Is 7 "too old" for first grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I appreciate everyone's comments (except that one flex person 😆).

I honestly didn't even know there was a term for this. I think I'm fine with starting 1st grade at 7 and ultimately graduating at 18.

I was weird, I am nearly a mid-Sept baby and graduated HS and started college at 17.

Sorry OP. As someone who is familiar with education, I would not recommend holding back.

Familiar with education? Like you once read a book?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child with a similar birthday. It's a challenging birthday because no matter what you do, they will be on the edge of the age curve. So there's no right answer, but that also means there's no wrong answer.

My child started 1st at just turned 6 and it's been fine. However, if the school had recommended starting 1st at 7, I would have been totally fine with that. In some ways it's better to have the school tell you what they think will work best because then you don't have to guess and you can be more confident that they will provide your child with the support he needs, whether he's among the youngest or among the oldest.

No, it is not best for that school to make that decision. Are you crazy and a lazy parent?

Ah, I recognize you.

Yes, it is best for the school to make that decision because they will have a far better idea of what the age range of other kids in the grade will be, as well as what will be expected of children in the grade and what skills the kids will be expected to have coming in. Especially in a private school, they are best able to make a recommendation. A parent might know their own child well, but especially coming to a school for the very first time after traveling, can't really have any idea of what the classroom environment will be like or what the other kids are like.

School is not an individualized experience. It's a group experience. It works best when kids are ready for what they will be asked to do and when they will fall within the expected range of abilities and behaviors. If you want a fully individualized education, homeschool or hire tutors. If you want school, you will need to defer to their judgment on some of these things, and your judgment comes into play in choosing the school.

Thank you for confirming your lazy parenting.
I bet you would medicate OPs child too if it made your life easier.

Stay mad. It is working out so well for you.

Stay lazy. It is working out so well for you since you are only concerned about yourself.

You get that you're arguing with yourself here, right?

Then who are you arguing with?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I appreciate everyone's comments (except that one flex person 😆).

I honestly didn't even know there was a term for this. I think I'm fine with starting 1st grade at 7 and ultimately graduating at 18.

I was weird, I am nearly a mid-Sept baby and graduated HS and started college at 17.

Sorry OP. As someone who is familiar with education, I would not recommend holding back.

Familiar with education? Like you once read a book?!

Yes, I have read a book. We all have read a book. I am an educator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - birthday is late August. When the school said they wanted to chat, I had a feeling it would be to ask to have my child considered for first, rather than second.

Definitely fine. This is very commonplace. See all of the threads on redshirting. DC will probably not even be the oldest in their grade.

It is not commonplace to put children below their academic level.
The overwhelmingly vast majority of children across the entire US are in the grade for their age.

It's commonplace in the DC area for parents of kids with late August birthdays to put their kids in K just after they turn 6 rather than 5. Especially in the private school world. OP will not be in an unusual situation at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I appreciate everyone's comments (except that one flex person 😆).

I honestly didn't even know there was a term for this. I think I'm fine with starting 1st grade at 7 and ultimately graduating at 18.

I was weird, I am nearly a mid-Sept baby and graduated HS and started college at 17.

Sorry OP. As someone who is familiar with education, I would not recommend holding back.

As someone with 2 children who started public school ON TIME and both turned/will turn 18 senior year, I would suggest OP do what is best for her family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I appreciate everyone's comments (except that one flex person 😆).

I honestly didn't even know there was a term for this. I think I'm fine with starting 1st grade at 7 and ultimately graduating at 18.

I was weird, I am nearly a mid-Sept baby and graduated HS and started college at 17.

Sorry OP. As someone who is familiar with education, I would not recommend holding back.

Familiar with education? Like you once read a book?!

Is that what you got out of PPs comment? That someone in education has read a book? Are you that dense?

[Anonymous]

No put the child in second grade. I had a different but similar situation. My son applied for kindergarten but had a bad fit on interview day. They offered us prek. My son was more than ready, although a little small. We applied to another school that was a better fit for his personality and we are very happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I appreciate everyone's comments (except that one flex person 😆).

I honestly didn't even know there was a term for this. I think I'm fine with starting 1st grade at 7 and ultimately graduating at 18.

I was weird, I am nearly a mid-Sept baby and graduated HS and started college at 17.

Sorry OP. As someone who is familiar with education, I would not recommend holding back.

As someone with 2 children who started public school ON TIME and both turned/will turn 18 senior year, I would suggest OP do what is best for her family.

So why do you suggest that being in 2nd grade is not what’s best since her child is on grade level academically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I appreciate everyone's comments (except that one flex person 😆).

I honestly didn't even know there was a term for this. I think I'm fine with starting 1st grade at 7 and ultimately graduating at 18.

I was weird, I am nearly a mid-Sept baby and graduated HS and started college at 17.

Sorry OP. As someone who is familiar with education, I would not recommend holding back.

Familiar with education? Like you once read a book?!

Is that what you got out of PPs comment? That someone in education has read a book? Are you that dense?

Are you a moron? Who takes advice from someone "familiar" with education? WTF does that even mean? You were a secretary? You went to school yourself? You have kids in school? All of us here are "familiar with education" that doesn't make one opinion carry more weight than another. If you are impressed by that PPs self proclaimed expertise, I feel sorry for you.

[Anonymous]

OP, your child will adjust and I guarantee she/he has resilience unlike the other children.
Put your child in second grade and don’t fall for the redshirting nonsense if she/he is fine academically. It’s just an automatic thing to say to redshirt even if the child is capable. Your child will adjust just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child with a similar birthday. It's a challenging birthday because no matter what you do, they will be on the edge of the age curve. So there's no right answer, but that also means there's no wrong answer.

My child started 1st at just turned 6 and it's been fine. However, if the school had recommended starting 1st at 7, I would have been totally fine with that. In some ways it's better to have the school tell you what they think will work best because then you don't have to guess and you can be more confident that they will provide your child with the support he needs, whether he's among the youngest or among the oldest.

No, it is not best for that school to make that decision. Are you crazy and a lazy parent?

Ah, I recognize you.

Yes, it is best for the school to make that decision because they will have a far better idea of what the age range of other kids in the grade will be, as well as what will be expected of children in the grade and what skills the kids will be expected to have coming in. Especially in a private school, they are best able to make a recommendation. A parent might know their own child well, but especially coming to a school for the very first time after traveling, can't really have any idea of what the classroom environment will be like or what the other kids are like.

School is not an individualized experience. It's a group experience. It works best when kids are ready for what they will be asked to do and when they will fall within the expected range of abilities and behaviors. If you want a fully individualized education, homeschool or hire tutors. If you want school, you will need to defer to their judgment on some of these things, and your judgment comes into play in choosing the school.

Thank you for confirming your lazy parenting.
I bet you would medicate OPs child too if it made your life easier.

Stay mad. It is working out so well for you.

Stay lazy. It is working out so well for you since you are only concerned about yourself.

You get that you're arguing with yourself here, right?

Then who are you arguing with?

No one, I'm not arguing. I noted in my original comment that as a parent of a child who has the same birthday (late August) that there are pluses and minuses both to sending "on time" and redshirting. We sent on time and it's been fine, we could have redshirted and that would have been fine. My recommendation is to listen to the school's recommendation because give that it can really go either way, I'd heavily weight what the school thinks you should do because it's a strong indication of what they will be best able and willing to support. Meaning that if they recommend redshirting, this is likely because they often recommend redshirting in similar circumstances and will have experience making sure kids in that position are well supported. And I might worry that going against the recommendation would result in my child being the youngest kid in a classroom with many redshirted summer birthdays, which would exacerbate any delays he might have due to homeschooling and moving around. I stand by this recommendation and no one has actually said anything in response to counter it.

The PP (who is probably you, just sockpuppeting manically) was triggered by some aspect of this, called me crazy and lazy and then accused me of wanting to forcibly medicate OP's child. This is, in a word, insane.

If you want to provide OP with some advice based on your experience or views on redshirting, I would encourage you to do so. Calling me names and accusing me of a bunch of stuff is unproductive. Yes, you are arguing with yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I appreciate everyone's comments (except that one flex person 😆).

I honestly didn't even know there was a term for this. I think I'm fine with starting 1st grade at 7 and ultimately graduating at 18.

I was weird, I am nearly a mid-Sept baby and graduated HS and started college at 17.

Sorry OP. As someone who is familiar with education, I would not recommend holding back.

Familiar with education? Like you once read a book?!

Yes, I have read a book. We all have read a book. I am an educator.

And? Still not impressed. All educators don't recommend never holding back. You're being cagey about your so called expertise. Maybe you're a dog trainer?

[Anonymous]

OP here - I can see the request because my child has never been in a formal environment with other kids, like preschool or daycare and things have been more lax at home.

I think the school's biggest reason is to get my child to understand structure and routine.

I of course want to set my child up for success and don't want them to be struggling if they were to be in 2nd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I appreciate everyone's comments (except that one flex person 😆).

I honestly didn't even know there was a term for this. I think I'm fine with starting 1st grade at 7 and ultimately graduating at 18.

I was weird, I am nearly a mid-Sept baby and graduated HS and started college at 17.

Sorry OP. As someone who is familiar with education, I would not recommend holding back.

Familiar with education? Like you once read a book?!

Is that what you got out of PPs comment? That someone in education has read a book? Are you that dense?

Are you a moron? Who takes advice from someone "familiar" with education? WTF does that even mean? You were a secretary? You went to school yourself? You have kids in school? All of us here are "familiar with education" that doesn't make one opinion carry more weight than another. If you are impressed by that PPs self proclaimed expertise, I feel sorry for you.

I am not the pp you are commenting to but I would not take your advice. You are only hurting your stance with your outburst and an emotional hothead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I appreciate everyone's comments (except that one flex person 😆).

I honestly didn't even know there was a term for this. I think I'm fine with starting 1st grade at 7 and ultimately graduating at 18.

I was weird, I am nearly a mid-Sept baby and graduated HS and started college at 17.

Sorry OP. As someone who is familiar with education, I would not recommend holding back.

Familiar with education? Like you once read a book?!

Is that what you got out of PPs comment? That someone in education has read a book? Are you that dense?

Are you a moron? Who takes advice from someone "familiar" with education? WTF does that even mean? You were a secretary? You went to school yourself? You have kids in school? All of us here are "familiar with education" that doesn't make one opinion carry more weight than another. If you are impressed by that PPs self proclaimed expertise, I feel sorry for you.

And you need to ask your own question. Who would take advice from you? Someone who calls anonymous people morons for having a different opinion. Wow!