School closures/delays?

Michelle Nelson4 said:Look, there’s a massive difference between delaying school because a child has specific developmental needs—though, honestly, I always wonder if extra time actually helps. If their struggles weren't caught early enough in preschool, what is an extra year of just playing really going to achieve instead of targeted intervention? But then you have people online literally saying, "just delay them if you can," treating the idea of a six-and-a-half-year-old starting kindergarten like it's some kind of systemic cruelty or a punishment from above. To me, that's just total nonsense.

On a different note, I definitely know kids who were absolutely miserable because they were bored out of their minds, especially during after-school programs. If you combine that boredom with a teacher who isn't particularly engaging, those first couple of grades can be a pretty rough experience. I remember one little guy I know—his older sister used to constantly have to pick him up early from daycare because he couldn't stand sitting there for an hour doing homework. He usually finished everything during class time anyway since he could already read, write, and do math better than what they were teaching, having mastered most of it two years before he even started. He didn't actually start school until he was seven and a half because of his late birthday. Whenever his sister would ask how school was, he’d just roll his eyes and laugh about how "hard" it was because they were "already working on the number 5." He had this incredibly sharp sense of sarcasm and irony for such a little kid.

He could've easily skipped a grade.

Larry Walker24 said:He could've easily skipped a grade.

In my experience here in the States, that’s pretty rare. Even compared to when kids get held back in elementary school—which doesn't happen all that much anyway—skipping a grade is an even rarer occurrence...

Look, there’s a whole bunch of moving parts to this, right? Like, whether a kid even goes to after-school care makes a massive difference, and honestly, a huge chunk of that comes down to what kind of teacher they actually have.
Since we’re already talking about teachers, let's get real—most of them are pretty vocal about supporting the idea of holding off on kindergarten for another year. They don't even hide it. I’ve even heard of some teachers recommending it for their own kids at home. To me, there’s something way more legit about hearing it from them than anyone else, you know? Because at the end of the day, they’re the ones in the trenches working with these kids every single day, so I guess their perspective carries more weight based on what they actually see happening in the classroom.

I guess a lot of kids who ended up being held back a grade eventually turn around and blame their parents for not letting them move ahead sooner.

She’d probably still be pissed even if they hadn't pushed it back. Honestly, I can't even see how things would have turned out differently if they hadn't. 🤔 Then you've got cases like this kid whining in class just because he's bored. You could easily argue that's an emotionally immature kid who needs to be held back anyway.

Since there wasn’t any mention of how some people just refuse to learn from their mistakes regardless of what they were taught in school 😁
I suppose it must be quite pleasant living in a complete work of fiction ☕

Look, speaking from my experience as a teacher—and I say this with all due respect to both sides—I’m really against pushing school start dates back for no reason, but I’m just as much against rushing kids into enrollment earlier than they're ready.
You can actually see the fallout when they hit 7th grade and hit the wall with science classes like physics and chemistry. At twelve years old, most kids haven't quite developed that capacity for abstract thinking that these subjects demand—mostly because that cognitive leap usually doesn't happen until they're around thirteen. So, you end up making everything unnecessarily difficult for them, turning what should be learning into a total nightmare of frustration and "why am I even doing this?!" moments.

Sarah Hall53 said:Look, speaking from my experience as a teacher—and I say this with all due respect to both sides—I’m really against pushing school start dates back for no reason, but I’m just as much against rushing kids into enrollment earlier than they're ready.
You can actually see the fallout when they hit 7th grade and hit the wall with science classes like physics and chemistry. At twelve years old, most kids haven't quite developed that capacity for abstract thinking that these subjects demand—mostly because that cognitive leap usually doesn't happen until they're around thirteen. So, you end up making everything unnecessarily difficult for them, turning what should be learning into a total nightmare of frustration and "why am I even doing this?!" moments.

I run into this exact same mess every single year.

My daughter started seventh grade at age 12, and honestly, she hasn't hit a single intellectual roadblock with the curriculum; if anything, ☕
I’ve never really struggled with schoolwork myself, even though I actually started a bit younger than she did. By today's standards, she probably would have been held back a year during enrollment.

Sarah Hall53 said:Look, speaking from my experience as a teacher—and I say this with all due respect to both sides—I’m really against pushing school start dates back for no reason, but I’m just as much against rushing kids into enrollment earlier than they're ready.
You can actually see the fallout when they hit 7th grade and hit the wall with science classes like physics and chemistry. At twelve years old, most kids haven't quite developed that capacity for abstract thinking that these subjects demand—mostly because that cognitive leap usually doesn't happen until they're around thirteen. So, you end up making everything unnecessarily difficult for them, turning what should be learning into a total nightmare of frustration and "why am I even doing this?!" moments.

Larry Walker24 said:I run into this exact same mess every single year.

Sarah Hall53, you really hit the nail on the head there—I'm not entirely sure if it's down to some complex neurobiology or just basic physics, but I guess it’s possible. A friend's kid actually enrolled earlier, and by the time they hit seventh grade, everything just... fell apart. It was a total meltdown—to the point where they ended up seeing a child psychologist because of these massive learning hurdles. Everything seemed perfectly fine until that point, though. Maybe it's just how things go.

How many years ahead are we talking about when it comes to these early enrollments? I mean, what’s the actual limit on how much earlier a kid can start school?
My nephew actually got turned down because he just wasn't emotionally ready—and honestly, looking back, it was probably for the best. He would have been starting at seven and three months.

Michelle Nelson4 said:My daughter started seventh grade at age 12, and honestly, she hasn't hit a single intellectual roadblock with the curriculum; if anything, ☕
I’ve never really struggled with schoolwork myself, even though I actually started a bit younger than she did. By today's standards, she probably would have been held back a year during enrollment.

That’s just an anecdotal example, though. We're talking about the average Joe. Just because you, me, or our kids happen to be outliers with high capacity doesn't tell us anything about what "average" actually looks like. And the whole education system? It’s built specifically to cater to that middle ground.

Carl Bishop2 said:How many years ahead are we talking about when it comes to these early enrollments? I mean, what’s the actual limit on how much earlier a kid can start school?
My nephew actually got turned down because he just wasn't emotionally ready—and honestly, looking back, it was probably for the best. He would have been starting at seven and three months.

Usually, you can enroll them anytime from being 6 years and 4 months old up until the day they turn 6 right when school starts. Generally, if they're younger than that, the district won't budge.
Mine is looking at starting at 7 and 4 months... so I'll be spending the next few months praying to every deity under the sun that we can make some actual progress on her respecting authority and, you know, not insisting on having her way every single second of the day.
I'm going to regret this so much when she actually hits that first day of school.

Well, according to the standard rules here, any kid who turns six by March 31st is headed straight to kindergarten.
In my experience, I have quite a few kids born between New Year's and that cutoff date, and honestly, no one ever ran into any issues. I’d say the curriculum is generally tailored for children who are entering just shy of being six and a half, whereas those who hit seven during the second half of the school year might be a bit further along. If you have a particularly bright little one, though—like that little guy we were discussing—being two months younger doesn't really make a massive difference in the grand scheme of things.

Sarah Hall53 said:Usually, you can enroll them anytime from being 6 years and 4 months old up until the day they turn 6 right when school starts. Generally, if they're younger than that, the district won't budge.
Mine is looking at starting at 7 and 4 months... so I'll be spending the next few months praying to every deity under the sun that we can make some actual progress on her respecting authority and, you know, not insisting on having her way every single second of the day.
I'm going to regret this so much when she actually hits that first day of school.

🤣
Good luck!
My little one suddenly became all business once they started—it was like a switch flipped. All those things that absolutely had to go "their way" before? Not anymore. Now, everything has to follow whatever the teacher says.

The capacity for abstract reasoning kicks in around age twelve, which means
adolescents at that stage are actually capable of drawing logical conclusions from abstract premises; they can mentally test their own assumptions through systematic thought (for instance, what would happen if everyone in the country was unemployed?).
If we were looking at a sort of orientation checklist for baseline competencies required before starting school, it might look something like this:

1. General Development:
- the ability to listen, to speak in coherent, complete sentences, to answer a question and—just as importantly—know how to ask one, staying focused on a single task for maybe 10 to 20 minutes, holding a pencil correctly, knowing how to use scissors, possessing a certain level of frustrationstoleranz when things go wrong, and having a genuine curiosity or desire to learn.
2. Independence:
- tying shoelaces, dressing and undressing oneself, using the restroom independently and leaving it clean, washing hands thoroughly for at least 30 seconds, knowing one's full name and home address, and being able to recognize one's own clothing.
3. Social Competencies:
- being accustomed to being away from parents while in a group of other children, understanding and respecting group rules, knowing how to communicate with peers, being able to ask for help when necessary, helping other kids, participating in collaborative tasks, and resolving conflicts through verbal communication rather than outbursts.

4. Foundational Subject Skills:
- counting to ten, having a basic grasp of numbers, recognizing shapes and colors, identifying their own written name and perhaps being able to write, knowing how to use brushes and paints, throwing and catching a ball, and following instructions during physical games.

These are just those bare minimum markers that a healthy, normally developing child should possess—though, in reality, many know far more, and entering school itself represents its own significant developmental milestone.
I am not entirely sure what the specific mandates are here in the States, but typically, by the time a child hits the mandatory school age of six, they should have already mastered most of the aforementioned skills by age five. School isn't delayed without cause; the only reason to hold a child back would be if there are developmental delays for any given reason, which should then be addressed through a clear remedial program or perhaps through specialized education—I believe the term used in the US for programs tailored for children who won't catch up within a single year is special education. Healthy children who didn't attend preschool, or perhaps attended a particularly subpar daycare center, might face some hurdles, but staying home won't solve those issues, nor does it provide them with any actual service. I’m not talking about children with significant disabilities here, because for them, delaying school entry actually makes sense. Ultimately, how a healthy child develops and what they master depends heavily on how much engagement and support they receive along the way.

I suppose how you motivate kids and handle their upbringing really matters. Teaching methods have come such a long way these days that you could probably introduce something like chemistry to children who are only just starting to master reading and basic math. For instance:

kids aged 7-8 example-science-curriculum.com/kids-7-8/chemistry

kids aged 9-10 example-science-curriculum.com/kids-9-10/chemistry

Sarah Hall53 said:Look, speaking from my experience as a teacher—and I say this with all due respect to both sides—I’m really against pushing school start dates back for no reason, but I’m just as much against rushing kids into enrollment earlier than they're ready.
You can actually see the fallout when they hit 7th grade and hit the wall with science classes like physics and chemistry. At twelve years old, most kids haven't quite developed that capacity for abstract thinking that these subjects demand—mostly because that cognitive leap usually doesn't happen until they're around thirteen. So, you end up making everything unnecessarily difficult for them, turning what should be learning into a total nightmare of frustration and "why am I even doing this?!" moments.

Honestly, I think that's missing the point.
Usually, when kids struggle with physics, it's because their elementary teachers didn't properly teach them how to handle units of measurement or word problems. They run into math issues, too...
Let's be real: some kids simply won't have the aptitude for those specific subjects, regardless of when they start school. It's just how it is.
And it’s a total myth that delaying school makes things easier for them when they reach 7th-grade chemistry.

Some kids truly do need that extra year, and it’s vital that they get it and spend that time productively.

On the flip side, there are plenty of kids whose parents refuse to sign off on a delay—even when specialists recommend it—who end up struggling immensely. Some face issues as early as 1st grade, but most start seeing trouble from 5th grade onward, especially by 7th.
It isn't always about "abstract thinking"; often, it's because they've accumulated gaps in their knowledge, faced ongoing struggles (which might have been patched up, but not entirely), lost their self-confidence, and then you add puberty into the mix...

But more and more kids are hitting roadblocks because certain foundational skills aren't being developed during the critical windows they should be... though that's a whole different conversation.

Susan James said:Honestly, I think that's missing the point.
Usually, when kids struggle with physics, it's because their elementary teachers didn't properly teach them how to handle units of measurement or word problems. They run into math issues, too...
Let's be real: some kids simply won't have the aptitude for those specific subjects, regardless of when they start school. It's just how it is.
And it’s a total myth that delaying school makes things easier for them when they reach 7th-grade chemistry.

Some kids truly do need that extra year, and it’s vital that they get it and spend that time productively.

On the flip side, there are plenty of kids whose parents refuse to sign off on a delay—even when specialists recommend it—who end up struggling immensely. Some face issues as early as 1st grade, but most start seeing trouble from 5th grade onward, especially by 7th.
It isn't always about "abstract thinking"; often, it's because they've accumulated gaps in their knowledge, faced ongoing struggles (which might have been patched up, but not entirely), lost their self-confidence, and then you add puberty into the mix...

But more and more kids are hitting roadblocks because certain foundational skills aren't being developed during the critical windows they should be... though that's a whole different conversation.

I agree, though I didn't realize most show issues by fifth grade (especially seventh). I know that moving from elementary to middle school brings much higher demands, but the most common reason for delaying enrollment is emotional immaturity, or issues with analysis and synthesis—basically falling behind in reading and writing. That's what shows up on entrance exams and screenings, provided the kid catches up on literacy by third or fourth grade at the latest (unless there's a deeper issue at play).

urbanowl81 said:I agree, though I didn't realize most show issues by fifth grade (especially seventh). I know that moving from elementary to middle school brings much higher demands, but the most common reason for delaying enrollment is emotional immaturity, or issues with analysis and synthesis—basically falling behind in reading and writing. That's what shows up on entrance exams and screenings, provided the kid catches up on literacy by third or fourth grade at the latest (unless there's a deeper issue at play).

And that’s exactly why I’m sitting here in 5th grade losing my mind because these kids can barely read—let alone read anything worth mentioning. It happens because teachers, feeling the heat from pushy parents, take the easy way out and just hand out passing grades to kids who are clearly drowning. And boom, you've got your "problem" students showing up in middle school.