I don't know about you but I am already (when my daughter is a ripe old 18 months of age) thinking about preschool and elementary education for her.
Here in Texas I have a conundrum. Willow was born on September 17th and the cutoff for school is September 1st. This means that she will be turning 6 (instead of the typical age of 5) when she starts kindergarten and she will be 19 years old when she graduates from high school....unless I can find a way for her to start school when she is 4, turning 5. Unfortunately here in Texas, they typically are pretty strict with the cut off dates.
It's funny how your dreams for your children lead to fantastic fantasies about their future. They honestly have no idea what we have in store for them, do they?
So, what do (or can) you do if you are in a situation like I am? Well, I mean, like Willow is. Is there anything that can be done? I mean, it's not like they are going to change the laws in the next few years (I can hope though). So, I talked to my Mother-In-Law who taught 2nd grade for umpteen years before retiring last year.
She suggested seeing about starting Willow off in a private school, where they might be a little less strict with the cut off. So, I contacted one this past week. They claim "no dice" saying, "We do have a pretty strict cut off of September 1 for our age groups. So, chances are your daughter would not be able to start PreK3 here until the following year." Being an October baby who graduated high school at the ripe old age of 17 I am having a HUGE problem with this.
Part of me wants her to start early like I did. Especially considering that girls tend to be "more ready" for school than boys according to an Opinion Article published in 2006 on the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) entitled "Starting School--Why Girls Are Already Ahead of Boys" which states that "Drawing on a number of fields of educational research this article argues that girls come to school better prepared to meet its demands than boys. Parents encourage different skills in their children, as a result girls have more sophisticated communication skills, and are more likely to have been encouraged to participate in intellectual tasks than boys, who have been mainly encouraged to engage in sports and physical activities. These differences mean that girls more readily "engage" with school and show intrinsic motivation for academic tasks, factors strongly associated with success."
There is also an article I found (from the United Kingdom) called Boys are behind girls in every area - before they even start at school, published in 2008, which states "Fifty-eight per cent of girls are judged to have reached a 'good level of development' – against 41 per cent of boys – after spending up to a year in reception class at primary [elementary] school."
WOW!
So, will Willow be at a disadvantage by starting school "late"? Probably not. I came across a Yahoo! Answers question that was about this EXACT thing and the public opinions were pretty mixed. Some people had good experiences with holding their children back and some people felt starting early was best.
I think the key with the situation will be to research the possibility of starting her "early" and then look at the signs that she gives me when it is coming to the time. Because it's really not about MY needs, it's about HER needs. I think that sometimes parents let their desires and dreams come before what is actually the best thing for their children.
I mean, who doesn't think their child is the smartest and the best at what they do? I think finding a good preschool is a good start. Once she is actually able to perform academically I will look to her teachers to know what is best. And, of course, I'll ask her what SHE wants to do and how ready SHE feels she is. I'd hate to force her to go to school "early" making her think that I am expecting too much from her and setting her up for believing that she will be a disappointment to me.
See? Over thinking again...but I guess all this over thinking means that I care, right?
