Skipping kindgergarten and going straight into first grade is a decision that cannot be made lightly. The fact of the matter is that the transition from preschool to first grade is most often best accomplished in a kindergarten setting. Having said that, skipping kindergarten and going straight to first grade is sometimes the right decision for a child.

It is important to keep in mind that there are many components to a child’s development that all factor into whether or not he should skip kindergarten and go straight to first grade. While it is true that a preschooler may be very advanced intellectually, and that she may have mastered all of the material that she would be presented with in kindergarten, she may just not be ready socially to make that jump. In addition, because so many preschool programs are not full time, she may have a hard time transitioning to a full day of school in terms of energy and the ability to stay focused on learning for a longer period of time. In these instances, kindergarten provides something that just can’t be made up for in first grade. If a child is skipping to first grade, she needs to address these issues ahead of time.

Very often, educators will prefer to steer away from skipping kindergarten. They may suggest, and often rightly so, that a child’s intellectual and learning potential can, in some cases, level off after an early burst. In other words, the child that skips kindergarten and goes straight to first grade might find that, before too long, he is in over his head, and he is unable to keep up. In addition, educators may argue the fact that, if the child is truly that gifted academically, there will be more appropriate times later on to skip a grade, rather than skipping kindergarten.

If you are considering your child skipping kindergarten, you need to be certain that she is able to go straight to first grade without intellectual or social difficulties. For some children, it can be hard to know for sure whether this is the case or not.

Posted in School Issues

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