5 (late July bday) son started K last year and did great. He could sit and follow instructions pretty well, but was emotionally still pretty young, with separation anxiety and not a ton of coping skills. His incredible teacher saw everything he needed and provided it, and he soared.  He made great friends and learned to read! And write and do math! And had tons of fun. (Don’t worry about the pencil-holding.) Good luck with your decision! My main point is not to discredit BUSD kindergarten teachers - I think they’re up to the challenge.  

Hello, my son went to a co-op preschool and turned 5  in March so a bit different. He’s very active though and not a sit at a desk type of boy. His preschool teacher recommended that he run/scoot/take a few laps prior to the start of school because he couldn’t do anything unless he got his energy out somehow. We ended up going to East Bay Waldorf and they actually don’t take 1st graders unless they are 6.5 years old by the start of the school year. 
 

if you are open, I would highly recommend looking into that school. They believe that children are not physically or emotionally ready to start true academics until about 7 years old (first grade). They place an emphasis on play and imagination in pre-k and k, preparing the “body” for academic work to follow. So my son is in first grade now and still very much active, but is able to sit still and do their “main lesson” work, which happens in the morning. They teach the kids to develop a longer attention span starting at young age by telling stories/puppet shows. He doesn’t have a problem now sitting still, following instructions, etc, that’s necessary at school, although hes not necessarily able to follow MY instructions at home lol. There’s lots of time built in for recess and play, my sons favorite part. 

We live in Berkeley and have 2 kids that entered kinder young - a July and Aug birthday. It was fine for both of them. Frankly the biggest problem was that our kids still needed either quiet time or a nap in the afternoon whereas the closer to 6 yr old kids did not, so they were like zombies until they outgrew the need for the nap. We had the option to do the kinder year in Montessori preschool (which honestly would’ve been a better fit for one of the kids), but we didn’t want to spend the money and I doubt it would’ve made any long term difference for either kid. Now a few years later I’m glad we didn’t try to redshirt them - especially the older one - because both kids are doing well socially and are in the upper half of their classes academically. They are not super challenged now and I imagine it would be worse if they were the oldest in their classes instead of the youngest.

We don't live in Berkeley, but also have an August baby. We ended up going with a private Montessori school (The Renaissance International School in Oakland), and it's been wonderful. They meet each child where they are and they have multi-year classrooms instead of grades, so you don't have to worry about whether your kid fits into a particular box by September of a given year. Your child will advance to the next level when she's ready. It's also an amazing school in so many other ways (language, music, community, etcetera). Good luck with your decision!

If you were in Oakland, I'd say go for TK. But given Berkeley's policy around holding kids with summer birthdays, I'd just go for K and see how it goes. I think it is hugely beneficial to have the kinder year, and while it would be ideal to be able to wait a year, you don't really have that option. Jumping right into first grade next year may be just as problematic for different reasons. Our August-born kindergartener has been doing fine, but we did opt for private, in part for the smaller class sizes and in part for a more play-based experience. (Both were just as important for our older child with a fall birthday, though.) We plan to move both kids to public in the future, but I do think (some!) private settings can be beneficial for early elementary, even if that's not traditionally the years for which people consider private options.

Ask your child’s preschool teachers what they think AND get some professional eyes on your child.

There are consultants/educators who can assess preschoolers for kindergarten readiness.  It’s worth it to get some additional input from someone who really knows this stuff.  So much can change in the next 9 months for your child, but listen to your gut if you presently think s/he seems less ready than her peers.

We “delayed” kindergarten for our late-July-born child and it was the best decision we could have made, even though it necessitated attending private school because BUSD does not allow 6 year olds to start K.  It is also my observation that the older children in my child’s current 1st grade class (and esp. those who had the benefit of a TK year, like our child did) seem happier, more “ready” and they possess more social and early-academic skills at this point.  Who really knows if any of that will persist or be predictive in any way (the research hasn’t shown one or the other), but I feel that there has been a pretty clear difference so far, in the kindergarten and 1st grade years.

We have two Aug. born kids and one early Sept. born child. Our Aug. born is extremely bright and began reading at an early age and was academically completely ready for Kindergarten. The Aug. kid is also a rule follower, mild tempered, calm, and able to focus on projects for a long period of time. So we pressed forward with Kindergarten without thinking much. Our September born child missed the Kindergarten cut-off by 3 days. The Sept. kid was sad that all of the existing friends from preschool were going to K. We wrecked our brains trying to decide whether to push the kid to Kindergarten but we didn't and sent the kid to public TK. While the Sept. kid is the oldest and tallest in class and finds the curriculum boring, our Sept. kid is very hyper and we suspect the kid may have some attention deficit issues. The Sept. kid is barely keeping up with the state mandated reading levels, so it was good that we didn't push the Sept. kid into Kindergarten just so that the kid could be with friends. Our youngest, another Aug. born, seemed completely not ready for Kindergarten -- opposite of our first Aug. born in terms of ability to sit still, follow rules, etc. So, we held him back at a private preschool and we think he needs private school, so we may keep him at a private school.