My son will be turning 5 on October 25th, that is 9 days past the cut off to enroll for kindergarten (cut off date is October 16th). He is very smart and ready for kindergarten and I was going to send him to a kindergarten at his daycare but I recently found someone in my neighborhood who will only charge me $50 per week for before & after school care. If I continue to send him to the daycare for kindergarten, I will continue to pay $580 per month. It's a huge difference between $580 & $200 per month. I was told I would need to have a psychologist test him to make sure he is ready. I've called all over and it is not free...it will cost me $300 to have him take the test (2 hours with the psychologist). I've heard he will have no problem with it but I have a friend who called the office (Child & Family Development) and they told her the kids have to at least score a 98% and practically be a genious to pass. I don't want to lose the $300 and I would like him to start Kindergarten but I also don't want him to fail the test and I'm out $300. Has anyone's child been screened by someone at Child & Family Development? What is the test like? What should I expect? I need some help and am not finding anything online.
i had a simlar problem wheni lived in miami...my daughter turned 5 september 3rd, the cut off date was september 1st...go strait to the school baord and basically your gonna have to fight to get your child in there...good luck
We started our oldest in Kindergarten at 4 years old - academically he was absolutely ready, but now that he's in 3rd grade, hindsight tells us we should have waited :). Maturity, interests, and other factors show us that it may have benefited us to wait. His reading levels are 4 grades above; math as well. Social development is medically noted to be slower in boys - no getting around it!
Go with your heart; setting aside the financial obligations - go with your heart on whether you feel he's 'really' ready before you spend the money for testing.
I'm on the fence! I hope you get some great advice that helps you out!!
J.,
My husband and I both work, so I know that it is like getting a huge raise when daycare expense is finally over. Although your son is very close to the cut off, I think you would be better off to wait a year. It is apparently the trend now to hold children back on starting kindergarten, especially boys. My sons have friends that have birthdays in July that started kindergarten late. My oldest son is in 5th grade and his birthday is May 31st. He is the youngest one in the class! I don't know that this trend is right, but just thought I would warn you. If you put him in kindergarten this year, you may have to hold him back later.
Hi J.,
My older son is 5 1/2 and I went through this last year. The first round of testing was $385 at Child and Family Development and then there is a second test the school system requires. It's about another $400. So, you're looking at about $800 total and that's one of the less expensive places to do it. They have to score in the 98% or better on BOTH tests to even be considered. Then, IF they get in, the teachers have a certain amount of time to decide if the child is really ready and can make that decision based on how they relate in the classroom.
If you get a bad tester, you're out the cost of the test. We had a bad tester, he asked my son a question that, when he asked me the same question, I didn't know what answer he was looking for and when he clarified it to my son it made it worse. Even so, he scored in the 97% on the test and they told me not to bother doing the other test because without the 98% on the first test, they won't even consider it. Even with all that, the tester told me that my son was "gifted beyond scale". Yet, he didn't qualify for early entrance to K.
My son was more than ready to go and he really wanted to go. Before I had him tested, he had taught himself to read and to do addition and subtraction. He had never been to pre-school and I hadn't worked with him because I didn't want to teach him too much before it was time for school. If I knew then what I know now, I would have taught him more when he asked instead of just giving surface answers and started working with him earlier. We've been homeschooling this year and it's working really well for us.
Good luck in your decisions!!
