quelle horreur!!! |
| Why do you care? My son has had continuing delays and at the recommendation of his preschool, his developmental pediatrician, and our careful consideration, will turn 7 in K. He is socially around 5. It is simply none of your concern. |
Most of the 7 year olds in K are not "socially around 5", they are "socially around 7". That's why we care, and I'm not sure why you don't. |
| The biggest problem is that it turns classes into combination classes which ends up being more for the teacher to deal with. |
+1 And as the recent combination class thread pointed out, only the best teachers and the best students are selected for a combination class. Not every child in K is a "best student" -- mine certainly wasn't. |
| I was in a combination class in elementary school - at the young end of the younger grade -- and having some kids in older year being almost 2 years age wise ahead of me was a big deal. I could hang with them academically, but they were into different things, had different social tactics and totally on a different social maturity level. |
| Just think, that's going to a 20-year-old high school senior some day. |
I don't think its the norm for there to be large numbers of red-shirted kids in a class. Maybe in a few examples (private, some areas of NOVA). But I just don't think most schools are dealing with "combination classes". One or two redshirted kids is not going to create a combination class. In my DD's case - she was held back and you'll be happy to know she's in the lowest reading and math groups so no "combination class" needed. |
Exactly. |
If you turn 7 in K, you'll be 19 when you graduate. Not a huge difference but let's not make it sounds worse than it is. |
I care because socially the kids who are 7-8 are far different than the 5-6 year olds in our first grade. Of course, some of it is parenting, but their language and behavior is not age appropriate for the younger kids. Kids need to be with their own age peers. If you keep your child back and their peers are 1-2 year younger, they will act that age and have no ability to catch up to their true age as they are not being exposed to kids their own age. Then again, I do not feel a 5 year old can be immature. They are 5. They go to K. to gain the needed skills. If your child is overly mature, I'd worry far more. |
I agree. My son is in 1st grade and there are a number of redshirted or otherwise held back boys in his class that are more than a year older. They are genuinely nice kids, but socially, they have nothing in common with a 6 year old. If too many parents do it, or too many kids are held back for academic or attendance reasons by the school, it creates an inappropriate social environment for the kids who are the expected age for their grade. |
| A few of DC's 2nd grade classmates will turn 9 before school is over while DC will only turn 8 in the summer. Next to these taller, mature, older kids, my DC is like a baby, with two missing front teeth ... |
This is what we see happening. When it comes to assessing the kids, the kids two years older (1st grade) who are 8 are more advanced in some, not all so the grading is geared to what they are doing rather than the 6-7 year olds who are age/grade appropriate (who are all doing well academically). So, our younger kids are getting poor report cards and the older kids are getting excellent ones as they are working below what they should be. |
I don't dispute your experience, but that wasn't exactly what I was referring to. My child can do the work as well as the older kids in his class - probably better than some of them. It is more of an issue of not being able to fit in with a group of kids that are considerably older socially. |