Anyone's little ones not starting school until nearly 5?

[moomoo]

Hello lovelies!

Just wondered how many of us will have little ones starting school when they are nearly 5? Will you do any preparation before they go, like homeschool etc?

I've been pinning some homeschool ideas on Pinterest, I'm worried that Reggies preschool are not doing enough with him that interests him. I don't want him to be pushed but there are areas he is clearly a bit more advanced in and they seem to be focussing on the delays in other areas.

Is anyone here actually homeschooling or doing homeschool preschool? X

 

[MikaylasMummy]

My daughter will be 5 and a half when she starts school!she is 5 this may but doesn't go til next year as she misses the cut off for catholic schools by a few months.i have thought about furthering her reading and marks skills and have spoken to teacher friends about it but they have said dont go too far as they will be bored when they get to school and lose interest.so I don't do too much with her and just let her lead.shes very interested in telling analogue time so we are working on that and she sort of gets it.she can also write pretty much every letter in the alphabet but only knows what a handful of them are actually called.lol.so she often writes pages of random letters.i try and teach her letters but so does her preschool.she knows her counting and numbers etc and a bit of basic Maths like simple addition.i think I'll leave it there cos I know a lot of kids go in not knowing how to even write their name so I'm sure shel be fine knowing what she does

 

[Tacey]

I'm kind of in the opposite position as Alice's birthday is the 22nd August, so would go this September at only just 4. Personally, I feel that is far too early, and she'll be home educated, I am hoping until she's at least 7.

Our approach to home ed is to follow her interests. We do 'strewing' which is just a posh way of saying we leave things round that she might be interested in. For example, at the moment, she's passionate about vehicles. DH bought a little lego set to make a racing car with, I gave her a roll of till paper that she's been making bus tickets with, I've put a load of bus timetables in her room etc. We go out a lot, and she's getting lots of hands on experience. I think there is nothing more valuable than that. I don't sit down and teach, I just facilitate her interests.

 

[MadameJ]

From what I understand our local schools you have the choice when to send them. My ds birthday is October so he could start August 2014 at 4yrs 10month's if we wanted but we are choosing for him to start August 2015 as he is in the middle of being tested/monitored for autism so would benefit more from more time at nursery. Same with my dd her birthday is Feb so we could send her August 2015 at 4yrs 6month's but we won't be sending her till August 2016 as I wouldn't want her in the same class as her brother. It's up to the parents at the end of the day,only you can say of your child is ready or not.

 

[LPF]

Evan will be 4yr 10m when he starts school. I think he will be so over ready!

He's 2yr 3m now and in the pre school room at nursery as academically he is very bright and their activities best fit him for the most of the day. This is fine but it does mean he'll be in pre school for nearly 3 years......I hope he doesn't get bored!

 

[rosie272]

Charlie will just have turned 5 on 16th August then he'll start school like the next week and I know he's going to be so ready by then. At his nursery now they have certain activities and 'lessons' specifically for age 4-5, and we'll do some stuff at home as well. I was a bit worried about him being bored in the last year at pre school but the staff have put my mind at ease by explaining what he will be doing.

 

[moomoo]

Charlie will just have turned 5 on 16th August then he'll start school like the next week and I know he's going to be so ready by then. At his nursery now they have certain activities and 'lessons' specifically for age 4-5, and we'll do some stuff at home as well. I was a bit worried about him being bored in the last year at pre school but the staff have put my mind at ease by explaining what he will be doing.

Does he not start this sept? Or are you keeping him on at preschool for another year?

 

[RaspberryK]

My lo is born 11th sept so will be 5 the second week of term. I am pleased because I think they're so young att 4.
We won't be doing any special lessons but will follow his lead.
X

 

[MrsGM]

we're another Sept birthday so he'll be 5 not long after starting school, in one way it seems quite old but 4 seems quite young too!

I think we'll see how he's doing nearer the time

 

[kellyrae]

Evan will be 4yr 10m when he starts school. I think he will be so over ready!

He's 2yr 3m now and in the pre school room at nursery as academically he is very bright and their activities best fit him for the most of the day. This is fine but it does mean he'll be in pre school for nearly 3 years......I hope he doesn't get bored!

This is exactly where we will be, like you I hope she doesn't get bored, she only starts nursery this September though, but it does seem along time to be in pre-school.

 

[rosie272]

Charlie will just have turned 5 on 16th August then he'll start school like the next week and I know he's going to be so ready by then. At his nursery now they have certain activities and 'lessons' specifically for age 4-5, and we'll do some stuff at home as well. I was a bit worried about him being bored in the last year at pre school but the staff have put my mind at ease by explaining what he will be doing.

Does he not start this sept? Or are you keeping him on at preschool for another year?

He's staying at pre school for another year! I never had the option of enrolling him this year - think the Scottish school system differs slightly from England? I don't *think* he'd be ready for school this year anyway but it's a good while until August..

 

[moomoo]

Charlie will just have turned 5 on 16th August then he'll start school like the next week and I know he's going to be so ready by then. At his nursery now they have certain activities and 'lessons' specifically for age 4-5, and we'll do some stuff at home as well. I was a bit worried about him being bored in the last year at pre school but the staff have put my mind at ease by explaining what he will be doing.

Does he not start this sept? Or are you keeping him on at preschool for another year?

He's staying at pre school for another year! I never had the option of enrolling him this year - think the Scottish school system differs slightly from England? I don't *think* he'd be ready for school this year anyway but it's a good while until August..

Oh I see! Yes it makes sense, my nephew looked so small when he went to school at just turned 4. I think I'd want to hold on too if it were me in that situation x

 

[Wellington]

My eldest will be 4 yrs and 10 months when she starts year R this September.
She is more than ready to go already, having been in nursery since 9 months old and working though to pre school part now.

If I'm honest, she's got a bit big for her own boots and would benefit from not being one of the eldest for a while!

I'm not doing anything 'extra' with her at home- otherwise I think she will be bored in year R.

 

[Tanikins]

My lbs bday is 5th of sept and school has started on 5th of sept in 2011, 2012. And will in 2013. So theres a chance his 1st day will be on his bday. Im not worried i think it helps to be older i mean some kids in his year at school will be 10+ months younger thats a big difference to a 5 yr old

 

[aimee-lou]

Earl will be nearly 5 when he starts in 2014 (October 26th birthday), and I have a list of things I'd like him to be able to do.

- count to 100
- know his alphabet to read/write
- be able to write his own name
- read a simple sentence

Obviously if he wants to do more then I'll let him, but that's the basics. We also do a lot of outside stuff like science-y stuff, simple maths, activities like art and crafts, games. What's handy is my MIL is a TA in a reception class....she tells me what they do and we try it out at home. Earl's actually capable of most of it already! I think the only thing he's not up with is his reading, but he's not even 3.5 yet so I'm not worried. We've got 18 months yet.

It's interesting becuase I'm going to end up with 2 ends of the year. Earl is an autumn baby so will be one of the eldest (like I was - 7th September). Eddy and the new baby will be the younger end of the year - May for Eddy and August for the new baby. I will still have the same goals for each of them. Hopefully doing it with Earl will help me to be able to do it with the other two. Eddy starts school in 2016.....seems far too close considering he's crawling around my feet at the moment! lol

 

[alicecooper]

My DD's birthday is 25th September so when she started school she was nearly 5. We taught her to read before she went to school.
She's so ahead in school now that she has skipped up a year (she's supposed to be Year 2 but she's in a Year 3 class).

By contrast my DS1 is an August baby and he's really not doing as well academically to be honest, though he tries bless him.

DS2 is 24th September, so by the time he starts school he'll be like DD, nearly 5. I guess we'll just see how he goes.

 

[Seity]

My son will go to kindergarten when he's 5. He doesn't attend any kind of day care or pre-school because those cost money. I simply play with him when I'm home on the weekends and my husband (SAHD) plays with him during the week.
We don't do any kind of structured learning. He's naturally interested in so many things and we simply answer his questions.
He'll be 3 next week and I don't feel that there's anything he would gain from going somewhere outside the home.

 

[mummy_ellie09]

Josh will be 4yr 10m when he goes. At the moment he's at pre-school 3 hours a day 5 days a week. From September this year, he'll be going to school on a Monday afternoon as well as pre-school and then September 2014 he'll be at school full-time.

 

[RachA]

Esther's birthday is the middle of Oct so she'll be 4yrs 11mths when she starts.
I will be following her lead but I won't be actively teaching her as I don't think it beneficial for her to know too much when she starts. I have several friends who are all primary teachers and they have all said they much prefer children starting with minimal knowledge as otherwise they get really bored. They are just not set up to deal with children that are well ahead as they really need to get the children that are seriously behind up to a good level.
My son started school 4 weeks after he turned 4 and he knew pretty much nothing. He's in year 1 now and not behind at all.

If Esther really wants to learn stuff I won't discourage her but I won't push her too far.

 

[sun]

Here they start school at 4, but the age cutoff is by year end (Dec 31) so my son will be starting when he's 3! He won't turn 4 until a few months in, so will be the youngest in the class.