how can a child miss kindergarten?

Question

a couple told me that their child missed kindergarten by a day. How can you miss it? Is this something I have to be careful about? So my children are not held back a grade?

Answer 1

I think they may have been referring to their child's age. A child has to be a certain age to enter kindergarten. Your friend's child's birthday might have fallen one day before the age cutoff. That does not mean the child cannot attend kindergarten ever. It just means the child will have to wait until next year.

Answer 2

Your state is generally in charge of the processes of passing through the grades. Somewhere in the state bureaucracy a committee decides a child needs X degree of maturity to handle the introduction to new socialization skills with strangers his age, to be able to maintain a degree of discipline under new authority figures, and to assimilate the information presented by being able to concentrate and focus on the matter at hand.
Unfortunately, this "committee" uses age-based criteria to determine that X-value: totally objectively, has this child attained X maturity level by Y date so that success in the first grade entered can be relatively assured. Your couple fell off the track by having the child reach, say, age 5 on August 7th, when the policy says the child should be age 5 by August 6th to meet the X maturity level. In other words, objectively speaking, their child missed the maturity level assigned by 1 day.
There are several approaches to a possible meeting of the minds relative to that X level. There may be procedures by which a child just missing the cutoff can demonstrate he has attained the required maturity level subjectively. This might be in home learning sessions where the child may already know how to read and count and behave to the satisfaction of another committee empowered to grant an exception. It might be in the form of a Summer School Kindergarten offered by another school which the child passes sufficiently that he may be allowed to enter grade 1 the following Fall and bypass the state kindergarten. The burden of proof has now become, has the child reached level X+1 maturity to enter first grade as one of the youngest in class and meet all the other criteria as well.
A final approach may often be in the best interest of the child: Give him that extra year of growing and learning and maturing. He is not, technically, being held back a grade. He is rather given the opportunity to be home taught beyond the X level of maturity required by the school. Teach him respect for the teacher, the discipline needed to meet new children, and to be gone all day alone without mommy or daddy. He will be one of the older children, less likely to be bullied through the next 12 years. Perhaps best, he WILL be beyond that X maturity point and be able to appreciate the importance of what he is about in school and make the most of it.

Answer 3

I'm sure they were referring to their child's birthday. See, to start kindergarten at a public school, the child has to be 5 by a certain date. In my district, the cutoff date is sometime in July, but when I started Kindergarten, the date was August 1st. My birthday was July 25, so I was the youngest in my class. A girl down the street had a birthdate of August 31, and she 'missed' kindergarten that year. She had to wait until the next year, when she was 6.

Answer 4

Our school cut-off is August 1st! and our district has a no-early entrance policy. Why? Because by 4th grade, those Sept/Oct kids all seem to lag educationally in class. Theses late summer birthday kids tend to be the lower scoring in the group. Waiting a year to start, these late-birthday kids are top of the class. So sure you can push a child early into school. But why? The gap might not be there now. But later, be it 4th grade or in high school when dating and driving a car play big in school. That age gap will then make a difference. In our state, and in many states there is a rule that you cannot 'early in' your child under 3rd grade when you move to another district. So if you managed to get this child into Kindergarten early and you moved to our district next year, the child would repeat Kindergarten. Many parents tried the 'take the child early to private school, then try to get in early in the public school'. And this early school admission left kids failing behind peers.

Answer 5

i don't see how a child can miss kindergarten. it is required just like all of the rest of the grades. years ago i don't think kindergarten was a requirement but it is now i'm sure. i would talk to the school about this. they should be able to give you the info that you need. hope this helps. good luck.

Answer 6

I believe they were talking about the cutoff date for birthdays. If your child is five before a certain date, they can go to kindergarten, if not, they have to wait one year. Where my daughter is going to school the cut off is October 16th. But it might be different in your area.

Answer 7

some kids' birthdays are right on the edge of the cut off date. It's usually a september date in the first week. My birthday is September 8th and when I was a kid, my mom threw a fit to get me started that year and not wait. It really depends on the school district and wether or not your child is ready. So, if your child's birthday is in the beginning of sept, look into it, if not, then don't worry about it.

Answer 8

Usually the cut off date is Dec 2 or 3. This keeps kids the same age in schools. Not really that big of a deal but kids should be the same age through out school

Answer 9

Most schools go by when your child was born but some of them go by age and some schools if your child isn't 5 by july they will make they go the next school year and they will go by the screening too

Answer 10

In our state Texas, the cut off date is September 1st, born after you must wait another year.