does anybody knows the cutt off date of charter schools?

I think most charter schools have a cutoff date of December 31. Call around, but that's what we have found.

My son turned 5 on Nov 6th last year and I requested early enrollment for him. He is finishing up Kindergarten now.

He attends a Charter school, but never the less, they STRONGLY encouraged me not to enroll him early. First there was a meeting with the principal and lead Kindergarten teacher, with all of the parents requesting early enrollment. There were four of us (three of the parents had daughters). The teacher talked endlessly about social development, regardless of acedemic readiness. She then told a story about a kid who was clearly ready academically and socially and was admitted early, but who developed cancer a few months later. The point of the story was that the mom regretted sending him to school and "would have given anything to have little Johnny home with her for another year". Of course, this argument annoyed me because I work full time. But, whatever! They talked about how kids would feel being the last to loose a tooth and being the last to drive, etc. Of course, my husband and I had already evaluated these fringe concerns.A couple of the parents spoke up and defended their posotions. I watched and it seemed that this made the teacher dig in her heals more, so I listened politely, acknowledged her good points and smiled.

Next, anyone who STILL wanted to pursue early enrollment, had to pay a $50 testing fee and set up a test. I had no idea what to expect because my neighbor had her daughter tested for early enrollment (different school) and she didn't get accepted. She says they had her daughter try to Hoola Hoop and declared that she wasn't physically coordinated enough!

The first part of the test, was basically, seeing how easily the child separated from mom. I brought my son to the classroom and left him with the teacher. She interviewed him, before bringing him to the school psychologist who did the actual testing. She recorded his academic skills and read him a story to assess how well he would sit still and listen. She assessed him as active and a little wiggly, but they made some allowance for boys, although they felt that boys in particular were always better off waiting until 6. The lead teacher talked with him some more and finally agreed that he would "do okay" and that he was a "remarkable young man". I think that she felt that any 4 yr old boy would be "remarkable" if they were ready for school. They definitely were biased, but if the kid's ready, he's ready!

My son was adept socially. For example, he and his cousins were eating lunch together and his older, competitive cousin got angry that my son finished his lunch first. My son simply said, "I'm done!" and his cousin said, "you're not done before me!". My son looked at his plate and said matter of factly, "I am done". His cousin seemed to get annoyed and my son watched him for a few seconds, and then declared, "Oh, it's a tie! Come on, let's go play!". I'd watched my son negotiate a "win-win" often. He's the youngest of all of the cousins, so he's had a lot of practice, trying to keep up with them.

So, now that my son is nearing K graduation, I can tell you that he's reading sight word books, adding numbers on dice, telling time, etc. But, I really did see a regression in him, so to speak. He is tuned in socially with others, so when the other boys acted goofy, he couldn't stop himself from joining in. He's come home talking in silly, "baby talk" phrases that all of the boys think are funny, but get really annoying the hundredth time! (think...H-E-L-L-O-o-o from Seinfeld). He's a lot more susceptible to peer pressure that I ever would have imagined him to be (suddenly HAS to have "Sketchers" brand sneakers, etc.). Granted, he's only 5, so I can work on this, but I did see a different side of him this year, even though he did attend preschool.

My son's situation was complicated because a few months into the school year, in Oct, he had a tonic-clonic seizure. He then had another in Dec. Many tests later, we learned that his brain was having abnormal spikes every 5-10 seconds, so he started anti-seizure meds in March. His neuro was surprised that he wasn't struggling in school. The only area where he had trouble was that he tended not to finish his worksheets on his own, but needed someone to refocus his attention, time and time again. We debated about whether or not to move him to 1st grade next year. Ultimately, they increased his dose of meds and we saw an improvemnet, although it's still not where we'd like it to be. The teacher and I ultimately decided to move him to 1st grade, but I'm not sure if this is correct - time will tell!

Good luck!

"Only a life lived for others, is the life worthwhile" - Albert Einstein

I know the cut off date for public schools is Sept 1, however most (actually, I think all) have an early admissions program. Just call the district you are in or the one you want him to attend and request he be tested. You will need to do this now though because it takes awhile to setup the testing. It is not complicated, they look at attention, speech, social interactions, etc. He does need to know the Kindergarten skills he needs to be ready to learn them. If he already knows letters, numbers, colors, etc he is actually ahead of the stated Kindergarten requirements.
If you get his tested and decided you don't want him to attend you could always wait. I don't think there is any downside to applying.

Janet

I know some schools have a Pre-K program that is freeif youbirthdayis between Aug and Dec. You might want to look into that because they learn what they would in Kindergarten, then you can decide weather to put them ahead or have them do Kindergarten the next year and be one of the older ones in the class. I know Johnson Elementary in Mesa does this.

Brooke Romney is an unbalanced mom of three young boys who constantly has too much to do, and too little time. She writes the Mom Beat column for The Gilbert Republic.

If you've done your research and know your child is ready, and think it's best, then FIGHT FOR HER!

You're the parent and have ultimate responsibillity for her. If they try to talk you out of it, be calm and firm and insist she be tested. (I get so irritated when someone tries to make a broad public policy fit a situation that is an exception!!)