Kindergarten or 1st grade question

I have a son who is 5 and turning 6 on August 28th. He has sat in with my older 2 boys who use Kolbe all school year. He has been using just some little workbook type things - letters and numbers and religion. My intent was for him to do a TK type program. But he has breezed through those books and is now on a 2nd round of Kindergarten level books. I am a little leery of starting him in 1st grade next year thus making him a very young 1st grader. But he is very enthusiastic about school and I do not want him to get bored repeating all the Kindergarten information again.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Kelly

Hi Kelly,
This is a question that we get quite often. There are two schools of thought on this... 1) Keep advancing the student academically with no regard for actual grade level 2) offer supplemental material to keep student in typical grade level for the age.

I didn't mean for option (1) to sound negative, but I will reveal my bias here and say that i tend to favor option (2). While it may be years away, it is important to consider the emotional maturity of students when they are ready for certain milestones.... the sacraments, high school, and most especially, moving out of the house (college, job etc). I like to encourage parents to find ways to deepen the student's education at that grade level rather than shoot up to the next level. An example of deepening a subject like math would be to include word problems that apply the concepts learned. For reading, this might include additional books and guiding the student to begin writing more in depth book reports. Science could include more lab work, spelling could include additional work, Religion could include additional reading on the saints. You see where I am going here.

That said, in your case, you are talking about having a younger first grader, but not necessarily an entirely year younger than his "classmates." So, i think you are in a situation where you wouldn't have to worry as much about his maturity as say a parent who has a student who is just turning 5 and going into first. This tends to be where I get more concerned. Even so, you may want to take into consideration going "out" in his education rather than "up" as he begins to excel in his other academic subjects. Also keep in mind that in K -2, students are realy getting the basics... for many this is an easy task for them. Let them enjoy the freetime they have to be creative, play, and be kids. THe curriculum gets more difficult as the grades march on!

I hope some of these thoughts helped... i am sure many parents can give you some of their own experiences with their children. God bless, Megan

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Megan Lengyel
Kolbe Academy Home School
Academic Advisor Department
Math and Science Advisor

I've made the decision to keep my "fall" babies "back" a grade regardless of their academic ability. Much for the reasons Megan mentioned, especially the moving out and going to college part. I've only had one so far in this situation (my other fall baby is only 4). She is an older 1st grader (7 in Nov.), and is not academically advanced. I also have a son in 3rd, who is advanced in a few areas. Even though he was born in the spring and fit perfectly into the age range for his grade, I probably could have moved him along faster and farther. But what I've already noticed is that even by 3rd grade, he is pretty busy with school work. He may have the academic ability to advance faster, but I don't think he needs to spend the kind of time commitment on school that he would have to if he was ahead of grade level. No matter how smart he is, he's still an 8yo boy, and I don't want him to have too much academic responsibility too early. Also, in Kindergarten, he was flying through ALL the material and I could've easily pushed him up a grade. But now, even though he is still advanced in some things, he has a couple of subjects that are more difficult for him. I can only imagine how difficult it would be for him if he had to work a grade level ahead in Math and Writing/Composition. He'd probably end up behind, and I'd rather him be advanced for his grade than the other way around.

I have two boys with late October birthdays. I started son#1 in kindergarten when he was 4 almost 5. He is a gifted lad, very mature and this has worked out well for him. He won a two good scholarships (one through a competition) to our local Catholic college. He could be lazy in 1st-4th grade, but after 5th grade was very motivated and I had little problems with him.

Son #2 is almost exactly 3 years younger than son #1, but less mature. Husband it would look strange to have them 4 years apart in school. Against my better judgment, I started him in kindergarten when 4 almost five. Although he always scores above grade level in standardized tests, he doesn't have an easy time academically, earning some C, some B and an occasional A. He took two years to finish Saxon 8/7 so I could slow him down to start Algebra in 9th grade. He is also doing Biology in 10th grade. He was a daydreamer, although this is finally changing. I regret starting him early.

I also have a daughter with an August 26 birthday, currently in 3rd grade. I did start her in Kindergarten after just turning 5. Although, she is doing fine academically and reading way above grade average, she is a bit of daydreamer like son#2 and math doesn't come quite as easy as son #1 or son#3, but seems better than son #2. I guess time will tell if I made the correct decision with her, but I suspect she will be bogged down by 5th grade if she doesn't develop some self-motivation

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Volunteer Kolbe Parent

Last edited by sharonh on Sat Mar 06, 2010 7:55 am; edited 2 times in total

A couple of thoughts came to mind when I read your question. First- Illinois, where we used to live, your son would have been in K this year and starting 1st next year. Children who are 5 by Sept 1 start K unless the K screening or parents decide to hold them back. So there he would be a young K this year but still "legal" by the cut off date. So if he is working at that grade level he could certainly go on and still be the appropiate age for his grade. Here in mid-Missouri the cut off is August 1 so he would not start K till next year. What is the cut off where you live? This could matter because if he transfered to public school later, these are the peers he would be with and also becuase many sports use the school cut off dates to determine the level you play.

Second- grade levels mean very little at this age and there is no reason why, if you moved ahead now, you could not slow down later. In my case, my oldest has an early Sep birthday and just missed the cutoff of Sept 1 when we lived in Illinois. I thought about pushing her to start early (you could do that in the parish school) because she was academically advanced, but socially she was slow so we waited. She was always very advanced in her class and bored in school. Her third grade teacher suggested she skip to 4th grade, but we did not mainly becuase she did not get along with the girls in that class (it was a small school). In 5th grade, she was so bored, yet getting lots of homework each night (that teacher did not let them do "homework" in class. If they finished classwork early, they could read but not do "homework") so mid year we began homeschooling. We got a 6th grade curriculum from CHC and figured she could breeze through 6th grade in a half a year and then do 7th the next year. The next year she basically did 7th grade level work the next year but we still called it 6th grade. Then we discovered Kolbe. I looked at the Kolbe curriculum and found it to be quite advanced at this level and very advanced in high school. We decided to use the 7th grade lesson plans to put her back in appropiate grade level so she would not graduate at 17. We knew she would still get an advanced education with Kolbe without skipping ahead. So now she is 15, in 9th grade and getting all A's. She is working hard to get those grades though and she would have struggled with all the essay writing last year, but excels this year. So, essecianly she "skipped" 6th grade when we started homeschooling and

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Volunteer Kolbe Parent

(sorry, my computer locked up) she skipped 6th and repeated 7th if you look at the grade level written on the books she used, but each year she did more advanced work.

My 11 yr old son has a July b-day and although he could have started school at 5, he was not ready so we waited. Good decision at the time as he did slightly above average in K, but he really took off in 1st and excelled and was bored. He started homeschool the next year and did 2-3 in one year. We did actually jump him up a grade level so he would be where his b-day says he should be so he is a young 6th grader this year as he will not be 12 till July. He is even doing advanced work for a 6th grader (pre-algebra this year and algebra next when his former schoolmates will only be in 6th grade). In his case, it was good to skip up the grade entirely.

Another example, my 3rd grader is doing advanced 4th grade math (he us about to finish Singapore 4A) and using VIE 4 and the 4th grade MCP phonics and is doing the easier books from the 4-6th lit plans. Technically I guess I could say he is a 4th grader, but we still say he is in 3rd grade just doing some 4th grade level work. He will keep advancing in math and may do algebra in 7th grade, but that allows him to do the Forester book in 2 yrs and still get to calculus in 11th grade- so it will allow him to slow down in the future and get a deeper math education. He may be doing VIE 4 this year and VIE 5 in 4th grade, but that will allow us to use Analytical grammar in 5th grade like I did with my older students and he will have a good background. This way he still gets 12 years of history, science and all those other subjects, he stays on grade level, but he can do more advanced work where he excells

My daughter was 6 this last November and is in K. She is an older K, but still on grade level. We started K last year right after Christmas when she had just turned 5. I figured if she were as fast as some of her sibs, she would be ready for 1st grade by this past Christmas. Well, she really struggled with reading so we slowed down and are still doing K (as she would be in school), but she is moving ahead in math at her own pace.

My point with this long post is that if he is academically ready to do 1st grade work, there is no reason why you could not start it and then slow down later when the work gets more advanced. Call it whatever grade it would be if he were in school, but tdo the level of work he is capable of.

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Volunteer Kolbe Parent

Thank you all for your input. I have faced this situation once before with a mid-October baby. He was great until 3rd grade - then his young age/maturity caught up with him. Academically he was fine but he could not stay focused long enough to do the amount required. We ended up extended 3rd grade to a year and a half and 4th grade to a year and a half. Now as he finishes 4th and looks to begin 5th in the fall it is as if he waited that extra year to start Kindergarten.

I like Megan's suggestion of expanding the information. I think I will hold off on 1st grade and continue with mastery of skills next year. Maybe I will throw in a unit study on a topic of interest. Thanks again for all of your input!

I would like to add something to this thread that is perhaps a little off topic, but struck me as I was reading... There was mention of children being *day dreamers* on several occasions, and the fact that they were finally *getting over this*...as though it were some kind of flaw / handicap.

I am an artist and I shudder to recall all of the torture I endured from my parents and teachers throughout my life for my *day dreaming*. Day dreaming is a wonderful thing...as Albert Einstein pointed out once...Imagination is more important than knowledge. Of course, basic academics are important, but my art....my creativity....my day dreaming...was what landed me an amazing career, enabled me to pay my bills, and ultimately provided the skills and income for me to be a functioning member of society...not science, not algebra, not Latin.

I attended a very prestigious design school for college (4 year), studied in France, and ultimately worked as an Art Director running the creative department for a very large animation studio.

I would like to point out that the day dreamers of the world have given us all kinds of wonderful things you may take for granted in your life, and provided a generous tax base for our country with products such as cars, computers and even Finding Nemo.

Please allow your children to day dream....and even more than that...encourage it. Creative thinking doesn't always - in fact it almost never - fits into a clear cut time slot / box. I have come up with my best ideas in the shower. Steven Spielberg has been known to come up with his best ideas while he is driving. Don't frown upon this time as *wasted* and *unproductive*....in fact, it may be the most productive time in a day! Your child may come up with some wonderful invention or story idea for a best selling literary work during these *day dreaming moments*.

Creativity is fluid...please don't try to stifle it with rigid rules and schedules....you may be road blocking the next great literary work or scultpure or oil painting...

Thank you!