APS - October Birthday

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend that did private K and then enrolled in APS for her first grade for her October kid. APS evaluated the child and she was permitted to enroll as first grader.

This is the only way to do it. For boys, the youngest in the class will probably be a june or July birthday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend that did private K and then enrolled in APS for her first grade for her October kid. APS evaluated the child and she was permitted to enroll as first grader.

We did this with an October birthday girl. Maybe I’m the friend in question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend that did private K and then enrolled in APS for her first grade for her October kid. APS evaluated the child and she was permitted to enroll as first grader.

We did this with an October birthday girl. Maybe I’m the friend in question.

Serious question, why would you want your daughter to be in high school turning 13 in 9th grade when there will be freshman boys turning 16 in 9th? Seems crazy.

[Anonymous]

This was posted last week, but for FCPS:

5 yr old (early oct bday), how to get her in 1st grade
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1133848.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend that did private K and then enrolled in APS for her first grade for her October kid. APS evaluated the child and she was permitted to enroll as first grader.

We did this with an October birthday girl. Maybe I’m the friend in question.

Serious question, why would you want your daughter to be in high school turning 13 in 9th grade when there will be freshman boys turning 16 in 9th? Seems crazy.

Because I don't think the difference between September 30th and October 2nd is actually a difference? Should I have induced labor two days earlier? And if she was born on September 30th instead, held her back? She'll turn 14 at the beginning of 9th grade. Many of the kids will be 14 in 9th grade and turn 15 at some point. Turning 16 is 9th grade is what should be questioned, in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was just a really long thread about this.

You're nuts if you do this, especially with a boy. You'll regret it in middle school and high school big time.

I have 2 boys. One with an early summer birthday who is young for his class. One with an October birthday who is old for his class. I see so many advantages for my DS who is oldest. He is a bit immature to begin with so the extra year was needed, but also he is just more advanced academically and physically larger (which isn’t all that important, but helps with sports). He was already reading somewhat before K (he was practically 6). My DS who is on the younger end is thankfully smart, but we do have issues with him being bummed about being smaller than other kids in class, the last to meet a minimum age cut off (e.g. I can’t sign him up for certain activities that have a “you must already be X age to participate” that his friends who have had birthdays that year can do.

It’s not the end of the world either way, but there is a cut off somewhere and unless there is a pressing reason, I have followed the cut off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend that did private K and then enrolled in APS for her first grade for her October kid. APS evaluated the child and she was permitted to enroll as first grader.

We did this with an October birthday girl. Maybe I’m the friend in question.

Serious question, why would you want your daughter to be in high school turning 13 in 9th grade when there will be freshman boys turning 16 in 9th? Seems crazy.

Because I don't think the difference between September 30th and October 2nd is actually a difference? Should I have induced labor two days earlier? And if she was born on September 30th instead, held her back? She'll turn 14 at the beginning of 9th grade. Many of the kids will be 14 in 9th grade and turn 15 at some point. Turning 16 is 9th grade is what should be questioned, in my opinion.

I happen to agree with you, but there are very, very few kids in the correct grade with September or even August birthdays. At least in our school. The wealthier the school, the more likely people will be to redshirt. So with October 1, you think your kid won't be the youngest by much, but in reality, they will probably be the youngest by 3-4 months.

[Anonymous]

My daughter has a very early October birthday. She was in first grade in a gifted and talented school in NYC when we moved to Arlington. She was tested and was greatly above grade level, but they were very strict about the age cut off and placed her in kindergarten on the theory that, had she been in Virginia that entire school year, she would have been placed in kindergarten. So she ended up doing another three months of kindergarten, even though she had already completed K in NYC. I thought about fighting it, but decided not to. I don’t regret that decision at all. I think it’s been to her benefit to among the older kids in her class. She is now in college and there have been no negative repercussions from the decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Unless your kid is super super advanced, it doesn’t make sense to push ahead - consider high school (last one to drive)

Kids these days drag their feet on getting a driver's license. It's not a big deal like it used to be.

or college (going to college needing parents to sign for anything).

This will be a thing for like a month and a half?

I have a November birthday (youngest in class), and was always top of my class, and never felt different from the "older" kids in the class. OP, you know your kid -- if he's ready for school, see what you can do to send him. If he could benefit from an extra year of maturity, then don't.

+1 to all of this from another November baby who was youngest in the class, top of the class, and never felt different.

This was me too - November birthday and the youngest in the class, top of the class, and never had any issues. However here's the difference: I (female) grew up in a foreign country (the school year cutoff there was 8/31 instead of 9/30) where the education mostly emphasized on academics and obedience, and don't care as much about sports or social skills. As a smart and academically advanced girl, I certainly benefited from it. My parents definitely made the right decision to send me to school a year early.

However, now I live in the US and are raising two boys. Knowing how important sports and social skills are in the US schools, I would never do the same to my kids (especially boys) if they had November or mid/late October birthdays. It may be a tough call if the kids just missed the cutoff by a few days (i.e. very early October birthdays) and they are very advanced both physically and academically. Luckily my kids have December and March birthdays, so I don't have to worry about making a tough decision like that.

[Anonymous]

Kindergarten in APS can be a ton of seat time and very very hard on a young-for-grade kid. My September birthday DD sobbed regularly all of her K year that she just wanted to play and didn't want to sit at her desk anymore. She hated school. Friends with kids at the older end of her class had a much easier time adjusting.

I wouldn't compare your kindergarten experience from 20-30 years ago to kindergarten expectations in APS.

[Anonymous]

I have an October birthday boy in APS - now a first grader. There are a few kids older than him, but I haven't encountered a single kid that is a full year younger. Don't push him ahead.

[Anonymous]

I have an October 2nd birthday kid. He went on time (turned 6 during K) and he's doing fantastic.

I sometimes think about what would have happened if he'd been born 48 hours earlier and could have gone the year before. I don't know! But he's certainly thriving. And funny enough, he's very good friends with several of the very youngest kids in his class. Kids who are 10/11 months younger than him.

It seems to work out. Just send him on time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an October 2nd birthday kid. He went on time (turned 6 during K) and he's doing fantastic.

I sometimes think about what would have happened if he'd been born 48 hours earlier and could have gone the year before. I don't know! But he's certainly thriving. And funny enough, he's very good friends with several of the very youngest kids in his class. Kids who are 10/11 months younger than him.

It seems to work out. Just send him on time.

+1 My DD has an early October birthday. Her two best friends since 1st grade have June birthdays so are 8 months younger than her. It's all good (and they are in HS now).