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Any experienced parents here who can help?
My child qualified for a SEES Kindergarten program, but she won’t turn 5 until December. I’m really torn.
Am I doing the right thing by sending her this early? I worry she might struggle to keep up socially or emotionally with older kids. I’d rather her feel confident and be near the top, not constantly trying to catch up.
But if we wait, there’s a chance she might not qualify again next year—and this feels like a rare opportunity.
Has anyone faced a similar decision? What helped you choose, and how did it turn out for your child?
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My kid is the oldest in class and he is thriving. It is much easier for him to do everything, he is the leader and other kids follow him, and he is being accepted to various SEES every year (we test every year until we get accepted into our dream SEES) as it is easier for him to focus and absorb the information. This is our experience, and this was my experience as a child as well. I would not rush things.
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@Mom thank you! I agree that being older is definitely a huge plus. Do I give up highly rated school and try again I fall? Or do I try it for few months first to see how it goes? then other kid could use out spot in fall – so many people on a waitlist for SEES.
And wish more parents share their experience -
My children are both in average age for their grades and that seems to work well. As a child, I was one of the three youngest kids in my grade – our parents started all of us in private school to work around birthday cutoffs because we were academically gifted children. While we all remained at the top of our class academically and never struggled socially, looking back, I can see that we were all a little on the “late bloomer” side. I do wish I’d been more mature when making college decisions, choosing a major, etc. So just keep in mind that you’re academically advancing your child through the entire educational career, not just one year! Kindergarten at 4 means high school at 13, college at 17, and college grad at 21 – to me, those all felt like a bigger deal than kindergarten.
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@anon wow, if you are putting that way – it makes me feel even worse. I think there will be an open spot soon
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@WorriedMom – We have a child whose birthday is after September, and had qualified for Early Entrance to Kindergarten and a SEES program as well. We had to make the tough decision that you are currently thinking about. Here were our thoughts in no particular order:
If we decline the Kindergarten year and stay back, do we risk not getting in a SEES program next year? That was definitely one of the main questions we thought of. But we had another older sibling in a SEES program, and he was accepted into the same SEES program, so I think that made our decision a little easier, with the one dropoff and pickup.
I’ve heard that it’s easier for younger girls to adjust than younger boys because of their maturity levels. Boys may do better as older kids in the class because of size, as sports like basketball and football or just even recess time sometimes play a part in young boys developments. I see that socially a little bit with my son, trying to play with the bigger boys. I know girls in 1st and 2nd grades whose birthdays are in July or August, so they’re on the younger side of the class, and I don’t see any too much difference socially with the older girls in the class.
I’ve heard of some kids who are super smart and feel too bored in class, so they actually act out more in class. That may be a reason why a parent might apply their child for early entrance.
We actually had my son test again this past fall just in case if things didn’t work out, and with this year’s grades, he probably wouldn’t have received a SEES offer to this same elementary school (he would’ve received an offer from a different SEES school which we would also be happy with, but it would be 2 different school dropoffs). It seems like every year, the kids get smarter, and the scores go up a little bit. Or on the other hand, this CPS “Gifted” test is a snapshot of one day in a kid’s life, at a strange test center with a stranger test proctor. You never know if the kid will have a good or bad day.
One less year of preschool! If you were doing private preschool, that could save you tens of thousands of dollars!
Personally, I was a year ahead when I was a child too. And in the older grades like high school and college, I took that as a badge of honor to be the youngest among my friends and peers and enjoyed it.
As for CPS, I don’t think you can have a “trial” year for kindergarten, regardless of the young age. I thought I read somewhere that once you enter Kindergarten, then you can’t repeat the same school year. But I don’t know the specifics. I don’t know if this is possible, but you can accept the spot at the SEES program, and then join that kindergarten class parent’s group and make a class or group playdate and see how your daughter interacts with the other kids. If things don’t work out, and the schoolyear hasn’t started yet, then you may be able to withdraw your daughter from Kindergarten to enter next year’s Kindergarten grade. Just a thought.
Looking back, I’m 85% sure we made the right choice for him and our family, but I’m not looking back. Whichever decision you make, it won’t be the wrong one. You are already involved as a parent, and are looking out for the best for your child. Good luck!
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@SameShoes Thank you so much for such a detailed response.
We got into our 1st choice school (and one of the most wanted), and I know it will not be easy to get into it next year.
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@Worried Mom– There’s a solid body of research showing that older kids in a cohort often do better socially and emotionally, and they’re more likely to receive higher test scores, and go onto attend more prestigious universities. That’s part of why redshirting exists—some parents choose to delay entry for younger kids to give them a developmental edge. The extra confidence and maturity that come from being a bit older can really compound over time. For context, my partner was a gifted child and skipped a couple grades ahead in a few subjects, but stayed with his age group overall. He often credits much of his academic success (entered the nation’s top college) to the self-esteem he developed from a positive feedback loop of consistently being one of the top students in his class. My oldest qualified for SEES this year, and my youngest will test later. Even if he gets in early for the same school, we will retest and do not plan on sending him early for the abovementioned reason.
Early entry might seem appealing in the moment, but it matters very little by the time they enter the working world. On the other hand, giving your kids the gift of time—to grow in areas not just academically, but socially, emotionally, and even physically, can pay off in the long run. I wouldn’t base such a long-term decision solely on the risk of not qualifying for SEES next year.
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Thank you for your input! So difficult to decline the offer, but I feel it needs to be done
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You always have the option to start the year in kindergarten and see how things go. It might be the case that your child adapts better than you expect, and if you give it a shot, you also have the advantage of being able to get feedback from their teacher(s). Imo, that kind of feedback would be helpful to have before making a decision, especially since teachers: a) have the right background/experience to give you an informed assessment of whether Kinder seems like a good fit for your child, and b) can offer insight based on your child’s specific experience, rather than just general advice.
Also, this may actually be the last year that you have the option to do both early entrance AND selective enrollment for kindergarten. There’s a policy up for revision that would prohibit students who qualify for (and accept) early entrance from enrolling in selective enrollment kindergarten programs. It was briefly presented to the Board at today’s meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi2uLRE2m8g (starting at about 6:14:00).
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@Petra Thank you for your input—much appreciated! And thank you for all your incredible contributions to this forum across so many topics. Without your insights on tiers, waitlists, and how the system works, I probably still wouldn’t know how to navigate the amazing CPS process.
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When are the rolling offers made? Tuesday and Thursday? or Tuesday and Friday?
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Tuesday and Friday by 11am. You would get an email/ phone call and possibly a text message
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We are in the exact same boat. Our son received a first round offer for a SEES school through the early entry program. His birthday is also in December. We really did not have any hesitation with the decision as he demonstrates the maturity and academic achievement to start Kindergarten this fall.
To help with the transition, we also enrolled him in a summer camp at his SEES school. This has definitely been a great way to get him acclimated to his new school.
The only issue that we have noticed so far is that he has a little FOMO of not being 5 yet, to which we continuously ensure him that he is “extra special” to be in school with the big kids and that everyone will be 5 eventually.
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@OTmama I’m glad to know that we are not the only one! I would love to connect with you if it’s possible 🙏 which school is your LO going to? You can text me at 7735012490
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I have 2 kids with late summer birthdays. Not the same situation i know but 1 is in sees and is thriving. I believe kids are resilient and I would accept the sees offer. I understand your reservations but I won’t want to loose the spot. We know of other parents who have early start in kindergarten and their son is thriving too.
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@Sam Thank you! We decided to give it chance, will see. Fingers crossed!
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My daughter is going into 4th grade at Bell RGC. The year before kindergarten she had an offer to start k early, which we ended up declining. We didn’t test her for SEES at that time, but based on her early entry scores I figured she would have a solid chance at a RGC her k year. She ended up getting basically the same scores in reading/math/RGC as the early entry k test in reading/math/cognitive and getting a first round offer at Bell (tier 4). So my hunch was correct.
Back at that time of the early k entry, I figured she would be absolutely fine socially and emotionally to enter early. And her scores showed she was more than ready academically. But our hold off was due to the fact she would be leaving the nest a year earlier for college and I knew I would have regrets!
Fast forward 5 years, and all the above remains the same. She has lot of friends going into 5th grade from extra curricular activities that I know she would have been absolutely fine in 5th grade socially. We love Bell, and even though I’m sure she would also be perfectly fine and happy working one more grade ahead… I don’t think she is “board” in school. There are so many kids in her class that could work higher (I’m pretty sure 99 percentiles on standardized tests are common occurrences in the class) TBH, I think the biggest perk of our SEES classroom is the social aspects of other similar peers. She has plenty of opportunities to learn to “work hard” in her extra curricular’s that even if she is secretly board.. I am not concerned. Again we didn’t test for SEES that early entry year, but I have never wished we had. I have thought to myself that I’m glad we didn’t, because I’m sure it would have been harder to pass up the SEES offer. When they get to high school they will have so many opportunities to continue to accelerate more, if they wish.
The first 9 years have FLOWN by.. and I’m sure her senior year I will be thanking my lucky stars that she is still in the house. I have zero regrets.
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Also wanted to add… I am glad I gave my daughter one more year to just play! Once they are in elementary school (not sure if you have older kids) they become so scheduled and busy. I think there is no rush to get there…
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@BPMommy
Thank you! I agree, I wish we didn’t test at all, but we did. And it was hard to pass on SEES offer, since it was our 1st choice school and only 10 min away. We decided to try, and re-enroll to private pre-K if it’s too hard for our kiddo
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