N. Arlington parents -- do any August/Sept boys start K "on time" or does everyone redshirt?

[Anonymous]

And usually this is for a 2nd or 3rd grader, not a 1st grader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the boys I know with August and September birthdays have parents who are planning to red-shirt them. I think in my circle, the deciding factor is money. If you easily have the $15K to keep your kid in private preschool/pre-K for another year, you red-shirt. My single mom friends are all starting their kids on time.

That seems bizarre. We clearly travel in very different circles. I don't know anyone who's red-shirted a kid just because they had the extra $15K, and we certainly didn't, and don't plan to again.

Yeah, I hear that redshirting is a problem in cases in which the school has higher SES families who can afford another year of childcare expenses and lower SES families who need the financial relief of sending a kid to school, but I don't know anyone who decided based on that. And I don't know anyone who can "easily" afford $15K. "Afford it and think it's worth it," yes. Not even notice? I can't imagine that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't think FCPS allowed any "red-shirting" at all. Last I knew, parents didn't have an option because that would open a can of worms. That's why we went private for pre-school and K-6 so our August baby would get "the gift of time".

Fcps allows and in some cases I've heard, actually encouraged red-shirting, also calling it the "gift of time". I sent on time, but it would have been a simple one page form if you do not attend on time in FCPS.

Interesting. When my kids went through the system, FCPS had a hard-and-fast rule about this.

You aren't legally required to send your child to school until the September after he/she becomes six so if you decide not to send your five year old and keep them back for a year there is nothing FCPS can do.

What they can do is place him in first grade the following year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I hear that redshirting is a problem in cases in which the school has higher SES families who can afford another year of childcare expenses and lower SES families who need the financial relief of sending a kid to school, but I don't know anyone who decided based on that. And I don't know anyone who can "easily" afford $15K. "Afford it and think it's worth it," yes. Not even notice? I can't imagine that.

There is a subset of commenters whose position seems to be--if you have a late summer birthday and the money, why NOT redshirt? (Don't know if it happens in real life or if this is just what people say on the interwebs.) It's bizarre and verges on conspicuous consumption, except we're talking about kids, not things.

There is a ton of variation among kids at every age, anyhow. I found this odd in the OP's question:

Anonymous wrote:But I do know that if he would be the youngest boy in kindergarten by a margin of multiple months, I probably would hold him back just so he could have some similar-age peers.

In Arlington, many of the pre-school classes are multi-age because it's perceived as being better for kids, esp. the younger ones who can learn from the older ones. There is a three-year difference in ages in most of the Montessori classrooms and it doesn't seem like parents are concerned about their kids being in a room with much older kids or being left out because they are younger.

If a child's preschool teachers recommend holding off a year on kindergarten or first grade, by all means do it. If not, this is just parents creating a lot of drama about their kids, at considerable expense to themselves and probably no lasting benefits to their sons.

[Anonymous]

My DD is in Kindergarten in N. Arlington this year. I do not know about her grade as a whole, but in her class, all but two of the boys were red-shirted by their parents. However, only one of the girls was. With a mid-September birthday, my daughter did not turn 5 until after school started and she had kids in her class turning 7 a month after she turned 5. We've had some issues with the age gap already on a social front (different interests, etc), but academically there have been no issues.

[Anonymous]

I'm assuming you mean some kids were turning 6. Which would be on target since Oct. kids are not allowed to start early. I can't believe there are many Oct. kids held back a full year unless they have some major issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don't do it because they have $15,000 to drop, but because it's an option they can consider. For people without extra funds, there's really no option. Kids go to public school as soon as they are old enough.

Let's be honest, though--not everyone spends $15K on preschool. We spent less than $1,000 per year for three mornings a week (I work PT from home).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is in Kindergarten in N. Arlington this year. I do not know about her grade as a whole, but in her class, all but two of the boys were red-shirted by their parents. However, only one of the girls was. With a mid-September birthday, my daughter did not turn 5 until after school started and she had kids in her class turning 7 a month after she turned 5. We've had some issues with the age gap already on a social front (different interests, etc), but academically there have been no issues.

Huh? My red-shirted Sept son would have been 4, turning 5 Sept 20th.

Instead, he entered at 5 and turned 6, Sept 20th of K year.

I am in N Arlington and a 7 year old in K is VERY rare.

[Anonymous]

While you MAY have a boy turn 7 during June of K, that would be rare. I don't believe you have Sept/Oct 7 yr olds in K.

[Anonymous]

We had one boy turn 7 in April of Kindergarten. Which seemed way outside the norm. I don't know him or his family well, so I don't know if there was a story there, but that's what happened. We held our mid-September boy for a year, so he turned six the month he started school when he "should" have turned five the month he started school. But no way was he ready to participate in an academic environement at the "right" age - his teacher would've spent all her time correcting his behavior. In his class I know of two girls who turned five the first month of school, on August birthday (no idea if he turned five or six) and no redshirts other than my son and the boy who turned seven. We have a few other late fall birthdays, but they are on time, and a few "young" kids with June and July birthdays so they haven't turned six yet. We are in N. Arl.

[Anonymous]

14:39PP here - yes, we are in Arlington, in Nottingham. 12:51 - my point was that if you are considering red-shirting your late-summer kid anyway AND you have the money to keep them out of public for another year, that can be a factor. Nobody is red-shirting their kids just because they have the money to do so, but you can bet your ass some people are NOT red-shirting their kids because they don't have an extra $15K. Another PP mentioned this, that red-shirting was probably less likely in South Arlington than North, where households are generally less well-off.

[Anonymous]

We are in Fairfax, but yes, we plan to send our Sept. DS on time because we just can't afford this area very easily. We have no idea whether we'll have enough for college and retirement and don't want to come up short later on. Plus we have an old house that needs repairs. We're originally from Mass which apparently has some of the better schools and their cutoff is Dec. 31st, so Sept. 30th seems early to us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS was born in the last week of August. He is only 3 so this won't be an issue until next year, but I'm trying to get a sense of whether we should plan for an extra year of preschool. I have no idea what my DS will be like developmentally in another 16 months, but so far he seems to be on track with his peers in social/physical/verbal maturity. For many reasons, not the least being $$, I would prefer to send him to K "on time". But I do know that if he would be the youngest boy in kindergarten by a margin of multiple months, I probably would hold him back just so he could have some similar-age peers. I'm NOT looking to debate the merits of this decision as I have already read the other thread. Just trying to get a sense of whether there would be ANY other kids (especially boys) in the kindergarten class who turned 5 in August or September and start kindergarten the same year, or if virtually everyone in this position holds their kid back.

I know this will vary by region, so I'm primarily interested in North Arlington. Right now we live in the McKinley zone, but we may move to a other North Arlington neighborhood at some point.

Thanks so much!

Why would anyone redshirt? I was dying to get my kid into school. So happy to have him out of the house and learning.

[Anonymous]

In a N Arlington school. We started our late September ds in K when he was 5 turning 6. In K the year he entered there were 6 kids in his class who turned 6 in aug or sept. Most of the parents I have met hold back their child if born in aug or sept. Best decision we could have made given the sheer number of kids who also started K a year late.

On a separate note I am an educator and find that most kids do best with an extra year. You could always move them ahead but holding them back after they enter school is not a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS was born in the last week of August. He is only 3 so this won't be an issue until next year, but I'm trying to get a sense of whether we should plan for an extra year of preschool. I have no idea what my DS will be like developmentally in another 16 months, but so far he seems to be on track with his peers in social/physical/verbal maturity. For many reasons, not the least being $$, I would prefer to send him to K "on time". But I do know that if he would be the youngest boy in kindergarten by a margin of multiple months, I probably would hold him back just so he could have some similar-age peers. I'm NOT looking to debate the merits of this decision as I have already read the other thread. Just trying to get a sense of whether there would be ANY other kids (especially boys) in the kindergarten class who turned 5 in August or September and start kindergarten the same year, or if virtually everyone in this position holds their kid back.

I know this will vary by region, so I'm primarily interested in North Arlington. Right now we live in the McKinley zone, but we may move to a other North Arlington neighborhood at some point.

Thanks so much!

Why would anyone redshirt? I was dying to get my kid into school. So happy to have him out of the house and learning.

+1x a million

I'm researching how to get my Dec born DD into K the year she's *turning* 5, not the year after. Why would you want your kid in preschool for another year? 2 years of learning your colors, numbers, and alphabet isn't enough? Unless your kid has developmental delays, why wouldn't you want your kid in school? Even then, why not give K a try and then repeat it if necessary.