Not redshirting our May birthday boy?

[Anonymous]

Interesting. I do think redshirting is more prevalent in the south. It sounds like a tough decision either way. Has he been in day care or full day preschool up to this point? Or is he coming from a half day/part time preschool with a SAHP or nanny? I think a kid who had already been in full day school/day care would be really bored repeating the same material for a year. Could you try a private K and then see if you want to advance him to public 1st?

[Anonymous]

OP here..

If we send him on time as planned, what are some specific skills we can work with him on this year so he can succeed? We are already in a competitive district. He's in a part time play based preschool and has been since age 1.

[Anonymous]

This is for public school? The only places I’ve heard of this was in private all boys schools. We live in Baltimore and toured some all boys schools for kindergarten. My son’s birthday is in April. So many of the admissions” people talked to me about either putting him in pre-k instead of kindergarten or having him do pre-first. They had never met him BTW. He ended up going to kindergarten on time in a public school. I sent him to a private school for middle school and half or more of his class had gone to pre-first so they were all a year or more older. It was insane having 13 yr olds in 6th and kids able to take driver’s ed in 8th grade. Just send him on time. Unless he has some issues, why wouldn’t you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. I do think redshirting is more prevalent in the south. It sounds like a tough decision either way. Has he been in day care or full day preschool up to this point? Or is he coming from a half day/part time preschool with a SAHP or nanny? I think a kid who had already been in full day school/day care would be really bored repeating the same material for a year. Could you try a private K and then see if you want to advance him to public 1st?

That is probably the best solution I can think of but our neighborhood elementary is exceptional so I have a really hard time paying for private, even for a year. It's at least 20k and it may be too late to get on the waitlists now. He has been in half day play based preschool since age 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is for public school? The only places I’ve heard of this was in private all boys schools. We live in Baltimore and toured some all boys schools for kindergarten. My son’s birthday is in April. So many of the admissions” people talked to me about either putting him in pre-k instead of kindergarten or having him do pre-first. They had never met him BTW. He ended up going to kindergarten on time in a public school. I sent him to a private school for middle school and half or more of his class had gone to pre-first so they were all a year or more older. It was insane having 13 yr olds in 6th and kids able to take driver’s ed in 8th grade. Just send him on time. Unless he has some issues, why wouldn’t you?

That is crazy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would NOT hold a May birthday child back unless there are significant cognitive issues at play. I have a June child who I did not hold back. She is one of the youngest in her class. She has always been in the top reading/math groups though. Plus, socially, there were plenty of other kids with late spring/summer birthdays. I child with a May birthday will turn 7 in K. There will be an almost 2 year age difference between your child and a child with a late summer birthday who goes on time. That's just to big a spread IMHO.

I’m against redshirting a May birthday kid too but your math is wrong. There will not be an “almost 2 year age difference” between ops potentially redshirted kid and a late summer bday kid who goes on time. In this scenario OP’s kid would turn 6 in May 2020 so born 2014, the youngest kid in the class would turn 5 in August 2020 so would have been born 2015, or at most 15 months younger than OP’s kid.

Anyway, it’s ridiculous to redshirt a May bday. My siblings and I all have late summer and early fall birthdays and all went on time. We grew up in Tennessee too coincidentally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would NOT hold a May birthday child back unless there are significant cognitive issues at play. I have a June child who I did not hold back. She is one of the youngest in her class. She has always been in the top reading/math groups though. Plus, socially, there were plenty of other kids with late spring/summer birthdays. I child with a May birthday will turn 7 in K. There will be an almost 2 year age difference between your child and a child with a late summer birthday who goes on time. That's just to big a spread IMHO.

I’m against redshirting a May birthday kid too but your math is wrong. There will not be an “almost 2 year age difference” between ops potentially redshirted kid and a late summer bday kid who goes on time. In this scenario OP’s kid would turn 6 in May 2020 so born 2014, the youngest kid in the class would turn 5 in August 2020 so would have been born 2015, or at most 15 months younger than OP’s kid.

Anyway, it’s ridiculous to redshirt a May bday. My siblings and I all have late summer and early fall birthdays and all went on time. We grew up in Tennessee too coincidentally.

If we go on time our May 30 son will be younger by 16 months Feb boys who redshirt. It is a significant gap at that age. It's more than 20% his age. For kids in August who go on time, it's a 19 month gap....

[Anonymous]

I have an August boy and I’m not redshirting. I’m an August girl and my parents did redshirt me 30+ years ago in a district with a dec cut off. I did not enjoy being so much older than my classmates. But our DCPS does not seem to have a culture of redshirting. I haven’t noticed any kids celebrating a birthday that would indicate they were redshirted in my older child’s grade.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if college admissions takes this into account now that it is more common?

My husband who was actually one of the youngest in his class with a summer birthday went to college on a division 1 athletic scholarship. Of course kids who are 19 months older will have a clear advantage when it comes time for college applications, both academically and for sports. We would never consider holding a kid back for sports however there is no question the advantage is there for the older kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if college admissions takes this into account now that it is more common?

My husband who was actually one of the youngest in his class with a summer birthday went to college on a division 1 athletic scholarship. Of course kids who are 19 months older will have a clear advantage when it comes time for college applications, both academically and for sports. We would never consider holding a kid back for sports however there is no question the advantage is there for the older kids.

There’s kids coming into college after a gap year, after a year or more of military service, as transfer students when some of their credits didn’t transfer ... so no, they don’t care about Larlo the freshman who turned 19 in May before freshman year started.

[Anonymous]

People don’t red shirt at all where I live.

[Anonymous]

Did not redshirt my late July boy. We are in FCPS; he is now in AAP and thriving. Age alone is never a reason to hold you child back IMO. May shouldn’t even be on a redshirting radar.

[Anonymous]

My May birthday boy was pretty bored at 5 in Kindergarten, which led to behavior issues. Of course we didn’t put two and two together until they started testing, and he ended up skipping second grade (which has its own set of issues).

I don’t think anyone would have survived had we started K at 6.

[Anonymous]

Lol, ok.

[Anonymous]

My spring boy started on time and also ended up skipping a grade (recommended by principal and teachers). He was on the path of disliking school because he was so bored. He would have been miserable being 2 grades behind where he is now.