Boys with August birthdays and Kindergarten at MCPS

[Anonymous]

The K curriculum seems to be different depending on the elementary school you attend. We go to a ES in the Wooton cluster and the homework in K is all writing. They have a first grade writing journal and have to do writing work related to reading every week. They are also supposed to practice skip counting "everyday" through 100 by one through twelve. I think this is in preparation for multiplication down the road. My friend's daughter went to K at Jones Lane ES and the K homework there was all coloring and nonsense. Jones Lane feeds into Quince Orchard. We have had two very different K experiences.

Also, my DD is a Sept birthday and was accepted for early entrance into K last year. We opted not to push her forward though. Sometimes I think it was the wrong decision but other times, I think we made the right decision. She is the best reader in her class and her confidence level has gone through the roof. I spoke to a mom of a boy who's bday is in August and he is the youngest in the class. He knows his sounds but has just started putting sounds together to form words. She said that the first thing the teacher told him in her parent teacher conference was that they needed to work on his confidence. He is behind all of the other kids in reading and needs extra help from aides. He told his mom that all of the other kids can do more than he can. She said it broke her heart. So she works with him every night.

I'm jumping around a bit, but the reason I am happy that we didn't push my DD is because 8 out of 21 kids in her class have a Sept, Oct, or Nov bday. That is 38%! The rest are all Jan, Feb, Mar. Two have May bday's and there are only 3 kids with July/Aug bdays. And it is quite noticeable who is younger vs older. If we had pushed her she would have been the youngest by almost a year and I wonder if she would have had this same confidence. I volunteer in the classroom sometimes and the pace is rapid. If my DD didn't already know what she does I can't imagine how a child would keep up. The parents would have to do a lot of work at home.

The reason I am unhappy about not pushing her is the math 2.0 curriculum. It is absurd. Even the youngest of kids can get it. It is not challenging at all. But the science and social sciences is very good and interesting to her, so she has not gotten bored. And the best readers in K get more challenging work from special teachers outside of the classroom.

If you think your son will measure out somewhere in the middle of the pack academically, then by all means put him in K. But if you think he will fall at the bottom then hold him back. His confidence might be effected. He will struggle to keep up if the K program is like the one at our ES. The K teachers at our ES said that the K students are doing what used to be 1st and 2nd level work (with the exception of math now with 2.0). Ugh.

I have a DS with a July bday but he is 4.5 years old and already putting words together and learning sight words. His math skills are probably first grade level. Math is coming very naturally and easy to him. And he only socializes with boys who are older than him. All of his friends at his Montessori school are 5 or 6. He is the only 4 year old who can hang with the older boys. He is more than socially and academically ready for K this fall. I think he will fall in the middle of the pack, unlike my DD who is at the top. But I am fine with that. The important thing is that I think he will be able to keep up both socially and academically. Even though my kids are two years apart in age, they will only be one year apart in school. They are very different kids. My DD is emotionally immature although she is an academic superstar. My DS is a social butterfly but is still academically fine. I think he is maturing faster than my DD.

The point is...every kid is different. You should just be sure that he is ready for K and he will not lag behind the other kids. Confidence is key!

[Anonymous]

If you think your son will measure out somewhere in the middle of the pack academically, then by all means put him in K. But if you think he will fall at the bottom then hold him back. His confidence might be effected. He will struggle to keep up if the K program is like the one at our ES. The K teachers at our ES said that the K students are doing what used to be 1st and 2nd level work (with the exception of math now with 2.0). Ugh.

This is terrible advice. He will struggle? His confidence will be affected? K students may be doing harder work now, but they are still the same children. If he is doing fine with the other kids in preschool, which uses the same year for age requirements, there is no reason to hold him back. He must be among the youngest kids in that group too, but OP says he is having no problems. How will his confidence be when he turns 18 and his friends are leaving for college but he still has another year of high school?