[calikismet]

Oh, my, this conversation is relevant to our household now..

Our son will turn 5 in late July. He was in the 3-year-old preschool class, then jumped over the 4-year-old preschool class to get into pre-K this (current) school year, as a 4-year-old. If he stays on schedule, he'll 'graduate' from pre-K this June, and start K in the fall.

I just turned in his registration papers for K yesterday. However, I kept having this nagging feeling that he was not ready. Academically, he is at K level. His pre-K class works on advanced work, and does lots of K skills. He knows all of this letters and sounds, colors/shapes/numbers, etc., can write his name, and can write words that are dictated to him letter-by-letter.

BUT, emotionally, he is all about being 4. He is one of the youngest in his pre-K class (only 1 younger than him), and it shows. He gets frustrated easily, has a hard time focusing for long periods of time (wants to go out and play, or build with blocks or something), and still needs some help with zippers, etc. Even tho he is registered for K, I can withdraw that at any time, and send him for another year in pre-K (they will move him to a different pre-K class so that he feels like he is moving to a different class).

The decision has not really been made yet. I keep going back and forth. and while DH was initially VERY against keeping him in pre-K another year, he has since softened significantly, and is beginning to think that having him go one additional year in pre-K, plus a summer camp program where he has a chance to spend a week at a time at different day activities, would be beneficial.

I don't know at this time what to do. I get so many conflicting views from everyone -- one camp says that he'll step up the plate and mature quickly, and that that is good for him; the other camp says wait..

UGH!