What age to start school?

[gragg09]

I'm looking for some opinions about what age to start school. My 2 oldest daughters' birthdays are in mid winter, so I started them in kindergarten at 5 1/2 years old. My third daughter's birthday is in early August, so I'm not sure if I should start her in kindergarten at barely 5 or wait until she's turns 6 the next year. I know Charlotte Mason thought it best for kids to be a little older before starting school and my concern is starting my daughter too soon and burning her out, I guess. Does anyone have any experience with starting a child younger and how did being a bit younger affect them in the higher grades? I'm kind of planning ahead now because I don't want to have to adjust later on if I don't have to and have to skip a guide or repeat things! Thanks!

[StephanieU]

My third born is an August birthday. I ahead start my kids in math, handwriting and/or phonics between 4.5 and 5yo (at least one of the three, depending on what they are ready for and wanting to start). She started LHTH in January when she was 4.5. She finished it at 5.5, and started LHFHG this pay January. We are almost done with unit 17. The plan is to finish LHFHG in November/December and start Beyond in January. This means of she continues to do a guide a year, she will finish a semester early (giving her time to work abs take community college classes probably). If we need to slow down, we have that ability as well.

[LovingJesus]

I am on the opposite spectrum of thought.

I thought age 6 was the youngest children should start school. My oldest started figuring out reading at age 3, and I still waited until age 6. He is a July Birthday so we started K shortly after his 6th Birthday. I have never regretted that decision. At the end of 7th he is still ahead of grade level, but I would have to think differently then I do to graduate him early. In the book of Exodus the Lord indicates age 20 of the age of accountability and adulthood; I tend to think this way.

With our early curriculum I became persuaded to start my second and third at just turned 5. I do regret that decision. Their early start of formal lessons turned them off to school work and learning. I ended up giving them a play break at ages 6/7, and then had great success starting at 8/9. I wouldn't do this path again; but, it is only my experience. We have had to play a lot of catch up where as my oldest starting later soars. I would say all 3 are equal in intelligence, but different in personalities of course!

My fourth has Trisomy 21 and it is a different journey.

I would encourage prayer. The Lord knows your children best. The Lord led me to wait to start my oldest at age 6, and it was perfect timing! My other two have me now praying over their curriculum needs and education, but I should have started turning to the Lord on the matter when they were 5 before they started.

I do agree with CM on start ages.

[daybreaking]

I am on the opposite spectrum of thought.

I thought age 6 was the youngest children should start school. My oldest started figuring out reading at age 3, and I still waited until age 6. He is a July Birthday so we started K shortly after his 6th Birthday. I have never regretted that decision. At the end of 7th he is still ahead of grade level, but I would have to think differently then I do to graduate him early. In the book of Exodus the Lord indicates age 20 of the age of accountability and adulthood; I tend to think this way.

With our early curriculum I became persuaded to start my second and third at just turned 5. I do regret that decision. Their early start of formal lessons turned them off to school work and learning. I ended up giving them a play break at ages 6/7, and then had great success starting at 8/9. I wouldn't do this path again; but, it is only my experience. We have had to play a lot of catch up where as my oldest starting later soars. I would say all 3 are equal in intelligence, but different in personalities of course!

My fourth has Trisomy 21 and it is a different journey.

I would encourage prayer. The Lord knows your children best. The Lord led me to wait to start my oldest at age 6, and it was perfect timing! My other two have me now praying over their curriculum needs and education, but I should have started turning to the Lord on the matter when they were 5 before they started.

I do agree with CM on start ages.

I agree!! We waited with our son who had an August birthday. I am so glad we did! He's now finishing 8th grade and will turn 15 this summer. I wouldn't want it any other way. We get an extra year of homeschooling with him and he gets an extra year to mature before he begins college studies. I had a very late fall birthday and was not held back, but began kindergarten at age 4. I could definitely have used an extra year before starting and it affected me all the way to college, which I began at age 17.

Having said all this, I do know many will advocate starting early, so as to have buffer room down the road, in the sense of doing guides half-speed when needed or having extra wiggle room for situations that arise, such as pregnancies or sickness in the family.

The best thing I can recommend is to pray, seek your husband's advice, and listen to your gut instinct for what is best for your child.

[StephanieU]

Also consider the child. My oldest three have all Alex for school. My oldest started with computer apps and fun workbooks. They were things we did quietly while the timers were napping. She is now doing CtC and excited that so much is independent. She hates having to wait on me in Bigger and Preparing! My second likes workbooks to an extent. He is not loving school as much now, so we have backed off for summer at least (keeping up with some math and reading regularly and occasionally some writing). My third asks for history. Regularly she wants to do math and handwriting. Reading comes and goes, depending on how challenging the previous day was. I don't push more than 10-20 minutes of "school" until they are at least 6. But by 4.5, my kids have been ready to do something most days. My recommendation is to try some light school around 4-5yo and follow their cues. It may just be sitting still for a read aloud and short devotional (10 minutes a day). Or it might be more school-2i. Each child is different! And even if you start school at 4, it doesn't mean you have to say they are done early. I regularly remind me kids that we will decide when they are on middle and high school about actual grades they are in and when they will be allowed to consider going away to college.

[gragg09]

Thank you all for your input! With my other kids' starting ages and curriculum choices I just did my "research" to figure out what to use and when to start. Sadly, I didn't really take it before the Lord as I should have. This issue is definitely one where I have been seeking my husband's opinion and the Lord's will in! We have used HOD from the beginning and have loved it (except for switching from Singapore Math), but I've heard that doing BHfHG and PHfHG at the same time can be a real challenge. That is another reason that I'm thinking that I should wait a year to start my third daughter in school, because if I don't, I will run into the two guide predicament a few years down the road!

[HawaiianMoon4]

I have struggled with this same question the past couple years as I have two middle children with late summer birthdays. My third one will turn six this August. My brother was a September birthday, and I remember he had to repeat kindergarten as he wasn't ready. He always felt he was held back and behind, so I decided to wait to start school when my September-birthday child turned school age. It was easier for me emotionally with her since she technically missed the public school's cut off anyway by a few days. My third one would have been old enough this past fall, so I had to explain a lot more. I believe, however, it will be best for them.

There are so many reasons I personally have for doing so. I highly suggest looking up Finland's approach to education as they are beating most other countries in the world academically, but they don't begin formal education until age 7! Other reasons I have are that I want my children to lead their peers, not be led by them, and being oldest and most mature in their group, the first to drive, etc. can help a bit. As was mentioned earlier also, we will have one more year to help shape them, which I feel is especially important with my middle two as there are sweet, people pleasers and less strong-willed leaders. Individual personalities have a lot to do with the academic choices we make for each of our children as they are each unique. I wish we'd waited even a bit longer with our second born as I don't think she was quite ready still. I've been reading recently about how a lot of school learning problems can be avoided altogether by waiting to start formal education with children and instead letting their brains develop important connections through play and experiences.

All that being said, I think each child is unique and as long as we are seeking God's will for our children and praying about our decisions, we have to trust that He knows our children better than we could possibly hope to know them, and that He's entrusted them to us for a reason.

[Rice]

I, too, am so thankful for my decision to "hold back" my last two boys, gently starting some LHTH or some R&S workbooks around what would be a "K" year for them, then starting phonics around their 6th B-day and using LHFHG for 1st when they were at least 6 1/2. They are doing well (in 1st and 3rd) and it has relieved a lot of stress for me, since I have lots of kids to teach.

AND, I also regret starting my DD early - starting K at 4 1/2 with a Feb. B-day (pre-HOD). She didn't learn to read until very late (though she was "ready to start" when we did, and was tested to have no learning disabilities at age 10 1/2 - she learned to read at 11). Next fall she is to be starting 9th (while peers are starting 8th) but she is not at grade level for reading and, as far as I can see now, will not be ready to graduate in 4 more years. She will have only finished WH, so it's not like she will have completed all her schooling by then, either; it's just a number. However, how do you not graduate at the end of 12th without saying she's failed?

I also know that research shows that those who start early (even those kids who somehow learn to read at age 3) are no further ahead by middle school. It doesn't benefit them to start early; they don't get a "head start". It's quite easy to give them "school" if they are desiring it, without pushing formal lessons. Make the R&S workbooks available to do on an as-wanted basis, read stories to them daily, and have "school time" be relaxed and fun. They will be far ahead of their peers, not just because of the lack of pressure but for the love of learning they develop.

Blessings,

[LovemyARC]

My dd has a July birthday and I started her in K (not HOD). It went OK until I got to 1st grade. Mid-year she had a meltdown and said she wanted to go back to K. We decided to take 2 years to do 1st grade and it has worked out great. Instead of not getting it and struggling, she's now understanding the topics and doing well. That year of maturity really helped. I learned that holding her back that year made things seem easier to her instead of harder. In hindsight, I shouldn't have started her in K so early. Now we are starting Beyond in 2nd grade and we'll be right on track for the rest of the HOD programs.