When Your Child Ready For School
Saturday, August 14th, 2010
Millions of parents have the same question every year,” Is my child ready to start Kindergarten? Ready to move on to the next grade?” Normal development in the early elementary years varies widely.
For a child’s readiness for school is based not only on their age and intellectual readiness, but also on their physical, emotional and social maturity. No child will excel in all five areas. Parents must assess each child’s capabilities as a whole. The question of school readiness is complex, whether a child on the immature end of the developmental curve, educationally, physically, socially, or emotionally, should move on or repeat an early grade.
For starters, look at what the child can do. How far can the child count? Can the child recognise his/her own name? Does the child know any letters of the alphabet? Is the child starting to try to write? If you say yes to all, or even some, of these, chances are your child can start school.
If you have child in preschool, the teachers there can tell you if they think your child is ready for school. If you have a preschool aged child who is not in preschool, it is highly recommend it. It gets the child used to being left, being with other kids, learning, etc.
Many preschools and kindergartens will help you assess your child’s school readiness, and you should ask for a formal assessment. Some children adjust better when they wait until age six to start school. If you do make the decision to wait a year, you should definitely enroll him in an educational pre-K program to build his skills during this important learning year.