Comment by Julie Gardner on September 1, 2010 at 9:31am

This is really interesting to me. I have a good friend and our children who are 2 now are just a month apart mine born in beginning of August and hers born beginning of September. If I choose to start my son at age 5 and even though our children are exactly a month in age they will be 1 grade apart in school. I have another friend whose child is a November birthday and our kids are almost a year apart in age and now with this new bill will be in the same grade. I think with this bill and having friends with children similar in age, I may now seriously consider not starting my son in Kindergarten until age 6. Very interesting and definitely some food for thought. I am thankful I still have a few years to ponder this.

Comment by Blake on September 1, 2010 at 10:31am

Unless there is a real reason (generally brought to a parent's attention by a doctor or pre-school teacher) I encourage my friends to have their children start kindergarten as early as they are eligible. If students aren't ready for first grade by the end of their kindergarten year, they repeat kindergarten, so I think it's important to give your child the opportunity to start school, even if they wind up needing a 2nd year of kindergarten (and the vast majority do not.)

Comment by Keri on September 1, 2010 at 10:40am

Good point Blake. My mom would probably say to look more into the future because there are other factors we don't think about when our kids are only 5-6 yrs old. Take my brother for instance...he is and always has excelled academically so that is why he started earlier. Now that he is in HS though, regardless of his 3.8GPA he is having a harder time keeping up in other areas that, especially for a teenager, are very emotionally trying! He is quite small and not at the same physical maturity level as his peers. In athletics and in a teen's social life, that can be difficult. We all know how emotional we are/were in HS and your social life seems to make or break your spirit in those times.

Comment by Blake on September 1, 2010 at 10:46am

But you have to take into account that there is a benefit to graduating high school at 17 or college at 21 (as I did) ... you feel less pressured to put your nose to the grindstone and have an extra year to go out into the world and explore what you really do, as most people don't expect you to graduate until 22. Plus graduating early made me look good to employers. I had an extra year in my adult life by finishing at 21, and I wouldn't change a thing.

Comment by Julie Gardner on September 1, 2010 at 10:54am

Good points by both Blake and Keri, definitely important factors to consider.

Comment by Blake on September 1, 2010 at 11:02am

The date was moved up to take the guess work out of starting kindergarten. It used to be parents with students born in October or November that would sometimes be "on the fence" ... now the decision is made for them by changing the date. Now the new fence-perching parents are going to be those of the July and August kids? These kids used to be obvious kindergartners with the old date. This stuff creates issues for the Elementary Attendance Clerks our there- I would know, I used to be one ;)

Comment by Keri on September 1, 2010 at 11:17am

LOL...yeah. This will def. be interesting to see how the first year this goes into effect plays out! I'm sure we will hear mush more about it.

Comment by Julie Gardner on September 1, 2010 at 12:41pm

You're right Blake, it's really the same issue just moved up a couple months for a different set of parents. Overall, I'm planning on putting him in Kindergarten at age 5 (he will still be the young one in his class and that's fine with me), nothing law-wise has really changed for me as a parent of an August baby. Especially if my kids stay in public school, why pay for another year of preschool.

Comment by Blake on September 1, 2010 at 1:21pm

I hope I didn't come off as too crazy... this is just something that is really tough for school administrators to deal with. We are overloaded already when you consider that I was the only Attendance Clerk for the 650 students at the school, so you can imagine how tough it can be when there are so many exceptions to every rule. Be assured there is a fail safe- if your student is not ready for first grade after kindergarten, he'll repeat kindergarten- kids are the priority :)

Comment by Julie Gardner on September 1, 2010 at 1:40pm

Not crazy at all. I enjoyed the discussion.

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