Homeschooling/Kindergarten question

Question:
My eldest daughter's birthday is in the beginning of October. She misses the cutoff for kindergarten by two weeks in our school district. I believe she's ready for kindergarten, and the school district is willing to let her attend, given I get a recommendation from an outside psychologist. My question is, if I homeschool for this year, will she be allowed in first grade if she's met the kindergarten curriculum reqiurements?

Answer:
-This is an interesting question when you're dealing with a child who misses the cut-off date. Is kindergarten required in your state? It isn't in some states (California, for example). As a result, it's possible to hold a child out of kindergarten and start her first grade the following year. But I think this assumes the child met the cut-off date the previous year. I don't know how it would be handled in the case of a child who is technically only eligible for kindergarten and not first grade.

I would assume that if you filed a homeschooling plan with the district/school and met all the curriculum requirements for kindergarten, then she would be eligible for first grade next year. But this is something you really need to discuss with the school. -I teach all day kindergarten in an area where, really, kindergarten is NOT a requirement. Saying that, I believe it's a definite advantage and a good head start for the child. If you are eager to home school, then I believe it would be a good idea to either talk with the principal or one of the kindergarten teachers in your area to get your hands on the kindergarten curriculum your school follows. It might even be available online. Our school's website has a whole seperate part dedicated to curriculum that is covered in each individual grade. If you follow closely what the school is doing then I don't see a problem with starting 1st grade the following year. It's difficult because each school, even in the same districts, do somewhat different things, especially when you have 1/2 kindergarten and full day available in the same district. Another idea would be to ask for a blank copy of the kindergarten report card, so you know exactly what's expected of them to master by the end of kindergarten. I know that while they are still young and kindergaraten isn't an actual requirement, we expect ours to know all letters and sound, count to 100, have developed good social and work habits, inventive spell (write which sounds they hear,,,i.e. saying cup, saying it slowly and recognizing the ccaa sound is a c, the uuhh sound is a u and the pa sound is a p and writing it down. Of course, we don't expect them to spell everything properly, but to be able to begin doing so, and we are reading beginer books by the end of the year. I think it's great you want to work with her at home and I would think that the school would be very eager to work with you to make sure you know the kindergarten curriculum they follow!