My child will miss the 5 year old age cut off to enter kindergarten 3 weeks late, what can I do?

Question

I don't want my daughter starting kindergarten when she is 6. I was told children entering Kindergarten in (Dallas) Texas must be 5 years old by September 1st, but my daughter turns 5, on the 23rd of September. Is there anything I can do to get her enrolled anyway?

Thanks

Answer 1

That's just the way it happens. There need to be deadlines... some cutoff somewhere.

However, give it a try, talk to the school principal. They may take into consideration your child's maturity and ability...

Answer 2

Talk to the Kindergarten. I think they will make special exceptions if your child seems mature enough.

Answer 3

Every school board has different criteria for early admission & age cutoff dates.  Start with your school's principal & ask them to have her tested for early admission.  In our district, a recommendation from a preschool teacher was suggested as well.  

I have a nephew who was an elementary school principal, though & he let me know that *every* year they get a dozen parents who want to start their child early.  And, most of those kids do not show enough signs of readiness to start early.  Every parent with a September birthday child thinks that their child should start early.  If they changed the cutoff date, every parent with a child with an October birthday would think that their child should start early.  There has to be a cutoff point somewhere.  

My youngest's birthday is in the second week of September.  I'm glad, now, that we waited to start her in Kindergarten when she was almost 6.  She was so much more prepared to learn when she got there than my January birthday son was.  She is doing great in K, really succeeding & excelling - I'm not sure that she would have done that if she had started a year earlier.  And, I know that she -and- dad benefitted from her spending one last year at home with him.

Answer 4

The same thing happened to my neice, in San Antonio, Tx, except her birthday is Sept 3- only 2 days after the deadline!  My brother and sister in law considered sending her to private kindergarten, and then to public first grade, so she could start school at 5 but decided to wait, and she started the following year.  The school system would not budge with the Sept 1 rule.  She's 12, soon to be 13, and is absolutely fine- in fact she was better off and more mature at 6 and fit in fine.

Answer 5

in the school district I grew up in the cut-off was september 30th. My sisters birthday is the very next day. my parents had her tested by the school district and she qualified to start before she turned 5.  She turned out fine.

Answer 6

enjoy having her home for the next year. She will  be better off starting next year. She will not be the youngest and it will all come easy to her. Mine turned 6 a few weeks after starting school and they are two of the top students in their year

Answer 7

It is like that in every state. She won't be six when she starts kindergarten she will still be five until Sept. 23

Answer 8

Have you spoken with the school district?  

In some cases, they permit testing and/or interviews and might consider making an exception.

However, that's not always possible.  In that case, you may be able to enroll her in a private school.  But again, they may observe the same cut-off dates.

Answer 9

probably not. we were about 3 or 4 weeks short with our son, and he had to wait. they don't want to break the rules for anyone because they'd have to keep doing it. i don't know why they do this. when i was a kid as long as you turned 5 by the end of december you could start at 4.

Answer 10

The only thing you might see about is enrolling her in a private kindergarten or homeschooling her through kindergarten, but before you do that talk to the school and see if they will enroll her in 1st grade next year if you can find a kindergarten to put her in now.  Remember though there will be other kids that barley miss the cut off date too, so there will be other 6 years old in kindergarten too, and being older than most can have it's advantages.  She will be able to learn better and she will also have an advantage if she starts playing sports later.

Answer 11

Please hold this child back!  I have a daughter born June 25 and one born June 26th the oldest started school at 5 and I held the youngest back and would do it again in a heartbeat!  My 11 year old is the youngest in her class *(just started Middle School this year and is the youngest and having a hard time with the "girl thing" and how mean girls can be in Middle School.  The youngest may be the Oldest in her class but I feel like I am throwing my oldest daughter into the world a year earlier than I have too!

Technically in Texas you can send her to private kindergarten and then she can start 1st grade. (We also live in Texas!).

Good Luck!

Answer 12

Why can't we plan better?? I am going to have the same problem with my daughter, because she was born in April...Here, we can enroll her in a private school. You might look into that, but I think it'd be better to just keep her till she is old enough.

Answer 13

You can contact the board of education and apply to have her start once she turns 5, most states now have a law where as long as the child can complete the "testing" for kindergarten and is fully pottytrained they can usually start at 5 years old.  I know my oldest son missed the cutoff date by 1 day but that was good for him because most boys aren't ready for kindergarten until they are closer to 6 anyways but my second sons birthday is in December and he is only 3 now and they said by the time he is 5 that he should be ready for kindergarten and if he passes the test he can start when he turns 5 even though it is halfway through the school year.  So if you really want her to go now then contact your board of education and find out if there is a way to get her in, usually there is provided she is emotionally, physically and acedemically ready.  If not then don't worry, starting kindergarten at 6 isn't that bad and just makes them more mature anyways when they do start.  Another choice may be to look around at the other schools and their cutoff dates.  Here the city schools cutoff at July 31st but the schools in the county don't cutoff until August 3rd and then we have 2 schools that don't cutoff until August 21st.  I would call the Board of Education Department and go from there.

Answer 14

No, because she has missed the date of entry...if everyone decided to do what you are thinking...the nurseries would be full..

Answer 15

Don't do it. Your daughter will be with kids who are much older than she is, and on many levels. She will be trying to keep up with kids who followed the age rules and that isn't fair to her.

Let her wait a year. Make sure whatever K she goes to teaches her at her level.

Give her the gift of time---doesn't she deserve it???

Answer 16

No.

We went through this with my oldest over three days so she was 6 when she started kindergarten.  I have to admit I hated it at the time tried to get her tested into school etc but looking back it was the best thing.  My middle one had just turned 5 when she started and the maturity just wasnt there.  It took all the way till 3rd grade to get her grounded in school.  the oldest waiting that year made all the difference.  She was actually ahead of the kids which helped because she didnt feel all the pressure and you will be surprised how many will still be close to her age.  She is now 16 and loves being able to wait until she is almost 19 to start college so she can save more money to get her own place.

Answer 17

My 5-year old missed the cutoff by 7 days. I called the school district and was told that it was state law with no loop holes. I was upset at first, but now I look at it as another year of having her at home before she moves away to college..

Answer 18

Not real likely that there is anything you can do. The main reason is because schools are getting so crowded they don't have room for "extras" that don't meet the cutoff.

Just enjoy the extra year at home, teach her yourself that year. Work on things like reading and writing.

I have 2 "late" starters, sept 30 and oct 16th.

I personally feel that the extra year was beneficial.

my 1st was enrolled in a private kindergarten at 4, so she was very much ahead of her peers when she started kindergarten 2 yrs later.