Repeat K or enter 1st? Moving to Fairfax County in the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our October birthday kid did private kindergarten, and they gave her the option to go to first or stay on typical track with kindergarten. We ended up talking with a kindergarten teacher and first grade teacher and ultimately had our kid meet with the reading specialist at the school for a quick evaluation. We chose to keep her in kindergarten and have not regretted the decision.

We were in exactly this situation with our oldest and did the opposite with no regrets. We put DC in first grade based on the recommendation of the reading specialist and never looked back. DC is now a junior in college and doing extremely well.

So basically, at the end of the day the right decision is the one that works for your child, OP. There is no hard and fast correct choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our October birthday kid did private kindergarten, and they gave her the option to go to first or stay on typical track with kindergarten. We ended up talking with a kindergarten teacher and first grade teacher and ultimately had our kid meet with the reading specialist at the school for a quick evaluation. We chose to keep her in kindergarten and have not regretted the decision.

OP here. What did the reading specialist say? My kid is reading already so that's why I'm thinking of just putting kid in 1st.

They said she could go to first grade based on the assessment, if that is what we wanted. The school seemed pretty reluctant to recommend kindergarten or first grade, which I totally get - if they make a recommendation and it turns out to be the wrong decision parents would likely blame the school for the recommendation. As I mentioned we kept her in kindergarten and are happy we did, academically it is a bit light, but she seems to be doing well socially and is liking school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our October birthday kid did private kindergarten, and they gave her the option to go to first or stay on typical track with kindergarten. We ended up talking with a kindergarten teacher and first grade teacher and ultimately had our kid meet with the reading specialist at the school for a quick evaluation. We chose to keep her in kindergarten and have not regretted the decision.

We were in exactly this situation with our oldest and did the opposite with no regrets. We put DC in first grade based on the recommendation of the reading specialist and never looked back. DC is now a junior in college and doing extremely well.

So basically, at the end of the day the right decision is the one that works for your child, OP. There is no hard and fast correct choice.

+1. Your kid won't have to repeat, but whether to do so depends on your specific child.

[Anonymous]

You'll be able to enter 1st. But think long and hard about whether that's the best choice. My kid has a September birthday and started school just as they turned 5. Turns out there were classmates as much as 18 months older than mine. This was a huge issue throughout most of elementary school. Part of the problem was that people assumed they were older and then couldn't understand the totally age-appropriate behavior.
this is a good chance for you to give your kid a leg up.

[Anonymous]

Is your kid a girl? Then no question... put her in first grade. Otherwise, she will hate you for making her be "held back" a year like a dunce.

Is your kid a boy? Then it can easily go either way, depending on your kid's abilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a matter of risk management. There is more risk, IMHO, of putting them "ahead" than in "holding them back" in the long-run.

I rarely see parents that say, oh gosh, my kid is just too mature for their school grade, I wish we had put them ahead!

Give your kid the gift of time.

Actually, we did the opposite to give our kids the gift of time. If they finish high school/college early, they can get a gap year.

Gift of time argument doesn’t really hold. In both scenarios, there’s a gift of time - the question is, do you want to give it to them when they are 4 or when they are 21.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a matter of risk management. There is more risk, IMHO, of putting them "ahead" than in "holding them back" in the long-run.

I rarely see parents that say, oh gosh, my kid is just too mature for their school grade, I wish we had put them ahead!

Give your kid the gift of time.

Actually, we did the opposite to give our kids the gift of time. If they finish high school/college early, they can get a gap year.

Gift of time argument doesn’t really hold. In both scenarios, there’s a gift of time - the question is, do you want to give it to them when they are 4 or when they are 21.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our October birthday kid did private kindergarten, and they gave her the option to go to first or stay on typical track with kindergarten. We ended up talking with a kindergarten teacher and first grade teacher and ultimately had our kid meet with the reading specialist at the school for a quick evaluation. We chose to keep her in kindergarten and have not regretted the decision.

OP here. What did the reading specialist say? My kid is reading already so that's why I'm thinking of just putting kid in 1st.

If my DC were in that position, I would go for 1st grade. If it doesn’t work out later on for some reason, its easy to repeat a grade until maybe 7th/8th grade…

[Anonymous]

If their IQ is above 140 and they are very emotionally mature, being young for the grade is ok. Otherwise I’d put them in the correct grade for their age.

[Anonymous]

My early Oct birthday DD went on time to kindergarten. Honestly there is no right answer. But certainly there are benefits of being older in the classroom. We also get her for extra year before college.

In elementary, she was placed in advance placement AAP classes plus was accepted into foreign language immersion. Math and science was taught in the foreign language. In middle school, she took Algebra1 honors and geometry. She is in the 9th grade this year taking all honors classes. It is hard to know if she would have done as well if we pushed her one grade ahead. But we have no regrets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your kid a girl? Then no question... put her in first grade. Otherwise, she will hate you for making her be "held back" a year like a dunce.

Is your kid a boy? Then it can easily go either way, depending on your kid's abilities.

This statement only sets up boys for failure. Imo ridiculous. This is a completely personal decision for your child. Most people don’t hold back boys. None in my child’s class. One girl with summer birthday