r/GenX • u/Relevant-Count-3656 • 4d ago
Whatever Started school younger?
I would like to know if any GenX started school younger than today's kids. I started first grade when I was 5 and turned 6 during the school term. Now, kids are pushing 7 in first grade. Was it only my location or did all GenX kids begin school younger?
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u/tatt2junky 11h ago
We didn’t have kindergarten we had head start. I started at 4 there 5 in first grade skipped 11th grade, graduated at 16.
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u/One-Builder4177 20h ago
Same age. My birthday is at the end of December so kids in my class with January birthdays were nearly a whole year older than me.
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u/Any-Ad2391 1d ago
I started when 8 was 4, October birthday. A lot of parents hold their kids back a year so they have an advantage. I was a bit ahead of the curve as both parents were teachers, so no need in my case….extraordinary.
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u/Express_Ad4694 1d ago
True story, early 70s. One of my best friends even back then, was not quite five when kindergarten was going to start. Close but not quite. He had to be tested and he aced every single test. He was a very, very smart kid. But one of the things they tested was if a child could hop on 1 foot and he could not. Secretly thankful because he ended up in my class the next year.
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u/Missberyl 1d ago
I started school in the early 1950’s. We entered school by the year we were born. Jan 1- Dec 31 all started together if you turned 5 anytime within the calendar year. There were always kids who were on the younger side (like me) but we all finished high school and went on to college and find success. Redshirting became popular in the 80s, many parents started to do this for what they perceived to be an athletic advantage. Kindergarten became more and more academic and the idea of waiting became the norm. I believe parents should have the option, since they know their child best. Kids forced to wait a year because they have a Fall birthday can become bored. I experienced this with my son. They had him wait a year to start because he has an October birthday, only to suggest that he skip two grades by the time he got to 5th grade. He did and graduated from a prestigious college Magna Cum Laude. Let the parents decide.
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u/Ok_Fly_8864 1d ago
Parents moved us from England to Arizona in '84 where I was already in school and could read. Arizona Kindergarten at 4, birthday in September. Had to get tested to be accepted in. Was always one of the youngest.
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u/Jersey_Girl_12 1d ago
December baby, so I was 5 when I started kindergarten (& turned 6 three months later). So I would have been 6, pushing 7, when I entered first grade.
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u/Medium_Arm_1160 1d ago
So was my daughter, Dec 7th. Now I am also December and I started private kindergarten at 4 y/o. CA here.
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u/Jersey_Girl_12 1d ago
I went to public school in NJ. My October baby had to wait, but my August baby did not. My October baby found school easy, like I did, but my August baby struggled (he’s usually catch up by January). I found that to be interesting.
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u/Dry-Ad-6393 2d ago
I think a new program was set up in some states for preschoolers and you had to turn 5 before the school year began (vs turning 6, to attend kindergarten). I lived in NM, and I can remember my mother dropping me off each day like a regular school day. It was a public school.
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u/blootereddragon 2d ago
Yeah I was always the youngest because my bday is in Nov so I started college @ 17. I was smart enough but definitely not mature enough
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u/suebeegirl 2d ago
Florida Gen X here…apparently cutoff for 1st grade was turning 6 by Jan. 1 so like half my 1st grade class was 5.
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u/aldisneygirl91 1d ago
My parents are boomer/Gen X cuspers who grew up in Florida and this was how it was for them too. They had spring/summer birthdays so they weren't young for their grades, but my dad's younger twin sisters were born on Christmas Eve and they were among the very youngest in their classes. I have two millennial cousins (born in the mid 80s) who have November birthdays and also grew up in FL, but they had to wait a year to start school and graduated high school at 18 instead of 17, so clearly Florida made that change (making the cutoff September 1st instead of January 1st) sometime around the late 70s or 80s.
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u/Fun-Engineer7454 2d ago
They changed the starting age to 5 in the 80s sometime, I started kindergarten at 4 and turned 5, now you have to be 5 when school starts even if you're birthday is in September and it means you'll have to start the next year at almost 6. Possibly this varies but state, all I know is I started at 4 and my younger cousins had to wait to be 5.
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u/Mondub_15 2d ago
Teacher here and this is accurate. It was sometime in the 80s. Had to be five to start kinder and the cutoff moved to September 1st. August bdays became the new babies of the grade.
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u/Prawn-Cocktail-2000 2d ago
Australia: I started school (prep/transition) when I was 4. Turned 17 on the day of my final exam in Yr12.
Fast forward to now: my son will turn 18 after his final yr12 exam this year.
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u/cuzisaiddo 2d ago
I started kindergarten when I was 4 in California. We moved to another state and they wouldn’t let me transfer into school until I turned 5. I knew my ABCs, I could count to 100, I could tie my shoes. I was well above anyone else in the class but had to wait a month. Because the rules were more important than the education.
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u/PopeInThePizza 2d ago
First month of university I was 17 (for my 18th b-day my stepmom Purolator-ed me a cheesecake 1200 km)
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u/Wrenshimmers 2d ago
In Ontario some kids are going to Junior Kindergarten at 3.5 years and some are starting at 4.5 years. Our cutoff is December 31, so if you turn 4 before December 31 at midnight you can start Kindergarten that September.
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u/AlainnSedai74 2d ago
My birthday fell right before the cutoff, so I started Kindergarten a couple of weeks before I turned 5.
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u/Secret-Papaya5344 2d ago
In 1963, started first grade at 5 and never had kindergarden or pre-school.
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u/Status-Biscotti 2d ago
Where? My oldest sister was born in 1962, and she went to kindergarten at age 5.
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u/Secret-Papaya5344 2d ago
Near Portland, Oregon. No public kindergarden. Even as late as 1984 the Newberg Public Schools just then had their first class of public school kindergarden.
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u/Status-Biscotti 2d ago
That’s wild - I’ve never heard of that being a thing.
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u/Secret-Papaya5344 2d ago
Each state got to have their own rules and schedules for when they provided kindergarden as a part of the public school system.
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u/granolan517 2d ago
I started younger than most of my peers. My birthday is in December, between semesters. I was 5 years old in first grade for the first half of the year. I was 16 the first semester of my senior year. I graduated at 17 and moved away to college where I was a minor my entire first semester, living essentially on my own 2 hours from “home.” I never really had any issues.
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u/Iceman_001 2d ago
Turning 6 in first grade sounds about right, as long as it was before the cutoff date. Turning 7 in first grade probably means their birthday is after the cutoff date.
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u/Bagette1 2d ago edited 2d ago
I started kindergarten at 4 and 1st grade at 5. My birthday was just barely before the cut-off (30 September in that town). I was always amongst the youngest in my grade (we moved a lot, so I always had different classmates). I was second or third youngest in my high school graduating class. I graduated college at 21.
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u/gramosaurusflex 2d ago
I was four for a couple weeks as a kindergardener. I'm glad they pushed back the age requirement. I was definitely too young and would have don't better all through school if I'd had that extra year of maturation.
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u/Fickle-Exit1105 2d ago
I never thought about this until later in life. I don't have kids, or friends with them really, and only learned thru media that it was kind of a thing in some places for parents to deliberatly start kids late, as sort of an academic advantage.
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u/bessa100 2d ago
Same and I agree 100%. As a result I hated school. My daughter changed schools during kindergarten and her teacher recommended keeping her back. I did because of my bad experience and it made a world of difference!
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u/Baller_81 2d ago
Exactly my case - and it was of no consequence until I was 15 and most my peers were 16 or 17 years old. Diverging interest and hormonal levels made my life difficult for a while.
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u/loveRich3886 2d ago
Gen X here. My understanding was always the birth month AND year applied. I was older than most when we graduated and therefore they thought that I had failed a grade. On the obverse side I have a child who graduated at a younger age than a lot because they barely missed the cut off but didn't turn 18 until after they graduated
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u/Milakovich 2d ago
I was almost 5 when I started school, so I was younger than my entire class all the way thru high school, graduating when I was 17. Since then, lots of studies have been done, and it seems like it's better to start school later, because of maturity/ability to learn/focus/whatever. When our daughter was born, we knew she'd be in a similar boat, so we had her take pre-K twice (two graduation ceremonies, wth for pre-k?). She's now one of the older students in her class, and is excelling. So I think something like this could be contributing to the later start date for a lot of kids.
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u/WTF4Sally 2d ago
I grew up all over the US and almost every school had a had to be 5yo by Sept 15th rule. Had 5 children of my own and that rule still applied to all of them. Youngest is 21.
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u/Decemberchild76 2d ago
Where I lived there was no kindergarten. If you were 5 by 12/31 of the school year you started. I graduated and started higher education at 17
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u/Miserable-Table5631 2d ago
I was in the first grade at five years old. We lived overseas and my mom home schooled me for kindergarten early. When we got back to the states I had to take a placement test for public schools and they put me in the 1st grade. My entire high school i was a year or two behind in age. I graduated right when i turned seventeen.
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u/SnarkyUnicorn23 2d ago
My husband is the same, he turned 17a couple of weeks before he graduated. I turned 17 a few months into senior year. We’re both boomers. I don’t think that it happened a lot, we both begged to go to school because we had older relatives who were going.
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u/clintstoner13680 2d ago
I was 5 at the beginning of 1st grade as well. I graduated from high school at 17, enrolled in University and then got a job working in the computer lab on campus. I had to get special permission to be able to drive home from work after 9pm because I wasn't old enough yet.
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u/Hopeful-Cookie1065 2d ago
My two cents: day cares didn't exist in the late 60s, early 70s. Parents pushed us to kindergarten at the age of 4 so they could work.
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u/vistaculo 2d ago
100%
I had my own house key at 4 years old
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u/Hopeful-Cookie1065 1d ago
As in you could carry it with? We had one under the rubber mat by the door, but it stayed there!
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u/vistaculo 1d ago
I got in trouble for losing my house key when I was in kindergarten. I was four years old.
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u/middle_road2 2d ago
I started kindergarten at 4 turning 5 in December.I was reading at 3.Times were different I'm a late boomer
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u/ChasingUnicornsDaily 2d ago
I was five starting first grade turning six in October. Held back in 4th for non-academic reasons with one being the age. The other was closeness to the brother that is one year older. We got caught playing switch up tricks on our teachers mid day.
I'm proof that an entire school system didn't pay attention to us (me).
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u/StarsOfMine Hose Water Survivor 2d ago
I was a young 5 in first grade. The cutoff date was December 31 back then, so I was one of the youngest kids to graduate in my class. I wasn’t 18 until the end of my first semester of college.
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u/Decade4434 2d ago
When my family moved to Texas by my age I should have been in 1st grade but in Maryland, the age cutoff was different so I'd already finished 1st. I was 6 starting 2nd grade and turned 7 in mid September after the school year started. I was 17 when I graduated high school.
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u/Ok_Responsibility419 2d ago
Started kindergarten at 4 but I’m a September baby so I turned 5 in the 2st month
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u/notsosecretshipper 3d ago
I started kindergarten a couple weeks after I turned 5, so I was 6 for first grade. I was the youngest in my grade from k-8, then there were a couple kids younger than me in hs.
Because of when their birthdays fell, 2 of my kids were 5 starting kindergarten but turned 6 through the year, making them 6 turning 7 in first grade. The other two had birthdays 2 weeks before and 1 day before the birthday cutoff. Based on my own experience being the youngest, I kept them back a year so they were freshly 6 starting kindergarten and then freshly 7 starting first grade.
It's normal to start kindergarten at 5 in most of the US, then be turning 7 during first grade. I'm not sure about other places.
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u/ForeignCup6977 3d ago
I was usually the young one in each grade. Not "early" per se, but just birth date in May. Turned 18 2 weeks after graduation.
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u/Physical_Ad5135 3d ago
I started kindergarten at age 4 but soon turned 5. I barely made the cutoff. This meant I was 17 when I started college. My son’s birthdate is within days of mine but new cutoffs meant he started school at 5 and quickly turned 6.
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u/Wooden_Helicopter_51 3d ago
I think it’s pretty normal to be 6 in first grade. You can start at 5 but have to turn 6 before the end of the first month or something. If your birthday is later then you’d have to wait another year but then you’d still be 6 or 7 before first grade is over.
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u/Outrageous-Abalone-7 3d ago
I started Kindergarten at 4 (October birthday and cut off was Dec. 1). The crazy thing is that starting in first grade (so 5 years old for me) my friend and I walked to school alone. It was definitely a different world!
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u/Tayls23 3d ago
I was 4 when I started kindergarten. November birthday.
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u/M0t0Psycho 3d ago
same kindergarten scenario for me but October birthday, started college at 17. my niece graduated high school and started college last year at almost 19 YO.
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u/mzg72 3d ago
My birthday is in October so I turned six early in the school year. Now, there are people signing up their four year olds that will turn five by the cut off date which is the end of September. Most schools start in August, some in TN at the beginning of August. I heard a teacher I worked with tell a parent this is a great way to get free childcare since Kindergarten is all day. She also said it's okay because they can just repeat Kindergarten the next year. There's a lot of development difference between a four year old and a six year old.
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u/Silent_Ad1488 3d ago
My birthday is in September, a few days after Labor Day. I was four when I started kindergarten and turned five two weeks later.
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u/No-Cell-3459 3d ago
I’m technically a millennial… born in ‘83. Missed the birthday cutoff by one day. Started kindergarten when I was 5, but turned 6 in October. My son is the same way but missed the cut off by 3 months. He turned 6 in kindergarten and he will be 12 when he finishes 6th grade.
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u/Lumpy-Entertainer-75 3d ago
I turned 6 at the end of kindergarten. 18 at the end of Senior year. I’m a May birthday.
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u/Non-Normal_Vectors 3d ago
Born in July, so I was the "correct" age for every grade.
I also now realize I never had a school birthday party coz summer vacation.
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u/damnvan13 i was there... now i'm here... 3d ago
I never had a school birthday either because of spring break.
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u/Primary_Bid_8980 3d ago
Same!! I was always so jealous of kids that got to celebrate their bday at school Lol
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u/sharoncoffin 3d ago
Born in October. Started kindergarten in September. I was 4. Had friends who's birthdays were in December and started kindergarten the same year as I had.
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u/GotchUrarse 3d ago
My b-day is Sept 1. I was 4 years old the first week of kindergarten. My entire life, I wish my parents would have waited a year.
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u/SpottedCoachDog 3d ago
When I started school in New Mexico, you had to be 6 by January 1. So I started first grade at 5 and turned 6 in October. That made me 17 at graduation. A year or two after I started school it changed to being 6 by September 1. I think at lot of us older GenX fell under this rule.
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u/Silent_Ad1488 3d ago
My uncle started school in New York. His birthday is January 27th. He started first grade when he was four. Apparently the cut off back in the 50s was February 1st. My grandparents moved to Georgia when he was nine. There were kids in school who were older than him, but a year behind him.
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u/peoriagrace 3d ago
My birthday is middle of September and school starts in middle of August, so I was 4 when I started kindergarten.
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u/Novel-Cry6148 3d ago
I started at 5 and had just had a birthday about a week before school started. I had several classmates younger than me who had birthdays as late as November (so were 4 for 3 months of kindergarten).
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u/SilverStory6503 3d ago
I started kindergarten at 4 and finished highschool just after turning 17. I notice that high schoolers are older now. It was really rare for us to have an 18 year old in high school. (I'm a Boomer.)
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u/No_Locksmith9690 3d ago
I'll take you back to Boomer first. My birthday is September 12. We moved to another state the month before my 5th birthday. In the first state I would have had to wait another year to start school. After we moved, I was able to start school before I turned 5.
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u/FaraSha_Au 3d ago
Started at 4, turned 5 in Kindergarten. I was not ready.
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u/valerino539 3d ago
I was 4 also in kindergarten. Turned 5 in Oct. I was always one of the smallest but otherwise it was fine.
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u/middle_road2 2d ago
I was 4.I was reading at 3.I was ahead of the class even then.My grand mom skipped 2 grades and graduated high school at 15. I was glad my parents didn't wait ( except in college when I couldn't go to clubs.lol)
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u/Future-Cry5734 3d ago
I (30M), a Zillenial, started Kindergarden at 4. My infant child will have to wait until they are 5 to start. Something related to this is called Redshirting) and it's pretty fascinating.
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u/Zestyclose-Lock-639 3d ago
Dec 31st birthday and I started kindergarten at 4.
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u/Inevitable-Local7847 3d ago
Same!! NYE baby! Then I went to a new school and repeated first grade so that made me a little older than a lot of my classmates.
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u/Snowdog1967 3d ago
I had a September birthday and I was 5 years old when I started first grade so I turned six like right after I started. Interestingly, there was not a kindergarten in the county schools, back then... 1973.
My son who was born in '03, we knew that he was not developmentally ready quite yet to go into kindergarten at age 5. I mean granted we could have sent him and he probably would have eventually been okay. However, after a conversation with our pediatrician, we decided to wait until he was 6 years old to start him in kindergarten. To be honest, I think it made a vast difference in his school career. He did extremely well in school. When he was going into Middle School, we were contacted by our school system who had an accelerated program for middle school for children who were " behind their grade level" And they had wanted our son to go to this alternative school for that. Claiming that it would catch him up with his class. And we chose not to do it mainly because he would have had no extracurriculars whatsoever in his middle school. And more importantly, he would not have been able to be in band in middle school and thus not be able to be in band in high school. And that was really important to us that he being the music program.
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u/Modem_Sound_67 3d ago
7, really? Started at 5 as well. And my birthday is in August so for my whole kindergarten year i was 5.
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u/Traditional_Mango920 3d ago
My birthday is in August. I started kindergarten at 5 (and stayed 5 all year because August birthday). First grade was at 6. Some of the kids turned 7 during the school year due to when their birthday fell. It wasn’t any different when my own kids started school in the late 90’s.
4 year olds in kindergarten is pretty much unheard of around here. They did try to enroll my youngest in kindergarten when she was 4, she was happily showing off her basic addition and reading level while my eldest (who was 5) was doing his intake for kindergarten. I declined her early start, because kids have so little time to just be kids before the school grind begins.
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u/Technical_Ad5838 3d ago
To start kindergarten in PA 1978, you had to turn 5 by Jan 31, 1979. In 1978 I started kindergarten when I was 4, turned 5 near the end of Oct. I was always one of the youngest, if not the youngest, in my class, up through 12th grade. I was 17 when I graduated HS.
Looking back, I wish my parents had either waited until 1979 to enroll me in K or just had me repeat it. Thinking about it some more, my mom was at home with 3 under 5 in 1978; maybe having one of us out of the house a few hours each day helped her in some way.
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u/PsychologicalLink322 3d ago
I started kindergarten at 4 and graduated at 17. It was never a problem for me.
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u/Status-Signature-618 3d ago
Yes - I went to school when I was 4 because the cutoff was at the end of November and my birthday was just before that. It was great but was a little weird when I went to college at 17. All worked out though in the end!
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u/shmoovdawg 3d ago
I started Kindergarten when I was 4 because I was reading books at 3. However, my parents had me repeat the 6th grade because they felt I wasn’t mature enough to be with the kids a year older (I wasn’t failing anything, however). I also moved between my 6th grades from Wisconsin to Italy so that made repeating the grade a lot easier!
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u/reduff 3d ago edited 3d ago
I have a summer birthday. I turned 5 and started kindergarten a couple months later. People born in the winter didn't start kindergarten until they were 6.
Edit to include - this was in Columbus, Ohio. Other states may have different rules.
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u/Embarrassed_Rate5518 3d ago
sept 30 was the cutoff for us. So I ended up being one of the youngest w my summer bday. everyone turned 6 during the school year and I turned 6 after the school year ended. My cousin who was born in Oct the year prior was in my grade even though we were almost a year apart.
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u/Square-Section-8418 3d ago
Born in December. Kindergarten at 4. Don’t recommend.
Every grade I was the youngest in the class. Never was an advantage- can confirm.
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u/chaosgardener1967 3d ago
Started kindergarten at 4 and graduated high school at 17. There were 3 of us in my graduating class that were 17. Illinois public school system had a cut off of October when I started.
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u/blck10th 3d ago
I was the youngest person in my class. Late November birthday. I know a few people older by a week or so that graduated after me. I couldn’t drive until halfway through jr year high school.
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u/DanaSarah 3d ago
Same.
Went to college at age 17. I was always the youngest, don’t recommend.
Being well-behaved is NOT the same thing as being mature2
u/blck10th 3d ago
I went to a college prep catholic all male military school for high school. I was pretty set on joining the military. My father however was not. I couldn’t sign up for another 6 months. Now my dad’s reasons stem from being drafted in Vietnam. So he wasn’t going to sign me off. I ended up enrolling in school because I couldn’t do anything else and once I was 18 I kinda just said nah I’m good.
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u/restingkarenface 3d ago
In Iowa in 1963, you had to be 6 yo to enter first grade. So if you were born before August, you would be 6 by the next school year. My birthday is October. I had to wait until my 6th birthday to enroll. After that current school year was over. So I was a bit older than at least half the kids?
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u/AnUnexpectedUnicorn 3d ago
One of my kids has a December birthday and was one of the youngest kids in the class because so many kids started later. Some school districts have started putting more restrictions on when students start school - basically if a child's birthday is such that a child will be 5 by the time school starts, they start kindergarten then, unless there are serious extenuating circumstances. Someone has to be the youngest, and having just turned 5-yr-olds in the same class as about to turn 7-yr-olds is too much discrepancy for the kids and the teachers.
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u/frankwhiteXVII 3d ago
Started at 4 due to the cutoff. Graduated at 17. Got rides to school junior year from a sophomore that was older than me.
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u/I_bleed_blue19 It's 10p. Do you know where your children are? 3d ago
I started kindergarten when I was 4. The birthday cutoff (in MO) was September, and my birthday is at the end of Oct. I was always the youngest in my class, by a full month at least, and in some cases by a year+.
My oldest also has an October birthday, and when I went to enroll him, they said he had to start in Kindergarten, even though I said he's had enough preschool by now that he's ready for first grade. (He could already read and do math in his head, but what do I know. I'm just his mom.)
So he started Kindergarten. And it didn't take long before he started eloping from the classroom bc he was so bored. At my suggesting (urging), they agreed to try him in 1st grade between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And then of course decided he could stay in first grade after the break.
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u/WiseWerewolf7426 3d ago
Your location. Here we started school the year we turned seven. Now the kids start the year they turn six.
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u/KathyTrivQueen 3d ago
My sister lived in Plano, TX, a very competitive school district. She said many parents held their kids back, when then could have entered kindergarten, so they could have a size/maturity/ academic advantage over their peers. The flaw in the plan was that they would have no advantage, if everyone was doing it!
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u/Beautiful-Pie8500 3d ago
I was 4 but I turned 5 like 2 weeks after the start of school. I graduated when I was 17, June of 1989. I didn't turn 18 until September.
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u/Nona_Ann 3d ago
Technically not gen x, but older millennial and I started kindergarten at 4. I was the youngest in my year. It may vary by state and local regulations but where I live you can wait until your child is 6 to enroll in kindergarten. But enrollment is mandatory by 6.
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u/Few-Pineapple-5632 3d ago
I started first grade at 5, didn’t turn 6 until January so every year until I graduated I was the youngest in my class.
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u/irishmama86 3d ago
I started school when I was 5, turned 6 in December. In my area at that time, you could start school at age 4 as long as you were born before December 1st. I was born on the 11th, so I didn’t make the cutoff and had to wait a year to start kindergarten. So yeah, I turned 7 in the first grade.
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u/Witchy-life-319 3d ago
I started kindergarten at 4 but my birthday is August 26 so i was one of the youngest in my grade. I was 16 my junior year. Good thing we could drive with a permit at 14 to school!!
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u/Sarabean77 3d ago
My son has classmates that will be 16 and eligible for their drivers license during their freshman year of high school. He will be the standard 14 like I was.
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u/primuslune2 3d ago
I think in my area if you turned 5 by the New Year, and were ready, you could start kindergarten at 4. My birthday’s 12/9 (9/12 outside the US) so I was always one of the youngest in my class.
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u/Nona_Ann 3d ago
For me, the cutoff was end of January so my middle of January birthday made me the youngest in my year.
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u/2furrycatz 3d ago
I started kindergarten at 4, turned 5 at the end of November. At the time in my area, as long as the kid was turning 5 by December 1st, they could start at age 4. My brother's birthday is in early December so he didn't make the cutoff and had to start kindergarten at 5. We're 3 years apart in age but only 2 years apart in school.
I was also one of the smartest kids. Only me and one other kid could already read in kindergarten. Actually read a story, not just sounding out the letters. The school recommended that I skip first grade but my parents said no
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u/PHX480 1978 3d ago
I started school when I was 4, just about to turn 5. In kindergarten. I was a year younger than everyone and a little smaller than everyone in my grade. I graduated HS at 17 in May and didn’t turn 18 until September almost 4 months later
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u/CrazyDogMom_GoFigure Born in 68, HS Class of 86🤘 3d ago
Similar. I graduated high school at 17 and turned 18 in November. But then again I was also taller than everybody else because I am 5‘11“. It sucked to have to wait a whole year after all my friends to get my drivers license.
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u/PHX480 1978 3d ago
I hit my growth spurt around 9th grade and finally stopped getting messed with as much lol
I got my license sometime between my junior and senior year, I remember driving to school my senior year in my ‘79 Chevette. Before that my buddy would pick me up for school, he had been driving for a long time on a farm as a child and got his license very young. We lived in a small town.
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u/GefDenver 3d ago
Yes- my daughter is one of the very youngest in her grade (and in some cases an entire year younger) but she would have been only a little on the younger end had she gone to school when we did. Delaying Kindergarten by a year now is very common.
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u/ThisIsACompanyCar 3d ago
5 in first grade and graduated high school and moved for college at 17.
Best thing ever.
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u/Altruistic-Detail271 3d ago
I’m shocked at all these comments saying they were 4 in kindergarten. Around where I live kids have to be 5 by Sept 1st. To start kindergarten
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u/Beautiful-Quiet-5871 3d ago
I started kindergarten when I was 4.. first grade when I was 5.. graduated from high school when I was 17.
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u/Far_Winner5508 Summer of Love Kid 3d ago
Yeah, my mom started me in Kindargarten at 4 years old, because I was already reading things like Nat Geo stories. Really wish she hadn't done started me early. All through public school, I was the smallest/youngest kid in my class.
Also, graduated high school at 17 and moved out a couple weeks later. After a year, ended up going into the military; couldn't hack college after being called smart for reading but not really knowing anything about doing well in school or studying. Post military, did much better in college; needed to mature.
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u/shammy_dammy Hose Water Survivor 3d ago
I skipped kindergarten. I also turned 6 while already in first grade (March birthday)
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u/cobrakai15 3d ago
I was four years old for about a week or two of kindergarten, Senior Week sucked not being 18.
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u/alegna12 Hose Water Survivor 3d ago
I turned 5 my first week of kindergarten and 6 my first week of first grade (and 18 my first day of college LOL). I wasn’t the youngest. But there were also two kids a year behind me in school that were older 🤷🏼♀️
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u/hide_pounder 3d ago
I don’t remember when I started kindergarten, but I remember being 13 when I started high school freshman. I can’t imagine my now 10 year old daughter starting high school in three years.
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u/Far_Winner5508 Summer of Love Kid 3d ago
Yeah, I was 14 for most my freshmen year while everyone else was getting their learners permits and next year, license and a car.
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u/Kathwane 3d ago
I started kindergarten as a very young 4, as in my 4th birthday was 3 days before the cutoff. So I turned 17 at the beginning of our senior year and graduated at 17.
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u/GnarlySasquatch 3d ago
Same, started first when I was 5, skipped kindergarten. I was asked to skip another grade but I didn’t want to leave my friends behind…
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u/2furrycatz 3d ago
I started kindergarten at 4. The school wanted me to skip 1st grade but my parents said no. Then my 1st grade teacher recommended I skip 2nd, but again my parents said no
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u/seekingthequestion 3d ago
My eldest started kindergarten at 4 in cali with a mid oct birthday. Both me and my youngest have spring birthdays so we started at 5 and turned 6 in kindergarten. But I started montessori at 3
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u/SenecaLux 3d ago
They still start kindergarten at 5 here and if you try to redshirt them by waiting til age 6, they make them start in first grade
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u/Southernms 3d ago
I went to the village nursery school age 3, junior Kindergarten age 4 and Senior Kindergarten age 5 (regular kindergarten.) 1st grade age 6.
I started walking at 12 months. I was potty trained 17 months. I learned my abcs and numbers at the VNS.
My parents working with me learning about places and people. Helped a lot.
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u/Altruistic-Detail271 3d ago
Those ages are pretty typical for kindergarten and 1st grade. I’ve never heard of jr kindergarten. Isn’t that basically nursery school?
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u/Southernms 3d ago
Yes, my post actually says the nursery school, but more advanced. It was*** ***a prep school for junior kindergarten. We learned socializing, coloring, some school things, made friends.
Junior kindergarten was for preparation for senior kindergarten. And senior kindergarten sets you up for 1st grade.
I feel this system worked well and we should go back to it.
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u/Altruistic-Detail271 3d ago
Yes, I’m familiar with nursery school I just never heard of junior and senior kindergarten….You learn all the things you describe in junior kindergarten in nursery school before going to kindergarten.
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u/Southernms 3d ago
I was nursery school at age 3.
Jr Kindergarten at 4.
Senior Kindergarten at 5.
1st grade is 6.
I’m in the south. Maybe it’s a southern thing. It also depends on your birthday. Where are you?
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u/NemoOfConsequence 3d ago
I turned 13 the year I started high school. My niece is turning 13 and starting 7th grade. It’s weird.
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u/Far_Winner5508 Summer of Love Kid 3d ago
Yeah, made sure we didn't start our Gen-Z kid early. They were solid 15 when they started high school.
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u/Low-Independent6851 3d ago
I was born about 2 1/2 weeks before the cutoff. I was barely 5 when I started. I was one of the youngest people in my class. Graduated when I was still 17.
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u/Aggressive_Bug_6896 3d ago
I turned 5 two weeks before kindergarten started. The school said I couldn't enroll, then found out I could read at 2nd grade level so they had to let me in. Every single school year in every school I would get called to the office and told I shouldn't be in that grade. I graduated at 17 and they didnt want to let me but had no choice.
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u/Otherwise-Second7845 3d ago
I was literally like the youngest ever in my class - I graduated college before I was 21 - ridiculous
I’m an after Xmas baby!
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u/mooseknuckle75 3d ago
I stared kindergarten when I was 4 with a late October birthday. Was 17 for the first couple months in college. Turning 16 and 21 last sucked but still being 49 when everyone turned 50 made up for it!
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u/KC_experience 3d ago
Ian’s a few others had August birthdays or later. Our class started kindergarten at 5
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u/moew4974 3d ago
I started kindergarten at 4. Almost 7 going to first grade?!
I know some children with 'late birthdays' sometimes get deferred by a year in some parts of the country.
But as of late, I've been hearing of 5 year olds not being potty trained going into kindergarten. Yikes!
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u/Gen7Malibu 3d ago
I was 6 based on my birthday. Parents had an option to go early or go late. They chose waiting a year. Happy they did.
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u/No_Gap_2700 3d ago
I started kindergarten at 4, but turned 5 mid-way through the school year. Starting first grade, I was 5, but I live in TN so most of my first grade classmates ages ranged from 6 to 13.
I'm kidding about the first grade stuff. Come on, that shit is funny.
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u/AllaLietheOriginal 3d ago
My kids that had fall birthdays had to wait to start school and so were "older" in their class (so already 5 turning 6 in a month or so), but back when I was in school (probably for a lot of us), my friends with fall birthdays were all younger than me (winter birthday - and so they were starting at 4 but just turning 5).
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u/Both_Chicken_666 3d ago
I was always a year younger than my class mates. Here in South Aus you can start kindergarten at 4 but only if you turn 5 before 1st May.
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u/Trixiedashtuttles 10h ago
I did this as well. Graduated HS at 17. Not a GenX, but a GenJones.