Oldest kids in class do better, even through college - NPR

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child with an August birthday was able to read and perform basic math prior to kindergarten. My biggest concern was they'd be bored beyond belief if I did not send them. Would prefer my child was challenged than bored. Developing skills needed to cope with a challenge will serve them better in life.

It's not hard to keep a 5 year old engaged without a kindergarten classroom. Nature walks and outdoor play, trips to the library for stacks of books, simple math worked into her days, pretend play, cooking, art etc. if Kindergarten was still like that I would have sent my kid on time as that is what is developmentally appropriate for the age. Regular K with the work sheets and reading groups is just soul sucking and shortsighted.

+1

[phone]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child with an August birthday was able to read and perform basic math prior to kindergarten. My biggest concern was they'd be bored beyond belief if I did not send them. Would prefer my child was challenged than bored. Developing skills needed to cope with a challenge will serve them better in life.

It's not hard to keep a 5 year old engaged without a kindergarten classroom. Nature walks and outdoor play, trips to the library for stacks of books, simple math worked into her days, pretend play, cooking, art etc. if Kindergarten was still like that I would have sent my kid on time as that is what is developmentally appropriate for the age. Regular K with the work sheets and reading groups is just soul sucking and shortsighted.

+1

[phone]

My plus for this too! What is being done to young kids today is bordering on insanity. What happened to playing? Playing is learning. Playing is encouraging creativity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child with an August birthday was able to read and perform basic math prior to kindergarten. My biggest concern was they'd be bored beyond belief if I did not send them. Would prefer my child was challenged than bored. Developing skills needed to cope with a challenge will serve them better in life.

It's not hard to keep a 5 year old engaged without a kindergarten classroom. Nature walks and outdoor play, trips to the library for stacks of books, simple math worked into her days, pretend play, cooking, art etc. if Kindergarten was still like that I would have sent my kid on time as that is what is developmentally appropriate for the age. Regular K with the work sheets and reading groups is just soul sucking and shortsighted.

+1

[phone]

My plus for this too! What is being done to young kids today is bordering on insanity. What happened to playing? Playing is learning. Playing is encouraging creativity.

This is why we opted to do the VAVA at home for K for our August DC. DC ended up playing a lot and learned K curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child with an August birthday was able to read and perform basic math prior to kindergarten. My biggest concern was they'd be bored beyond belief if I did not send them. Would prefer my child was challenged than bored. Developing skills needed to cope with a challenge will serve them better in life.

It's not hard to keep a 5 year old engaged without a kindergarten classroom. Nature walks and outdoor play, trips to the library for stacks of books, simple math worked into her days, pretend play, cooking, art etc. if Kindergarten was still like that I would have sent my kid on time as that is what is developmentally appropriate for the age. Regular K with the work sheets and reading groups is just soul sucking and shortsighted.

+1

[phone]

My plus for this too! What is being done to young kids today is bordering on insanity. What happened to playing? Playing is learning. Playing is encouraging creativity.

Soooop true! This is a huge reason why we opted to have my child be older. There is no more joy in the many public Ks I know. (I am sure there are some, somewhere). One child I know would sneak off to the bathroom to avoid instruction, like she was in middle school or high school or something. Neighbor's children coninuiously cry and say how it's no fun. This is their introduction to education?! K is supposed to introduce a love of learning!!!

[Anonymous]

Oh, I see this thread has been stolen by waldorfians. It would bring be great JOY to throw a plain wooden block at you, just so you will shut up about all the perceived problems with elementary school education. Stop reading the stupid parenting blogs and actually spend some time in a good kindergarten classroom. No one is being tied
To their chair and forced to fill out worksheets. Good teachers in good schools let kids be kids and teach them a LOT. I suspect the real reason you want to keep your five year old
At home is that you are still breastfeeding.

[Anonymous]

I've sent three through K- two private one public, and I agree- we've had wonderful joyful teachers and they helped foster a love of both play and learning. We found it quite balanced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, I see this thread has been stolen by waldorfians. It would bring be great JOY to throw a plain wooden block at you, just so you will shut up about all the perceived problems with elementary school education. Stop reading the stupid parenting blogs and actually spend some time in a good kindergarten classroom. No one is being tied
To their chair and forced to fill out worksheets. Good teachers in good schools let kids be kids and teach them a LOT. I suspect the real reason you want to keep your five year old
At home is that you are still breastfeeding.

Idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, I see this thread has been stolen by waldorfians. It would bring be great JOY to throw a plain wooden block at you, just so you will shut up about all the perceived problems with elementary school education. Stop reading the stupid parenting blogs and actually spend some time in a good kindergarten classroom. No one is being tied
To their chair and forced to fill out worksheets. Good teachers in good schools let kids be kids and teach them a LOT. I suspect the real reason you want to keep your five year old
At home is that you are still breastfeeding.

Idiot.

+1. I am a teacher in public schools and a PP that you refer to. You don't know how the sausage is made. All kids have to be at a specific standard at a specific time thanks to CC and ESSA. It's a tremendous amount of pressure on teachers that trickles down to kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, I see this thread has been stolen by waldorfians. It would bring be great JOY to throw a plain wooden block at you, just so you will shut up about all the perceived problems with elementary school education. Stop reading the stupid parenting blogs and actually spend some time in a good kindergarten classroom. No one is being tied
To their chair and forced to fill out worksheets. Good teachers in good schools let kids be kids and teach them a LOT. I suspect the real reason you want to keep your five year old
At home is that you are still breastfeeding.

Idiot.

+1. I am a teacher in public schools and a PP that you refer to. You don't know how the sausage is made. All kids have to be at a specific standard at a specific time thanks to CC and ESSA. It's a tremendous amount of pressure on teachers that trickles down to kids.

DP. What are the relevant K standards? I was told yesterday by a VA teacher that there is no reading goal for K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, I see this thread has been stolen by waldorfians. It would bring be great JOY to throw a plain wooden block at you, just so you will shut up about all the perceived problems with elementary school education. Stop reading the stupid parenting blogs and actually spend some time in a good kindergarten classroom. No one is being tied
To their chair and forced to fill out worksheets. Good teachers in good schools let kids be kids and teach them a LOT. I suspect the real reason you want to keep your five year old
At home is that you are still breastfeeding.

Idiot.

+1. I am a teacher in public schools and a PP that you refer to. You don't know how the sausage is made. All kids have to be at a specific standard at a specific time thanks to CC and ESSA. It's a tremendous amount of pressure on teachers that trickles down to kids.

I agree that they seem to have taken all the fun, all the joy out of K. First was a slight improvement, and second is going much better than that, so far. My poor kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, I see this thread has been stolen by waldorfians. It would bring be great JOY to throw a plain wooden block at you, just so you will shut up about all the perceived problems with elementary school education. Stop reading the stupid parenting blogs and actually spend some time in a good kindergarten classroom. No one is being tied
To their chair and forced to fill out worksheets. Good teachers in good schools let kids be kids and teach them a LOT. I suspect the real reason you want to keep your five year old
At home is that you are still breastfeeding.

Idiot.

+1. I am a teacher in public schools and a PP that you refer to. You don't know how the sausage is made. All kids have to be at a specific standard at a specific time thanks to CC and ESSA. It's a tremendous amount of pressure on teachers that trickles down to kids.

DP. What are the relevant K standards? I was told yesterday by a VA teacher that there is no reading goal for K.

I am less familiar with VA, but in general all kids need to read simple 1-3 sentence per page books by the end of the year. They need 100 sight word and should be able to count and recognize numbers up to 100. You can say, "oh, well kids can do it," but 15+ years ago no one was expected to read in K or do any of that. Think of all the things they use to do that ar just not happening. This is now without consequence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, I see this thread has been stolen by waldorfians. It would bring be great JOY to throw a plain wooden block at you, just so you will shut up about all the perceived problems with elementary school education. Stop reading the stupid parenting blogs and actually spend some time in a good kindergarten classroom. No one is being tied
To their chair and forced to fill out worksheets. Good teachers in good schools let kids be kids and teach them a LOT. I suspect the real reason you want to keep your five year old
At home is that you are still breastfeeding.

Idiot.

+1. I am a teacher in public schools and a PP that you refer to. You don't know how the sausage is made. All kids have to be at a specific standard at a specific time thanks to CC and ESSA. It's a tremendous amount of pressure on teachers that trickles down to kids.

I agree that they seem to have taken all the fun, all the joy out of K. First was a slight improvement, and second is going much better than that, so far. My poor kid.

Is this is the biggest challenge for your "poor" kid, what a blessing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, I see this thread has been stolen by waldorfians. It would bring be great JOY to throw a plain wooden block at you, just so you will shut up about all the perceived problems with elementary school education. Stop reading the stupid parenting blogs and actually spend some time in a good kindergarten classroom. No one is being tied
To their chair and forced to fill out worksheets. Good teachers in good schools let kids be kids and teach them a LOT. I suspect the real reason you want to keep your five year old
At home is that you are still breastfeeding.

Idiot.

+1. I am a teacher in public schools and a PP that you refer to. You don't know how the sausage is made. All kids have to be at a specific standard at a specific time thanks to CC and ESSA. It's a tremendous amount of pressure on teachers that trickles down to kids.

DP. What are the relevant K standards? I was told yesterday by a VA teacher that there is no reading goal for K.

The target for the end of K is DRA score of 4-6. If the child isn't reading at that level they may get extra services to get them up to "grade level".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/18/544483397/oldest-kids-in-class-do-better-even-through-college

"The study focused on differences between Florida children born just before and after the Sept. 1 cutoff date for starting kindergarten. That means the youngest children in any class were born in August and the oldest in September of the previous year. Figlio and his co-authors found that, on average, demographically similar September-born children performed better than their younger August-born classmates, all through their academic careers."

The differences between the youngest and oldest children were small but meaningful all through school, including college. This study also took into account family income and there was a difference between even children from wealthier families who were the youngest vs. the oldest.

I have an August birthday boy and although he's only 3 now, I can't imagine sending him to K only 2 weeks after he turns 5. It seems like most summer birthday boys and about half the girls start K right after they turn 6. I definitely see the benefit to waiting, although private pre-K or an extra year of day care definitely isn't cheap.

It appears this study addressed academic performance. I think it is ridiculous, and there have been other studies that have refuted this. FWIW, I was one of the youngest in my class, and graduated in the top of my class from a top University. I worked hard and did well.

[Anonymous]

If you heard this on NPR, it must be true!