r2i forum

My son is about to complete Kindergarten at Montessori. He was born on November 6th so will miss the cutoff and will not qualify for the First grade at public school. They are asking him to join a half-day kindergarten program.

Is it correct to put him in first grade at a private school? I have read thru few forums on elementary education and overwhelming opinion seems to discourage such pushing to next grade.

My concern stems primarily because compared to his peer group in India, he will be 2 years behind. Kids who are born before Sept 1, 2004 will enter second grade this academic session in India. As a R2I candidate, I am concerned he will be way behind his peer group when he goes to school in India.

Thoughts and experiences from members who have been there and done that

Some school districts have an early entry to 1st grade program,which you can apply for at the beginning of the kindergarten year.
The school will monitor the child for the first few weeks and if he shows academic/emotional maturity to handle first grade , he may be
placed in first grade.
Check with your school district officials

My daughter missed the cutoff date and ended up pretty much losing an year. My son just made the cutoff date and ended up being the youngest child in his class. So, we have seen the difference of how they got affected.

We did enroll my daughter to a Montessori school that year and that worked out very well.

IMO, it is actually better for the kid to miss 10-11 months and being older in the class. Kid's maturity will be better, they do well in academics and have a lot of fun as well. I think that will continue year-to-year through out their school life. That is better than, worrying about missing one year, which in the long run doesn't matter at all.

scotchlvr;291180My daughter missed the cutoff date and ended up pretty much losing an year. My son just made the cutoff date and ended up being the youngest child in his class. So, we have seen the difference of how they got affected.
We did enroll my daughter to a Montessori school that year and that worked out very well.
IMO, it is actually better for the kid to miss 10-11 months and being older in the class. Kid's maturity will be better, they do well in academics and have a lot of fun as well. I think that will continue year-to-year through out their school life. That is better than, worrying about missing one year, which in the long run doesn't matter at all.

In full agreement with your last statement. The words "losing a year" is way too harsh. The child/parents have lost nothing, we gain valuable life experiences all the time. Even if the child is not gifted (academics), desi parents always make up for the gap by coaching at home. Being the smallest child in the class will have an emotional toll on the child & I feel parents should not subject them to this pressure. As it is we see several desi kids being tiny compared to other kids in the classroom. If combined with being enrolled at a younger age, they will not have a fair have chance at popular games like running, handball, baskeball during recess. These things add up to the overall fun factor of going to school.