Mine will be 6 1/2 when they START kindergarten. After a lot of soul-searching, we decided that despite the unbelievably humungous amount of academic catchup progress that my kids have made this year, they just aren't ready for kindergarten in any other way.
- They are tiny size-wise.
- Their gross & fine motor skills are behind (all are still in PT & OT, which they still really need and we would have to give up due to time-constraints if they went to K next year).
- Socially they fit in better with kids a year younger.
- We live in a very "good" school district. Which translates to 90% of kids ENTERING kindergarten as fluent readers. Parents are so afraid that their kid will be behind, and get tracked in the "wrong track" early, that they actually commonly hire tutors for the year or so before kindergarten to be sure their kids are the most prepared. Only since everyone does it, that has become the norm. I didn't think my kids we be able to even keep up with the bottom layer of kids in that environment.

BGG born 4/25/05 at 31w1d




New baby girl born 9/19/06