Starting PK a year late for a Sept baby

[Anonymous]

Anyone have luck with this?

You can actually select PK 3 instead of PK4, but the DC lotto Choice team told me I have to have in writing approval from
The school principal.

Curious if anyone has made this happen.

Our reasoning is strictly personal, just don’t want our child going to college at 17. Right now they are on track but would prefer an extra year for social and emotional and of course academics.

[Anonymous]

Our kid had a mid September birthday. They started at a private preschool with a Sept 1 cutoff so was at the older end of the age spectrum. When she moved to a public school with a September 30 cutoff, the public school kept her in the same grade progression. I wasn't a fan of redshirting but looking back my daughter would have been very immature for her grade if we'd forced her up.

[Anonymous]

I went at 17 and was so immature and not ready. You are smart to try and have a plan

[Anonymous]

I know this seems a long way off, but are you confident that your kid is going to have access to schools all the way through where most kids are at grade level? If your kid is in on track for their age and the level of instruction is geared at kids who aren't, then having them be one of the oldest is going to exacerbate those issues.

[Anonymous]

I can see the advantages of this, but wow, I can't imagine having enough money that I would sign up for another year of childcare at $2k a month, minimum. That's $24k!!

[Anonymous]

Not personally but a friend has. You do need written permission from the Principal. They didn't have an issue with it. My child is also a Sep birthday and so was in Prek3 in DCPS for a week (before he turned 3). I know there's a lot of strong feelings on both sides about this but for us, it's been good for him and our family. We moved to private school so he repeated his K year because that cutoff was Sep 30.

[Anonymous]

Sorry was ***2 in prek3 for a week before he turned 3. Missed some words in there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can see the advantages of this, but wow, I can't imagine having enough money that I would sign up for another year of childcare at $2k a month, minimum. That's $24k!!

If your main reason for doing this is to not start college at 17, suggest you send kid to pre-k on time and then plan for a gap year - which you can fund with the $$ saved from that extra year of daycare.

[Anonymous]

We did this for Seiptember birthday twins. it was a difficult decision at the time but I have not regretted it for a minute and my twins (now in high school) thank me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see the advantages of this, but wow, I can't imagine having enough money that I would sign up for another year of childcare at $2k a month, minimum. That's $24k!!

If your main reason for doing this is to not start college at 17, suggest you send kid to pre-k on time and then plan for a gap year - which you can fund with the $$ saved from that extra year of daycare.

This is what we did. I sent my September baby to school on time. Still in MS but if it seems they could benefit from more time, we will suggest a gap year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see the advantages of this, but wow, I can't imagine having enough money that I would sign up for another year of childcare at $2k a month, minimum. That's $24k!!

If your main reason for doing this is to not start college at 17, suggest you send kid to pre-k on time and then plan for a gap year - which you can fund with the $$ saved from that extra year of daycare.

This is what we are doing for our August birthday kid. And what has happened is that she has turned out to be super academic and had no problems socially, and it is honestly hard to imagine her a year behind her current path. I know that's not every kid and I get it's hard to know at the PK level (in PK3 I was convinced we'd have to try and find a way to hold her back because she was so much smaller and shyer than the other kids). But four years later I'm so glad we started on time. I think she would have been bored to tears doing PK4 as a 5 year old and I honestly don't know what they would have done with her in K-2nd because she was already in the most advanced reading and math groups.

But it was useful for us mentally to just assume she'd do a gap year so we didn't have to feel like we were pushing her too fast. I actually did a gap year as well, not because I was young for my age but because I wasn't sure about future plans and just wanted some time to think about it before starting college. It was a really valuable experience and also took the pressure off college -- I had already lived on my own away from my parents, traveled, worked a regular job (for part of the year), fed myself, etc. It made college feel like no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Most people do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people do this.

I don’t think so. There are a lot of properly placed August and September birthdays in schools these days. I am a teacher and it’s not as common as you think.

Are people here actually successful in this for prek3? Or are they just commenting because they did it elsewhere and had a good experience? I know one person who repeated prek3 but they had a pretty good reason and full support from the school. I am not saying your reason isn’t valid, but the admin will likely not be concerned about your desire to not send your child to college at 17.

I have 2 kids with September birthdays and would consider a gap year for them if they don’t seem ready. They are fine so far.

[Anonymous]

Only do it if you can’t afford to pay for an extra year of care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can see the advantages of this, but wow, I can't imagine having enough money that I would sign up for another year of childcare at $2k a month, minimum. That's $24k!!

(I am pro redshirting) This is why it was a hard decision for us. We can afford to make the best decision for our son, but poor families can't. I think most summer kids would benefit from being held back. I think that as long as their birthdays are July, Aug or Sept, it should be up to parents. We sent one kid on time and held the other back.