Do you fudge your kids age when it comes to classes so that they are in things that match their abilities or do you hold them to their age range?

I'm in a pickle with DD as both the classes she wants to take have cut off's between 5 and 6 year olds. I"m just not sure what to do. I don't want to lie, I don't want to ask for special treatment & I don't like the idea of DD not having any thing to do for 6 months.

What do you do?

Chole

I've been in this position before b/c DD was ready ability-wise but not able to join b/c of her age. I would not lie anyway, but decided not to ask for special treatment either b/c I was unsure whether she was ready MATURITY-wise. I would be embarrassed if I asked for special treatment and then she acted out, kwim? But that's just us and our situation. FINALLY she is at the age where we have tons to choose from...

I have ended up just "bumping" her age by the extra months. Noone can tell interacting with DD that's shes 5 and not 6. This lets her be in the classes she enjoys without getting bored & gives her good challenges to live up to. It's so nice to have her excited about art class again. She had started fighting & crying about going to class when she was still in the class for younger kids. With the older kids she's happy & learning again, Yeah!

It's not the first time this has been an issue in our family I guess. My mom reminded me that she always bumped my age by at least a year so I could take the classes I was ready for mentally but not cronologically.

Chole

I am glad she's enjoying it! :thumbsup:

no but I fudged the other way...putting her in things based on her age rather than her actual grade.

Sunday school class comes to mind. She was reading chapter books by age 5 but I still put her in the Kindy class at Sunday school. But she was shy and was probably even a bit behind maturity wise. Not that she was immature...but the kids who had been in day care of preschool were more savvy regarding social interaction.

I would if I could get away with it and I was sure they'd be ready...everything I have wanted to sign them up for requires a birth certificate as proof of age. Darn!!!

I would if I could get away with it and I was sure they'd be ready...everything I have wanted to sign them up for requires a birth certificate as proof of age. Darn!!!

wow, a BC really. That's kind of, well anal, isn't it? For a kids class? I can see if it was something big like over night camp, but these are just art & dance classes. It's not like a few months either way of the age level is a big deal.

Chole

We wouldn't fudge the age because I would not want my child to be in a position to have to cover for us if the issue of age came up in the class. But, a few times we have called ahead and asked if the coodinator would meet with Nico and determine if she was able to be included in the class. After meeting with her, she was allowed into the classes.

No, because I wouldn't want to coach Erik to lie about it. What I've done so far is to choose classes that are on level for him--like gymnastics, or early sports. They aren't his relative strengths, so it works well to leave him with his age group. I've been looking at a few more "academic" type classes, at the science museum, say, and I'm looking at the ones that are for 4-5 or 4-6 yr olds, not 3-4 year olds. He does much better as one of the younger in any group, NOT one of the older.

I'm glad she's enjoying her class, though!

No, we don't fudge, I don't want to teach my children that lying is OK to get what you want.

And I really hate calling the instructor to explain why my child simply *must* be bumped up to the higher level - the thing is, that doesn't translate well to a phone conversation. Also. . . I've had more than a few instructors tell me that for every class of 10 kids in the homeschool community, they get *at least* 5 such calls.

What we have done in the past is begin taking classes that interest us and wait for the instructor to mention bumping up - usually if it is appropriate, they will mention it by the end of the first class. Lately, though, DD has not wanted to be moved away from her age group, she has a fear of growing up to quickly.

This has happened to us several times. I'll put the kids in by age and the instructor has wanted to move them up. Sometimes I'll ask about it before hand, but usually I just go by their age.

No, we don't fudge, I don't want to teach my children that lying is OK to get what you want.

And I really hate calling the instructor to explain why my child simply *must* be bumped up to the higher level - the thing is, that doesn't translate well to a phone conversation. Also. . . I've had more than a few instructors tell me that for every class of 10 kids in the homeschool community, they get *at least* 5 such calls.

What we have done in the past is begin taking classes that interest us and wait for the instructor to mention bumping up - usually if it is appropriate, they will mention it by the end of the first class. Lately, though, DD has not wanted to be moved away from her age group, she has a fear of growing up to quickly.