Indulge me- better to be youngest or oldest in aap or doesn’t matter?

[Anonymous]

It's November. You have until August to decide. See how she matures in the next 9 months. If you do really have two children who have already been 4, you know that it is a HUGE year for child development. She hasn't even been 4 for two months. Who knows where she will be in August from a social development perspective. Decide then.

Also, if you know that she has social immaturity problems, what are you doing to tackle the problem? Look at it the same way you would if she were behind in letters or writing or spelling or cutting (or some other skill that you want her to have before she starts K). Set up extra playdates. Do extra classes on the weekends where she will be with other kids her age. Is she in full time or part time Pre-K? Basically, you know that her shortcoming is social/maturity, this is a great chance to do something about it before K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To OP, something else to keep in mind, my sons that were youngest in their class had a big advantage for the NNAT compared to my son who is one of the oldest in his class. Son oldest in his class got more correct on NNAT, but received a significantly lower age-adjusted score than sibling that was youngest in the class and missed more questions. I knew older kids had to miss less to get the same score, but I didn't think they could miss less and get a lower score than the younger kids taking it. All my kids went on time.

This was the case with my DC who started late. Big disadvantage on the NNAT. Also, that extra pre-k year was not worthwhile at all. DC was bored and acted out the entire year which was a bit of a waste. However, the reason we made the decision to hold him back (early Sept birthday) was the big picture. Being the youngest in middle school and high school comes with it's own challenges, especially for boys, and we felt he would be better off in the long run starting late.

[Anonymous]

My child is not in AAP level grades but in grade 1. We had an opportunity to push her into the previous school year as she is October born but we decided against it. When she went to the kindergarten , we were thinking she would be one of the oldest in class but guess what... she is 9th in her order of age in the class room. There were a few kids who were early September borns in the clas room.

We spoke to many many parents, doctors, child psychologists etc and MOST if not all of them HIGHLy recommended not to push the kid. They said in FCPS, there are many opportunities for kids to excel academically with AAP classes in elementary grades, AP, honours classes in middle and high schools etc at the time when the kids are really ready on their own and asked us not to compare kids abilities at k and 1 grade levels to assess their capabilities.

We ourselves chose not to put her in first grade but in K as we felt she has some growth potential in social skills.

[Anonymous]

^^Also another thing everyone said is " You may mostly regret making your kid the youngest in the class many times but the other way around almost never happens"

[Anonymous]

I have a (small) boy with a September bday who is in 1st grade. We sent him "on time". We've had a bit of a rough road with some maturity issues but I think it's starting to click now. As far as I can tell, he's at the top of the class academically - he's doing at least 2nd grade work. I talked a bit with our ped about it last spring when we saw some real behavior issues and he basically said not to second guess having sent him and he'd likely have had other, different issues if he was another year older and that much more advanced academically than his classmates.

If you are REALLY concerned about the maturity issues, you could buy yourself a year by sending her to private K and then making the decision a year later on whether to go with public K or 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^Also another thing everyone said is " You may mostly regret making your kid the youngest in the class many times but the other way around almost never happens"

What I don't understand is *someone* has to be the youngest in their class. Why not hold back TWO years and guarantee you have the biggest, smartest in the class?

[Anonymous]

If you have the money why not give her another year of a playbased or Montessori school? My advanced child learned more in pre-K than in K-2nd combined because he was allowed to explore and read and build instead of having to do busywork all the time.
If she needs to be skipped a grade doesn't FCPS allow it for 1st so she could go from another year in preschool and then go straight to 1st?

[Anonymous]

I have a mid-September born kid, now in AAP, youngest in his class. Sometimes we notice his maturity is a little lower than his peers, but it's rare. He seems to be well within the normal range for his grade.

I was also youngest in my class (summer birthday, but in a time/place that had an Aug 31 cutoff). One advantage is that it pushes you a little more - you have an incentive to keep up with peers. That has served me well in school and beyond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have the money why not give her another year of a playbased or Montessori school? My advanced child learned more in pre-K than in K-2nd combined because he was allowed to explore and read and build instead of having to do busywork all the time.
If she needs to be skipped a grade doesn't FCPS allow it for 1st so she could go from another year in preschool and then go straight to 1st?

This is what I would do. Another year of pk then 1st grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What I don't understand is *someone* has to be the youngest in their class. Why not hold back TWO years and guarantee you have the biggest, smartest in the class?

Well the argument was for parents not to PUSH kids into the previous grade who are Born AFTER the cut off date, not to hold back kids who are born before. I know the county, school, parents have to come up with some cut off date and there will be outliers on either side. You just have to know what is good for the child as even two kid son in the same family may need different solutions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a mid-September born kid, now in AAP, youngest in his class. Sometimes we notice his maturity is a little lower than his peers, but it's rare. He seems to be well within the normal range for his grade.

I was also youngest in my class (summer birthday, but in a time/place that had an Aug 31 cutoff). One advantage is that it pushes you a little more - you have an incentive to keep up with peers. That has served me well in school and beyond.

I also appreciated having an "extra" year as an adult to figure out what I wanted to do with my career.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all. I’m going to research some privat kindergartens that are more play based.

[Anonymous]

Unless you are a gloating parent or constantly making excuses for your immature child, no one cares either way.