September Birthdays - Kindergarten

[Anonymous]

I have a mid-September child who went on time. I remember back in the days of her baby playgroup that consisted of summer birthday babies, September birthdays and October birthdays.

Us parents were talking about what we planned to do come kindergarten. The summer birthday parents were all adamant they would be redshirting their babies when the time came. The other September parents had the dilemma “well, I don’t want my child to be the oldest because they will be bored in kindergarten since they’ll be almost 6 when it starts!”

Kindergarten time came - the summer babies were indeed redshirted. The September/October kids were sent to K on time. Fast forward 9 years, those September/October kids I guess benefitted from being the oldest but at this stage, it is hard to tell between did they benefit from being oldest vs. where their personalities/natural smarts took them.

[Anonymous]

I know there are many that say you should do the early entrance but here is my story .... My kid has an early October bday and was reading probably at 3rd grade level before K. We debated doing early entrance but did not. He started on time when he was almost 6 and its the best decision I ever made. Yes he was bored in elementary school but he is HS now, plenty challenged with a magnet program. I am so grateful that he had these extra years of his childhood. It's better for social things and sports. Win / win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know there are many that say you should do the early entrance but here is my story .... My kid has an early October bday and was reading probably at 3rd grade level before K. We debated doing early entrance but did not. He started on time when he was almost 6 and its the best decision I ever made. Yes he was bored in elementary school but he is HS now, plenty challenged with a magnet program. I am so grateful that he had these extra years of his childhood. It's better for social things and sports. Win / win.

Your artificially made your kid smarter to get them into a magnet but in reality if they were that smart they'd get in regardless. You don't need extra years of child hood and its not better to be held back socially. My young for the grade child is doing fantastic and is in advanced math. I am so grateful given how slow MCPS is that we didn't hold back.

[Anonymous]

There’s going to be a monster class of kindergartners this fall because of covid redshirting. It’s not the year to push ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s going to be a monster class of kindergartners this fall because of covid redshirting. It’s not the year to push ahead.

THIS. I held my kid back but he had a late August birthday. Two kids in his preschool class JUST TURNED SIX. It's April. They are still in preschool because everyone panicked and held their kid back to avoid kinder on a chromebook. You won't get in due to overcrowding and frankly, you don't want a "young" kid with this group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know there are many that say you should do the early entrance but here is my story .... My kid has an early October bday and was reading probably at 3rd grade level before K. We debated doing early entrance but did not. He started on time when he was almost 6 and its the best decision I ever made. Yes he was bored in elementary school but he is HS now, plenty challenged with a magnet program. I am so grateful that he had these extra years of his childhood. It's better for social things and sports. Win / win.

Your artificially made your kid smarter to get them into a magnet but in reality if they were that smart they'd get in regardless. You don't need extra years of child hood and its not better to be held back socially. My young for the grade child is doing fantastic and is in advanced math. I am so grateful given how slow MCPS is that we didn't hold back.

DCUM maxim: what works for my kid works for everyone's kid!
And its corollary: what doesn't work for my kid doesn't work for anyone's kid!

[Anonymous]

I would wait until 6. For a boy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know there are many that say you should do the early entrance but here is my story .... My kid has an early October bday and was reading probably at 3rd grade level before K. We debated doing early entrance but did not. He started on time when he was almost 6 and its the best decision I ever made. Yes he was bored in elementary school but he is HS now, plenty challenged with a magnet program. I am so grateful that he had these extra years of his childhood. It's better for social things and sports. Win / win.

Your artificially made your kid smarter to get them into a magnet but in reality if they were that smart they'd get in regardless. You don't need extra years of child hood and its not better to be held back socially. My young for the grade child is doing fantastic and is in advanced math. I am so grateful given how slow MCPS is that we didn't hold back.

DCUM maxim: what works for my kid works for everyone's kid!
And its corollary: what doesn't work for my kid doesn't work for anyone's kid!

No, it means holding back doesn't always have the advantage people think. That first poster's child would have done fine either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid can read and knows his numbers he should be encouraged to start with a waiver / test.

If he can't do these things, work on them this year and start him next.

That’s not an unusual skill set in K for many MoCo schools.

My DC’s birthday is midSeptember and he started on time, and many of his classmates, especially boys, are 4-6 months older than him. I recommend you don’t push your child a year early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid can read and knows his numbers he should be encouraged to start with a waiver / test.

If he can't do these things, work on them this year and start him next.

That’s not an unusual skill set in K for many MoCo schools.

My DC’s birthday is midSeptember and he started on time, and many of his classmates, especially boys, are 4-6 months older than him. I recommend you don’t push your child a year early.

It’s not pushing a year early. It’s sad how we dumb down our boys.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is Sept 15th. We tested her in as it was the year MCPS changed September 30th to Sept 1st. But my daughter already did 4 preschool. No way I was going to dumb her down for a year. She passed the test and never looked back. She is a sophomore at Purdue - aerospace engineering.

She loved being one of the younger kids in her grade and study after study show the smarter kids tend to be the youngest by 6 months over redshirted kids.

I do not understand why parents dumb their kids down. The ES curriculum is sooooo slow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know there are many that say you should do the early entrance but here is my story .... My kid has an early October bday and was reading probably at 3rd grade level before K. We debated doing early entrance but did not. He started on time when he was almost 6 and its the best decision I ever made. Yes he was bored in elementary school but he is HS now, plenty challenged with a magnet program. I am so grateful that he had these extra years of his childhood. It's better for social things and sports. Win / win.

Most magnet kids are NOT redshirted kids. Everyone can pick out the redshirt kids within a few weeks. It isn’t a good look. And no one ever takes your child seriously. You were either shirted for sports or shirted to “mature” and usually the latter is a character flaw, not an age issue. We have a red shirt boy in 5th grade that then repeated 1st grade. He is turning 13 in June and is always bragging about smart he is. Clueless kid.

Also all club and travel sports are by birthday, not grade level, so kid’s would never be with their peers in their own grade. So the sport issue makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know there are many that say you should do the early entrance but here is my story .... My kid has an early October bday and was reading probably at 3rd grade level before K. We debated doing early entrance but did not. He started on time when he was almost 6 and its the best decision I ever made. Yes he was bored in elementary school but he is HS now, plenty challenged with a magnet program. I am so grateful that he had these extra years of his childhood. It's better for social things and sports. Win / win.

DC did early entrance to K and has been in magnet since 4th grade

[Anonymous]

My August 30 kid went on time did magnets starting in 4th and is now at an ivy. That said I would want to avoid this years K class. I would do private K or junior K and see where he is next year.

[Anonymous]

Move to Virginia. The cut-off is September 30.