Should we redshirt for Kindergarten?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If he takes a gap year, he can pay for college himself. Since I was posting on DCUM, I thought you would take it for granted that DS would go to college. Going to college isn't a question for DCUM users. People who go on DCUM generally have above-average intelligence and just about everyone who posts on here has gone, or will go, to college. Only lazy people skip out on college. And as for the 2014 statistic, it's really none of my business what other people do. If they want to waste away, that's their prerogative. In our family, that isn't an option.

Wow. Only lazy people skip college? How about people who work in trades and work very hard? You don't sound like you get out much.

THIS +100.

To the ignorant poster quoted in bold... how dare you make such a ridiculously blanket statement, you idiotic tool?

My father never attended a single day of college & guess what, genius? He owns the most successful heating, air conditioning, refrigeration & cooling corporation in all of Northern NJ.

He is FAR from lazy.

For 30 years he was out the door by 5am & on the job site by 6am, he was home to have dinner with us every single night by 6pm. Every single nite without fail.

Now at the age of 60, we've forced him to slow down a bit.
It wasn't easy convincing him, but he finally agreed that the
30 young guys who work for him are amazing at their jobs & want nothing more than to do a good job for him.
So now he manages the company, maintains relationships with clients & vendors and negotiates contracts with the cities, counties, state & corporations.

I have never met a harder worker in my life than my father... again, NEVER a day of college.

Oh, and one other point of contention which proves your argument is inanely ignorant & laughable... my father's company earned upwards of $1M last year.

So much for your "only lazy people skip out on college" argument.

* sorry to hijack the thread folks, but I cannot stand a sanctimonious tool who thinks they know it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If he takes a gap year, he can pay for college himself. Since I was posting on DCUM, I thought you would take it for granted that DS would go to college. Going to college isn't a question for DCUM users. People who go on DCUM generally have above-average intelligence and just about everyone who posts on here has gone, or will go, to college. Only lazy people skip out on college. And as for the 2014 statistic, it's really none of my business what other people do. If they want to waste away, that's their prerogative. In our family, that isn't an option.

Wow. Only lazy people skip college? How about people who work in trades and work very hard? You don't sound like you get out much.

THIS +100.

To the ignorant poster quoted in bold... how dare you make such a ridiculously blanket statement, you idiotic tool?

My father never attended a single day of college & guess what, genius? He owns the most successful heating, air conditioning, refrigeration & cooling corporation in all of Northern NJ.

He is FAR from lazy.

For 30 years he was out the door by 5am & on the job site by 6am, he was home to have dinner with us every single night by 6pm. Every single nite without fail.

Now at the age of 60, we've forced him to slow down a bit.
It wasn't easy convincing him, but he finally agreed that the
30 young guys who work for him are amazing at their jobs & want nothing more than to do a good job for him.
So now he manages the company, maintains relationships with clients & vendors and negotiates contracts with the cities, counties, state & corporations.

I have never met a harder worker in my life than my father... again, NEVER a day of college.

Oh, and one other point of contention which proves your argument is inanely ignorant & laughable... my father's company earned upwards of $1M last year.

So much for your "only lazy people skip out on college" argument.

* sorry to hijack the thread folks, but I cannot stand a sanctimonious tool who thinks they know it all.

BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!

I couldn't agree more, take that judgmental garbage elsewhere.
I'd love to see this jerk tell some union guys that only lazy people skip out on college, lol!

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this has been addressed, but the idea that states know best in terms of setting the cut off date is misleading. A lot of it is really arbitrary. Some states haves January 1 cut off and others have a July cut off. In DC they kept the cutoff late (it was December until a few years back) for so long mostly because so many families are below the poverty line and daycare is expensive. Readiness had very little to do with it. We will most likely let our September birthday girl stay in preschool. She will turn 6 the same academic year as the majority of her peers. It's a very tough decision, but Kindergarten is so academic and while there are studies that redshirting doesn't matter in the long run, there are studies that show the importance of play in early childhood and there is very little play/leaning through discovery in public kindergarten. Also, my kid, who is smart and has a good pre-literacy foundation for her age (4.75), is far below some of the kids going to K and below some of the common core standards required for entering K. I know she would be frustrated and I would hate for her to feel academically inferior/inadequate if she compares herself to other children. That stays with you, long past high school.

[Anonymous]

Look at this way. Sending a child on time when they should have been redshirted is far more reversible than redshirting a child when they should have been sent on time. If you send him on time and school's too hard for him, he can just repeat a grade. However, if you redshirt him and he's bored, he'll have to work very hard in order to skip a grade. To repeat a grade, you just have to not do your homework, not study for tests, and sleep during class. However, in order to skip a grade, you have to do twice as much work during a school year as you would otherwise.

Here's how I look at it. Suppose you have a meeting, but you're not sure whether it starts at 5 pm or 6 pm. If you arrive at 5 pm and it turns out that the meeting was at 6 pm, you simply wait and are bored for an hour until the meeting starts. However, if you arrive at 6 pm and it turns out that the meeting was at 5 pm, then you're an hour late and you're in trouble.

Our time on this earth is finite, and IMO, you shouldn't set your child up to be a year behind unless you absolutely have to.

[Anonymous]

Our time on this earth is finite, and IMO, you shouldn't set your child up to be a year behind unless you absolutely have to.

Wow. Sad outlook. A year behind in school and his life is a waste?

I look at it as another year for your child to enjoy being a child.
Life is not a race. At least, not to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Our time on this earth is finite, and IMO, you shouldn't set your child up to be a year behind unless you absolutely have to.

Wow. Sad outlook. A year behind in school and his life is a waste?

I look at it as another year for your child to enjoy being a child.
Life is not a race. At least, not to me.

Children's enjoyment of childhood doesn't end on the first day of kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think you nailed it when you said you wanted him to fit in. In school, there's nothing more important than blending in with your classmates. You don't want to do something to your child will cause them stand out, and since the vast majority of summer kids are 5 their entire Kindergarten year and 17 their entire senior year of high school, being 6 your entire Kindergarten year and 18 your entire senior year of high school is a recipe for awkwardness. There's nothing more important than making sure your child is in the majority, and the vast majority of students go on time.

My daughter's best friend has an October birthday, cut off is Sept. 30th. She's almost a year older than some kids in her class. no one seems to notice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think you nailed it when you said you wanted him to fit in. In school, there's nothing more important than blending in with your classmates. You don't want to do something to your child will cause them stand out, and since the vast majority of summer kids are 5 their entire Kindergarten year and 17 their entire senior year of high school, being 6 your entire Kindergarten year and 18 your entire senior year of high school is a recipe for awkwardness. There's nothing more important than making sure your child is in the majority, and the vast majority of students go on time.

My daughter's best friend has an October birthday, cut off is Sept. 30th. She's almost a year older than some kids in her class. no one seems to notice.

She's still in the grade that she's supposed to be in. She's simply on the older end. Someone has to be the oldest. The age-range for kids in her grade is October 1st of the year she was born to September 30th of the year, and she falls into that range. Nothing wrong with where she is.

[Anonymous]

Don't worry about him being one of the youngest. At the high school I work at, many of the valedictorians have been on the young end. Clearly, their relative age didn't affect them.

[Anonymous]

Well OP, it sounds like you've already made your decision. If it's not too late to change your mind however, I would strongly consider waiting a year. There is lots evidence to suggest that kids who are older do better. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15490760

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well OP, it sounds like you've already made your decision. If it's not too late to change your mind however, I would strongly consider waiting a year. There is lots evidence to suggest that kids who are older do better. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15490760

So if older kids automatically do better, then it follows logically that redshirting is cheating. Therefore, I would rightfully be viewed as a cheater, which is one of the things I really want to avoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well OP, it sounds like you've already made your decision. If it's not too late to change your mind however, I would strongly consider waiting a year. There is lots evidence to suggest that kids who are older do better. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15490760

So if older kids automatically do better, then it follows logically that redshirting is cheating. Therefore, I would rightfully be viewed as a cheater, which is one of the things I really want to avoid.

If the school system makes specific provision for people to keep their children out of kindergarten an extra year, then keeping your child out of kindergarten an extra year is not cheating. It's following the rules. You just don't like the rules. Worry about your child, and let other people worry about their children.

-poster with two children, of whom one went on time and one went early

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well OP, it sounds like you've already made your decision. If it's not too late to change your mind however, I would strongly consider waiting a year. There is lots evidence to suggest that kids who are older do better. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15490760

So if older kids automatically do better, then it follows logically that redshirting is cheating. Therefore, I would rightfully be viewed as a cheater, which is one of the things I really want to avoid.

I know in FCPS the law says you can send your child to K at age 5 or 6. Choose what is best for your child, don't be so hard on yourself.

[Anonymous]

Worry about your child, and let other people worry about their children.

best advice on here

[Anonymous]

My end July birthday boy went on time. I'm mostly glad he did, but there are certainly drawbacks. Some of the kids are over a year older than he is and he's socially out-maneuvered by them. I think he knows this because I've noticed all of his friends are on the very young end of the class as well. It's also challenging in sports, he's very focused on athletics and used to being the best in any group and now he's still in the top half but not a stand-out. On that front, I think it's probably a good thing for him to have to work to keep up and learn a little humility. I think the teachers' expectations have also been a bit higher for him (on an age-adjusted basis), and for a kid who struggles to sit still, that's been hard. At the end of the day, someone needs to be the youngest and he seems to be doing as well with it as anyone would, but I do sometimes feel sorry for him. Knowing what I know now, if someone knowledgeable recommended to me that I hold my young kindergartener back, I would certainly do it.