Delaying kindergarten until age 6

Four-year-old Luke was starting kindergarten in Centerville, Ohio. He’d be one of the youngest in his class — turning 5 just before the school year begins — and his mother was concerned.

Historically, the starting age for kindergarten has varied widely.

In recent years, both states and districts have pushed the minimum age to start kindergarten up so that more and more kids are at least 5 years old when they start school.

What age do kids start first grade

(See minimum kindergarten entrance ages for all states as of 2018.) Still, in multiple states (Alaska, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Wyoming) you can easily find a 5-year-old and a 7-year-old in the same kindergarten class, in Louisiana and Maine there might be a 4-year-old, and possibly 8-year-olds in Pennsylvania and Washington.

That’s exactly what worried Luke’s mom, Deb Nelson, who has seen the difference just a few months can make, whether at home with her three sons ages 6, 4, and 3 or at school with the kids in her older son’s kindergarten class.

Some kids are ready

when should child start school

when should children start school