Enough is enough with the redshirting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two ten year olds in my child’s third grade class. When will a school draw a line with this?

In practical terms, how does this impact you?

I'm not someone who redshirted BTW.

My kids are not red-shirted, but both are within 6 weeks of our district cutoff. One is very young and one is in the older and of their grades. It probably doesn’t impact OP’s kid long term, but if you have a summer BD kid who went on time and red shirting is very prevalent, it can be annoying. However most things I can think of occur for kids of all ages.

It can be dangerous if there are many kids who are much larger than yours and playground roughhousing leads to injuries, but I know some kids 15 mo older than my 5th grader who are smaller than most of their younger classmates. It can be annoying if the parents of the older child insist their child is gifted and not being challenged and demand extra attention from the teacher - when the child would probably be better served in their proper grade. However I know obnoxious parents of on-time kids too that seem to monopolize teacher and admin attention.
If your child is on time and young, but the majority of boys are older, it can lead younger or less experienced teachers to view your child as immature, inattentive, or poorly behaved - when they are acting their age. If kids are outliers age-wise, they may not be able to play on sports teams with school friends. My Nov. BD kiddo had an emotionally tough soccer season this fall when he switched teams and 80% of the kids he played against were a grade up - he’s used to being the “older” kid.

The older my kids get, the less it seems to matter academically. It does start to matter socially where interests diverge. Again - age is just a piece of the puzzle. Kids physically, mentally, and emotionally mature at different rates.

Birth year sports are the only time my summer birthday boys get to feel “middle of the pack.” I always roll my eyes when parents complain that their October and November boys have to play with kids “that are a grade older” in sports like it’s some huge injustice. No, your kids are just used to being the oldest and now they’re the youngest. In, like, this one realm of unimportant youth soccer. My kids are always the youngest at school and are exactly in the middle for birth year soccer. Your fall birthday boys will sometimes not have the full advantage , on rare occasions, and that’s ok.

[Anonymous]

My kid followed the cut offs and started 6th grade as a 10 yo this fall. There shouldn't be any 10 yos in 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two ten year olds in my child’s third grade class. When will a school draw a line with this?

In practical terms, how does this impact you?

I'm not someone who redshirted BTW.

In practical terms, my kids school offers advanced math and ELA to the top 25% of the grade. And that group is like, every single red shirted kid plus maybe 10 others. (Not NP). My kid is fine and is in the advanced group anyways, but you shouldn’t take an advanced spot away from a child if you were made to repeat K or held back from K voluntarily. You’re not an advanced and gifted learner you’re just supposed to be in the next grade up.

But they are doing the same academics as the other kids. They haven’t had an extra year of learning just an extra year of playing in preschool.

And their brains are a full year more mature. There is a reason that (most) kids can’t learn to read at age 3 but (most) kids can learn to read at age 6. Their brains have developed. There is a reason why my August kids cogat score said he was 99th percentile for age but 94th percentile for grade.

[Anonymous]

Most people do it for sports but just won’t admit that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The current third grade cohort is tough. A lot of kids who should be in 4th, but either had such a terrible virtual kindergarten experience that their parents retained them, or they were redshirtted to avoid virtual school entirely.

This is actually part of why I went ahead and started my summer boy (now in 4th) on time. I knew the next kindergarten class would have a lot of red shirted kids b/c COVID. This affects everything from class size to number of applicants applying to college in 2033.

I’m sorry OP b/c it is ridiculous. My DS is 9 in 4th grade. I cannot imagine him being in 3rd a year from now at 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure you can do it but why do you want a way older kid in the grade? It’s just annoying

A ten year old doesn’t make sense. Redshirting gets you to 9 years old not 10 unless they are ten for like, a week in June or something.

It shouldn’t make sense, but it happens! Usually in 3rd grade you’re 8, and turning 9 during the year or in the summer after the year ends. But if your parent holds you back, you start 3rd grade at age 9 and turn 10 during the year. So if a parent red shirts a fall birthday kid , and another parent doesn’t red shirt their summer birthday kid, you will absolutely have a newly 8 year old in the same grade with a kid who is newly 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people do it for sports but just won’t admit that.

Thankful that our area does sports based on birthday cutoffs and you’re allowed to play up one year if you want but you’re never allowed to play down. So the red shirted 10 year old third grader with the 2014 birthday is still playing with 4th graders and young 5th graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm, my redshirted 3rd grader will be 9 all school year since his birthday is over the summer. Are you sure those kids were actually redshirted?

Or maybe they had to repeat K due to not learning enough in virtual K.

I think that this is by definition red shirting, isn’t it?

My son has a summer birthday too, was born in August 2016. We sent him to kindergarten when he was 5 (meaning we sent him “on time” instead of redshirting him). So he was 5 for all of his kindergarten year and turned 6 the summer after kindergarten.

Now he is an 8 year old in 3rd grade and will turn 9 this summer, after completing 3rd.

It makes me a little tiny bit bitter because the kids that were red shirted are huge and all in gifted programs, which my son didn’t get into. I think if he wasn’t nearly 2 years younger than a lot of the other kids, he’d probably be considered “gifted” too. All the kids in our gifted program are actually just the oldest kids in the class because they were red shirted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure you can do it but why do you want a way older kid in the grade? It’s just annoying

A ten year old doesn’t make sense. Redshirting gets you to 9 years old not 10 unless they are ten for like, a week in June or something.

+1

A 10yo 3rd grader is not even redshirting- it is well beyond that. Nearly all redshirted 3rd graders would be 9 for the whole school year (unless possibly they have a May-June birthday or something).

Are you sure these kids do not have other special needs or circumstances? Or had to repeat K, maybe? I do know a family whose child is one year behind in school (so he would’ve turned 10 in Jan of 3rd grade) - but that is because he had cancer when he was preschool/K age and they started him a year late in the first place.

Pretty sure I do not know any other kids who turned 10 during the school year in 3rd grade- and we know a lot who were redshirted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two ten year olds in my child’s third grade class. When will a school draw a line with this?

In practical terms, how does this impact you?

I'm not someone who redshirted BTW.

In practical terms, my kids school offers advanced math and ELA to the top 25% of the grade. And that group is like, every single red shirted kid plus maybe 10 others. (Not NP). My kid is fine and is in the advanced group anyways, but you shouldn’t take an advanced spot away from a child if you were made to repeat K or held back from K voluntarily. You’re not an advanced and gifted learner you’re just supposed to be in the next grade up.

But they are doing the same academics as the other kids. They haven’t had an extra year of learning just an extra year of playing in preschool.

Because developmentally it’s a lot easier for a kid a year older especially in the elementary years. You understand that right? If you’re telling yourself they are gifted consider that. They probably aren’t.

But if you push your 4 yr old into kindergarten and they aren’t gifted you surely tell them it’s just their age, right? Let the excuses begin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure you can do it but why do you want a way older kid in the grade? It’s just annoying

A ten year old doesn’t make sense. Redshirting gets you to 9 years old not 10 unless they are ten for like, a week in June or something.

+1

A 10yo 3rd grader is not even redshirting- it is well beyond that. Nearly all redshirted 3rd graders would be 9 for the whole school year (unless possibly they have a May-June birthday or something).

Are you sure these kids do not have other special needs or circumstances? Or had to repeat K, maybe? I do know a family whose child is one year behind in school (so he would’ve turned 10 in Jan of 3rd grade) - but that is because he had cancer when he was preschool/K age and they started him a year late in the first place.

Pretty sure I do not know any other kids who turned 10 during the school year in 3rd grade- and we know a lot who were redshirted.

At Gilman (har har!) they have a pre first grade that a lot of the younger boys do after K. I know a boy in 4th grade there who is turning 11 within the next 1-2 months. So that child turned 10 mid way through 3rd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two ten year olds in my child’s third grade class. When will a school draw a line with this?

In practical terms, how does this impact you?

I'm not someone who redshirted BTW.

In practical terms, my kids school offers advanced math and ELA to the top 25% of the grade. And that group is like, every single red shirted kid plus maybe 10 others. (Not NP). My kid is fine and is in the advanced group anyways, but you shouldn’t take an advanced spot away from a child if you were made to repeat K or held back from K voluntarily. You’re not an advanced and gifted learner you’re just supposed to be in the next grade up.

But they are doing the same academics as the other kids. They haven’t had an extra year of learning just an extra year of playing in preschool.

Because developmentally it’s a lot easier for a kid a year older especially in the elementary years. You understand that right? If you’re telling yourself they are gifted consider that. They probably aren’t.

But if you push your 4 yr old into kindergarten and they aren’t gifted you surely tell them it’s just their age, right? Let the excuses begin.

It’s not “pushing in”‘it’s sending them on time based on their birth date.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid followed the cut offs and started 6th grade as a 10 yo this fall. There shouldn't be any 10 yos in 3rd grade.

Your cutoffs are weird. My 11yo is in 5th grade with a September birthday, after the cutoff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two ten year olds in my child’s third grade class. When will a school draw a line with this?

In practical terms, how does this impact you?

I'm not someone who redshirted BTW.

In practical terms, my kids school offers advanced math and ELA to the top 25% of the grade. And that group is like, every single red shirted kid plus maybe 10 others. (Not NP). My kid is fine and is in the advanced group anyways, but you shouldn’t take an advanced spot away from a child if you were made to repeat K or held back from K voluntarily. You’re not an advanced and gifted learner you’re just supposed to be in the next grade up.

But they are doing the same academics as the other kids. They haven’t had an extra year of learning just an extra year of playing in preschool.

Because developmentally it’s a lot easier for a kid a year older especially in the elementary years. You understand that right? If you’re telling yourself they are gifted consider that. They probably aren’t.

But if you push your 4 yr old into kindergarten and they aren’t gifted you surely tell them it’s just their age, right? Let the excuses begin.

It’s not “pushing in”‘it’s sending them on time based on their birth date.

Oh I see. So if other parents play by the rules and send them later that’s wrong in your opinion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid followed the cut offs and started 6th grade as a 10 yo this fall. There shouldn't be any 10 yos in 3rd grade.

Your cutoffs are weird. My 11yo is in 5th grade with a September birthday, after the cutoff.

DP but FCPS has a September 30th cut-off. My kid will be 10 for the first couple weeks of 6th. Meanwhile my Feb. birthday kid started 6th as an 11 yo and turned 12 in the middle, like you'd expect.