Teira

My husband is confusing me he said they start kindergarden at 4 and grades at 6??? I'm concerned because if I have to work a year before coming over after I graduate(finantual reasons) my daughter might start school in England and I don't want to get her confused... would she be put up a grade if she started school here or would she be at the same level?? Husband has no idea so I don't know how I'm meant too lol.

scbrit

In our school district the kids have to be 5 to start kindergarten, there is a prekindergarten at age 4, but spaces are limited (in our area). Just check the school district enrollment/registration guidelines for the area you are thinking of moving to.

lisa67

when we moved over to Michigan from the UK (9 years ago) our son had finished his reception year and although in the US he would have only just started school when we came over, we put him into 1st grade. The school was happy to do this..and because we thought we would be moving back to the UK we put our daughter into kindergarten when she was 5, and then we never returned (back to the UK, not returned to the school to pick her up )
I'm sure it'll differ from school district to school district. I've come across some pretty frightening admin. so stand your ground if you feel what you are doing is right and they don't!!!!

celticgrid

We moved across in the summer and our youngest, at 5, had just finished a year at 'Reception' level. Here, by age, she would go into kindergarten, but we got her into 1st grade. Check the school district rules - in our case the rules stated that if a child had done an equivalent year of schooling they could go into 1st grade so there was no debate. Of course, there are all sorts of other considerations, as to whether the child can cope with the age gap and suchlike.

That was PA. We then moved to NY and found the same flexibility. We have found that the teaching staff are very much more pupil-focused and if it is right for the child they'll help you in whatever decision you make as long as the rules are flexible.

lisa67

I agree. The teaching staff we dealt with in 1st grade were happy for our son to be there especially as we said that if they found he wasn't coping then he could go into kindergarten

MsElui

my son will be 5 in the summer. Back in the uk he would have been doing infants reception class for this school year. Here in the US has is still in pre-k. he can start Kindergarden in September or we can hold him back another year and start him fall 2010. Totally up to us. I feel pressure to send him now as i dont want him 2 years behind his english peers - although he is quite immature and a years delay would give him a chance to mature up. Its quite common to hold kids back if they dont seem readt.

Mummy in the foothills

My boys were 5 and 5.5 starting Kindergarten.
Ds#1 had just finished reception class too, they didn't care, so he had a very boring year and kept asking "when are we going to do some work Miss" Sounded a bit like Oliver poor lamb.
Dd will be five in January and start in July. But they have upped the amount of actual work in K since the oldest started, they now do learn to read where before they just faffed about for half a day, now ours are full time.

Ash UK/US

My oldest daughter will be starting school this year too.

In MI (or in GR at least) kids need to be five to start school. My daughters birthday is Dec 21 and the cut off date is Dec 1st... when I called last year they would not allow her to start school because of the cut off date and made us wait till this year. When she starts school her first year will be half days so she will almost 7 before she is in full time education

AmerLisa

In Washington (state) children have to be 5 by August 31st to start kindergarten. That worked well for our daughter whose birthday is the 3rd of August. We chose a full day kindergarten for our daughter, I was lucky enough to pull her out of our home school district and put her in the district that I work in. I also knew her kindergarten teacher and that made things even nicer. However, while our daughter is academically above, her immaturity has made some things a struggle. I've been constantly reassured by all of her teachers saying we made the right choice putting her in school - but there have been times I've wondered, especially when I've looked at her writing!

If your child is ready to be in school, that's great.....I know as parents we are ready for them to leave the nest and get going..... But schools push kids extremely hard these days and at a younger age. While I do believe kids can be pushed a bit harder, some kids just aren't ready.

Englishtart

I know this is kind of way off what the OP is asking, but...my Son is 16 and a sophomore, he is pretty smart academically, but useless as far as 'street smarts' go, (above 4.0 gpa, but failing drivers Ed) anyway, is anyone else getting pissed off with the school's pushing these bloody state wide tests, PLAN, etc? My Son has already done the SAT practise test and numerous other tests this year, but now this week has to sit this PLAN test, he has no idea what it is for, doesn't know if it is mandatory for the full class, or if they are just having the top performers do it.(sometimes, I wonder if they 'use' the higher achievers to push up the school scholastic #'s?)

I am going to call the school tomorrow to find out what it is all about, but has anyone else heard of this test?

Ash UK/US

In the UK kids start reception class at 4/5 which is (or was in my day) full day classes. I find it amazing that my daughter will be clocking on 7 before she is going to school full days.

Englishtart

But kids in the UK finish high school at 16/17 too, here in the US they are 18 before they finish their senior year. I know what you mean though, I do think kids are ready for full day classes before they are 7.

Out of my two kids, (boys) one started school in the UK at 4 and the other at 7 in kindergarden here, the older one was found to be behind the curveball when he started school here in the US (age8) which shocked us, because we expected him to be way ahead, the youngest is just finishing his Sophomore year and is doing great in school.

penguinsix

Generally it is age 5, usually by September of that year. So if you are Age 5 by September you would start school that August or September, depending on the district.

Many areas have K-4, or pre-K. It all depends. In some places it is offered at every school, in others only part time, and in others offered only to lower income families. Like everything in the US, it depends on what state and city you live in.

If you want to stay up with the kids back home, you can talk to the school district and principal at the school (note: don't talk to the robots on the phone who answer calls, go in an and make an appointment). Bring any records of school that you have and they'll talk to you about your kid and their emotional and physical development. They don't want your kid to be the 'youngest' physically or mentally as they don't want them ostracized, but many districts do have a bit of flexibility.

Teira

Thanks so much for all the advice! You guys have really given me 2 diffirent sides to the matter. From what it seems in some areas she'd be just out of the cut off point (January) and some areas she'd be within it. So depending how she goes at school here I will see what I'm going to do when I go to the US. If she is doing fine I will ask her to be moved up and if she's struggeling then she can start off at Kindergarden. I don't mind if she finishes school a year early as long as it won't have a negative affect on her emotional well being.

AmerLisa

That doesn't mean they are emotionally ready to start school - that's just when they start. It also depends on how much they immediately start throwing at them academically. Do they ease them into learning in the UK? Or are they similar here where they throw it at them with both barrels?

Is it in Sweden or Switzerland that they start kids later? I'm not sure, will have to go back and check, but they've done studies on how children fair later on in life in accordance to when they start school.

Edit to add: Its Sweden, their compulsory education starts at 7.