kindergarten conflict..advice needed..UPDATED 5/14/09

[momof247371]

I took my 5 year old son in for kinder. round up and then again for kinder testing. They were supposed to test their physical ability and mental and cognative abilities. They told me they would have to walk a balance beam and skip as part of thier physical testing and do numbers and abc's for the mental part. And they put 20 kids together in one room at the same time to do the testing..well...i got the test results back and they said they didnt reccomend him for kindergarten, he needed more preschool... i was FURIOUS! my son knows his abc's and can count to 20(wich is more than the requirement for Kinder.) Plus i asked him if they did the balance beam, skipping part, and some of the parts for the mental testing and he said NO. they took all the parents into a different room, we werent allowed to watch, so i dont know what happened... after all is said and done i have the final say so and he IS going to kindergarten! I guess i just dont know what else they want from him. i am furious and ticked off that they expect 5 year olds to be perfect when they go to kindergarten. I am proud to say that i try hard to teach my kids at home, i work with them all the time..they are smart kids.. i just dont understand.. do i have a right to feel this way. i mean, my son isnt perfect, but he is most definatley prepared for kindergarten.. I set up a conference about this.. what do i say? O by the way my mother-in-law has a teaching degree and she said he is most definaltey ready for kindergarten...advice please?...


UPDATE:
I had a conference with the Kinder. teacher and she told me that he is TOTALLY ready for kindergarten! she said she didnt know why i was told otherwise... I took my MIL with me and she asked a whole bunch of questions i would have never thought of asking.. but the teacher was really nice and explained everything to me... she said she didnt care what i was told before, "that kids is most definatley ready for school, there is no need to keep him out of kindergarten!"... I walked away very pleased with all questions answered, except for why i was told he wasnt ready in the first place, she was totally confused about that one!.. thanks for all the support and opinions guys, i really appreciate it!

 

[WriterofWords]

I've never heard of anything like that, what kind of school is it?

 

[Chicken Woman]

I think for boys it is best to wait a year as they mature slower. That has been my experience with 3 girls and 3 boys.

 

[momof247371]

its a normal public school. i should also mention that it has been a 4 star school for 15 years except last year. wich means the grade point average for the school is higher than most. but it is an elementary school...i think they are just worried about their 4-star rating to be honest..i dunno..im peeved about the ignorence...

 

[Katy]

I've always regretted not holding my oldest back a year. I think he would have had a much easier time of it in school if I had. He was my oldest and also knew his number and abc's, but I've always thought looking back that his maturity level wasn't quite where it should have been.

 

[WriterofWords]

I teach in a public school that has made AYP every year and we've never done a test like that. I don't know what to tell you there, it sounds odd to me.

 

[Robin'sBrood]

I have 3 boys and if I could go back and do it over again I would have held every single one of them back a year. Not because they aren't bright, they are, my oldest even graduated with academic honors, but because of the maturity level of boys. My boys all have winter birthdays, which means they were 5-1/2 when they started K and I STILL wish I had held them back for one more year. Maybe they are accessing his maturity level and not his academic ability.

 

[momof247371]

i dunno, but how "mature" can 5 year olds be? lol. My 5 year old son is more mature than some adults i know lol
But i do know what you mean..

 

[emvickrey]

That is just obsurd. What do they think our little ones are? Machines? We send them to school to learn all that stuff but they want us do do it before they even go. I know it was a long time ago but I never even went to kindergarten. I know that there are alot of youngsters that are capeable of knowing their ABC's and to count to 20 before they even go to school, but there are those taht aren't and ned that special attention that an educated teacher can give.

Example:
My grandson didn't know squat when he left head start and into kindergarten. He struggled and still didn't know his ABC's , days of the week, and month of the year by his 2nd time around in kindergarten. WE let him go into first grade and he excelled so far that he gets all A's and 1 B on all report cards. He goes over all expectations that the teachers give him. He can read and does it regularly. He is going to 2nd grade at the top of his class.

Yes, just a little bragging there.

Don't let somebody tell you that your child can't do something when you know they can. Stand up for them and make the school system listen to you. After all, who knows their child better than the mother or in our case grandmother?

 

[SophieLain127]

I interned several years ago with a kinder class and they had it seperated into two classes per teacher. That way they could group the kids together based on their needs. I think that is best for the children that way they can figure out which is best and can go at a slower or faster pace depending on what the kids need. And as far as physical testing they in our school district they are pretty happy if the kids show interest in doing anything besides sitting in front of the tv....