How did you know you had to hold back your pre-k child one more year??
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Anonymous
JUST KIDDING!! Do what's best for your child!!! |
Anonymous
| DD has a September birthday and we're sending her on time next year. No one in our neighborhood or circle of friends is "redshirting" their summer birthday kids, boy or girl. I think the whole idea is a little strange unless there is a serious issue. |
Anonymous
| I was against this in principle, but in the end, our child just wasnt ready. Didnt have the necessary social skills and surely wasnt ready for the academic work of k. If your child is struggling in prek (misbehaving, cant do the work) then he's prolly not ready for k. |
Anonymous
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We have a child with a September birthday (second youngest in the class) and we sent him on to K. He was very tall for his age, and did well academically and socially. We did wonder for the next few years if we should have kept him back-- although he did fine academically, it would usually take him until mid year to "catch up" and do things other kids were doing easily in the beginning of the year (be it reading, multiplications, or whatever else). It probably would have made his life easier had we kept him back. Of course, now he is in the middle school and is doing great, so it really doesn't matter.
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Anonymous
18 year olds are not adults. |
Anonymous
True, they are frogs. Now seriously, of course they are adults - that is why they can vote. |
Anonymous
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June birthday? I would send him.
Our oldest DS has a late August birthday, he is also small for his age, and we still sent him on time. I'm glad we did, he'd be bored to death repeating PreK since he's academically on or above the K level and he loves K. |
Anonymous
| You post said how did you know...I would have preferred not to but we lived in Bethesda at the time and everyone held theirs back. (I think they have changed the policy since then 10+ years ago) It would have been fine either way -- DS very close to the deadline and would have been yongest/smallest. |
Anonymous
Aren't the cut-offs Sept 1? So your child would go to K when she is five and turn six right away (in Sept)? Therefore your child would be on the older end anyway? I'm confused. |
Anonymous
The cutoff in FCPS is September 30th. So a September kid in Fairfax county who goes on time is the youngest. |
Anonymous
Thanks PP - I thought VA was Sept 1 |
Anonymous
| I did try to redshirt my little guy last year started him in Kindergarten and three weeks into it moved him to first grade. He hated kindergarten and the teacher told us he should be in first grade. He did complain that we didn't think he was smart enough for first grade and kids his age were there. Tried to prove us wrong all year. Do what you think is best. Mine is second now and still strong academically and socially. |
Anonymous
Did the school recommend moving him into first? Just wondering how this works. |
Anonymous
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I sent my DS with late August birthday to K on time. He is very small <5% on growth chart, but there are 2 other boys in his class the same height. It would be a stretch to call him socially mature, but he can concentrate enough to get through a worksheet or an art project.
I find that K is not a lot different than the preschools, what with the preschools trying to be so academic these days. The big learning requirement, due to DRA testing, is to learn to read 60 sight words and know the numbers 1-31 by the end of the school year. The room set up is similar to preschool with three big tables and centers around the edges of the room, like a book area, a listening to music area, a play kitchen, etc. When the kids are working on something at their table, they are allowed to talk and stand, and have plenty of time to complete their work. The big difference is the big class size, my Ds's has 24 kids. When they all sit on the floor in front of the smart board, the teachers definitely have to remind kids to pay attention, not bother their friends, raise their hands before talking... they are pretty fidgety. If you are struggling to decide whether to hold your child back, I think you should call your school and request to observe the current K class, because I'm sure K classes in different schools vary. You can also call the school and ask to talk to a K teacher- I did this, and they seemed very understanding with the struggle to redshirt or not. One negative I find to putting a late summer birthday to school on time is that there are kids who are a full year older, if not more. If you redshirt your child, s/he will be at school with kids a full year younger, and they may be friends, and you need to be comfortable with that. My son is best friends with a boy over a year older, and about 8 inches taller than him, and I'm not sure how the other kid's mom feels about this. I think there is value in being younger, in having to struggle a tiny bit to keep up. It's better than having everything coming super easy to you, and never being challenged. But, if your child is so behind his peers that he will not be able to keep up socially and academically, it's probably a good idea to redshirt. I think it most cases it doesn't matter whichever way you choose. |
Anonymous
Okay, last I checked the average senior graduates at 18. I know that was the case when I went to school and believe that hasn't changed. Now if they are entering their senior year at 18 and turning 19...yes they are too old. |