4 Year Old Son Ready for School but Birthday Falls on the Wrong Part of the Year

Where we moved from, and where my son's b-day is, we had a choice to start him or hold him. We chose to hold him because I was worried he might be a little behind the others.

If you can afford it, Merryhill has a Jr. Kindergarten program. It's almost identical to a kindergarten program. I was amazed at the stuff they were doing. I think some of the kids were even starting to read.

If you don't want to go that route, the Parks & Rec Center has classes. I think they might even have a preschool. I know they have classes because I've thought about putting my daughter in some.

Definitely look in to a pre-k program for him. I don't know if the school system has any sort of appeal process which you could try if you really want to push it, but here is a different way to think of it. Many parents keep even summer birthday children back a year so your 4 year old will probably be starting school with children who are already 6. Add to the fact that since kindergarten is not required in Nevada, they don't have a max class size. The kindergarten classes at our school have around 30 children in them with 1 teacher (of course this can be different for different schools).
My son turns 5 in Sept. so he is eligible to start this year, but I have really been struggling with it since I don't want him to get lost in a sea of kids. I know one of the K teachers at our school and she agrees with me, her son misses the deadline by 3 days so he'll be waiting the extra year.
My son will be attending K next year, but not at the public school, his current Pre-K has a private kindergarten and that is where he will go. They have a great curriculum, it is full day and the teacher is awesome. This way I know he will get the attention he needs.

Try a preschool that is associated with a church. They will usually look past that if they are clearly ready. I started kindergarten when I was 4... and they really tried to tell my mom that she couldn't enroll me. She fought the school and had me tested, once they got the results they had no problem. Private schools, community centers, and even churches follow their own criteria, so you may have better luck there. I had to do a church school for my son, and the smaller class sizes can really make the difference that early on.

Good Luck,
-T.
-drop me a line if you want to talk :)

My son is really smart but doesn't turn 5 until December, so he won't be starting school either. But I am not worrying about it at all. I am a teacher - and it is much better if a child is older, and smarter, than the other kids in the class. I would always want my child to have the advantage - and being a boy waiting the extra year will only help even more. He'll be older and bigger when it comes to sports. And hopefully he'll be more mature and learning new things will come easily. So take it as a blessing that he has an extra year to prepare for school. The Henderson Rec Centers have some wonderful classes (academic and fun stuff like tumbling or dance or crafts or computers...) if you are close to Henderson you should look them up. I would assume that Las VEgas has rec centers too, but I've never looked into it. Enroll him in a preschool if you want the extra structure for him. School at this age is all about social skills, so learning to work with other kids is always a good thing. Good luck.

Also, look on the Meetup.com websites to find some playgroups to join. It was an easy way for me to make some new friends for myself and my kids this summer. Welcome to Vegas. =)

Try CCPR (clark county parks and rec). There are lots and lots of different facilities around town and they have a great preschool program for 3 and 4 year olds that are very very reasonably priced... And I loved them when my kids were littler.

Good luck.

hi, my son is 4 years old too, and his fift birday is on october so he can not start school until next year.

josie

T.,

I had the same problem. My son wasn't 5 until Dec. There is not a whole lot to do about. Just need to wait till the following year. I was the same way when I was a child. I turned 5 in November but couldn't start till the following year.

I have the same problem. My son turned 5 the other day, and he is VERY ready for school. I keep him busy with preschool classes through the parks and rec. department. They have a lot of preschool classes. They are only 45min long (the bad part), but they are cheap, and he loves them.

Hi my name is Pilar and I have an 8 year old daughter that was born the 21st of september, we were living in Texas and she had to be 5 the 1st of september to go to kindergarten, so she had to wait one year, but somebody with the same problem sent her child to a private school for kindergarten and could go the following year to first grade. If you can afford to pay a private school, do it.