Is My Child Ready For Kindergarten?

Are you being asked that question a lot lately?  Do you need some answers to give parents, or are you a parent trying to make a difficult choice?

Hopefully my checklist and the information in this article will be helpful.

Deciding whether your child is ready for kindergarten depends on a lot of variables.  They may be extremely intelligent, but that is only one portion of “readiness”.

The rigors of a full day in K, also requires a child to sit for long periods of time and have an attention span, as well as be coordinated and work well with other children.  Are they physically and socially ready as well as mentally prepared?

Remember, life is a journey to be enjoyed, not a race to be completed. When a child is ready they will enjoy the journey so much more.

On a personal note, both my sons were not “ready” for kindergarten.  They had November 13^th and June 30^th birthdays.  Developmental Kindergarten was available for the first time, when I needed to make a choice for my oldest son, Jason. I hopped on the bandwagon.  I have NEVER regretted that choice.

It was the PERFECT spot for both of them.  They LOVED school and were truly “ready” the following year.

My daughter, with an April 17^th birthday, on the other hand, was “more than ready” for kindergarten.  She waved to me at the outside door, and didn’t even want me to come in with her!  I was the one who cried the first day.

All three of my children were honor students and graduated from college.  I think my sons would have struggled in K had I not put them in DK. Every child is different and should not be pushed or rushed just because of “age”.

Having taught Y5’s for 10 years as well as K, I can tell you many sad stories filled with an ocean of tears cried by these little ones who were just not ready.

All of them disliked school, hated coming, and many ended up repeating kindergarten.

Some were “saved” because we were able to put them in the Y5’s program where they should have been placed from the get-go.  They flourished there.

The government is no longer having us teach an age-appropriate curriculum anymore.

With so many mandatory standards, Kindergarten does not have the luxury of time for all of the fun things that we used to be able to do.

A child rarely can be a child anymore and simply have fun!

Many parents do NOT realize this. It is up to the teachers to educate them on the rigors of their child’s day, so they can make wise choices and pre-plan ahead of time.

Hopefully this checklist will help out.

Click on the link to view/download Kindergarten Readiness Checklist

I hope you can pop back tomorrow for more teaching tips.

Feel free to PIN anything you feel might be helpful to parents and teachers.  Thanks for visiting! Be blessed.