3littlemonkeys - reading your post was exactly how I felt for DS1. We did hold him back. He is going really well at school and is one of the older ones in his class. He does get bored though and does play with the kids in the year above him a lot. I'm really finding it difficult with an April birthday. There is a little girl a few houses up from us and she is April too and is ready and going to school next year. Your point about the end of school is something to consider too. They will be a lot younger than their peers if they start next year.
Lukesmum, I would never have believed someone who told me I would wrestle with the decision. My DD is a May birthday and a very bright, social little girl. She was even accepted immediately into two very selective private schools. But she will start school the year she turns 6. For all the reasons 3littlemonkeys wrote (great post Kell ).
We consulted with her preschool teachers extensively.
12months on I'm glad I gave her another year of play. Her little persona is so much more developed. Having seen the change in her I'm really happy with my decision. But hindsight is a great tool...in hindsight. I did worry about her being bored, and she (and I) is/are definitely ready for her to go to school.
Totally agree with Trill about nothing different in their learning as they start school. I was the youngest myself in my year and excelled at the actual school bit. However, I've worked with teens. That was my decider. There's a whole lot of difference in kids when it comes to the teens.
mmmm Kim. Thank you for your reply. I am sooo very undecided. I was all set to keep him home for one more year until the last few weeks. He has been asking every morning if he can go to preschool and really wants to go to big school next year with his brother. Why do they have to make us make this decision? Once we hit the teenage years I would hate to think we made a mistake by sending him early. It seems like we can't really make any major mistakes by keeping him home another year but may cause problems sending him early whether that be next year or later in teenage years. I have the enrolment sitting here... What to do...
I'm not quite up to making this decision yet but I have already thought that I will be keeping my March DS back. For similar reasons that 3littlemonkeys and Kim have said re:the later school years. My mum has also done work in the lower primary classes and has seen first hand the affects on a classroom where children (more so boys) have been sent to school because they are the right age not necessarily because they were actually ready. I think especially boys need that extra bit of maturity. That is not to say that a younger boys are not smart or won't cope, some will, I just think that once they get to school with other boys they can be more easily 'dragged down' into less than desirable behaviour than if they have that extra maturity. Good luck making your decision, please be happy with whatever you decide to do (my mum still beats herself up about some aspects of our schooling and I think while she may have been able to make some different/better decisions that we got through anyway and it makes us who we are). Hope this makes sense. xo
Funny you mention that about your mum Catherine. When I was deciding last year my dad rang out of the blue one day and told me he knew I was struggling with the decision. He told me he had always wished they'd held me back a year, for all the reasons I was giving....shame it was 30years too late lol. But I'm perfectly OK, so who knows
I thought of something else LM, in terms of her getting bored, I figured it was up to me. I enrolled her in a couple of activities (swimming and gymnastics) which she loves. I wasn't a fan of too much organised stuff before they were a bit older, but she loves to go and I'm glad I did. I made an effort with playgroup (until the only one here moved to an unsuitable time), we have more play dates, DH and I make an effort to do stuff (we live in a touristy place in the dessert so there is always somewhere to go and visit) when he's here, and i have started to set up lots of stuff at night for her to be engaged with. Just different little activities she might not think of herself like little invitations to play. I follow lots of early learning/play blogs and get ideas.
FWIW, my plans are similar to what Kim did, for my DD. At the moment we dont 'do' alot. Not planned stuff anyhow, but next year, I will be enrolling her into pre-school for 2 days, dancing for one day, playgroup one day, a play date one day and library one day. We also live remotely, so things to do here are a bit limited, but my kids love a good play date! I will also be investing in the learning eggs and there's a maths program for young ones too, which i will do with her (cant think of the name of it tho).
Thanks so much everyone for your replies. We have decided to keep him home for another year. I will get some activities organised to keep his mind active
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