Girl with August Birthday - when to start school

[Anonymous]

MCPS can't please everyone. For those that think that "formal" education should wait until 7 (as in Finland), K and 1st in MCPS are way too structured, not enough fun, etc. Others believe a strict academic environment is appropriate from a young age. For them MCPS is not teaching enough content.

[Anonymous]

MCPS pleases no one other than themselves.

[Anonymous]

Actually I'm pretty happy with MCPS, all things considered. It's not perfect, but then what is?

And, really, the PP is correct. Any decision MCPS makes, somebody is going to hate it and complain.

[Anonymous]

MCPS can't please everyone. For those that think that "formal" education should wait until 7 (as in Finland), K and 1st in MCPS are way too structured, not enough fun, etc. Others believe a strict academic environment is appropriate from a young age. For them MCPS is not teaching enough content.

Oddly, MCPS is highly structured yet covers very little content. There isn;t much fun in K and 1st grade but there also isn't any academic learning going on unless your child never went to preschool, doesn't know her letters, can't count, and is just learning shapes.

There is no reason whatsoever to red shirt for academic reasons. There are reasons to red shirt because the day is so structured and the kids are expected to sit still. MCPS teachers want you to red shirt so your kid behaves while she is bored. The class sizes are large and recess is a bit of a zoo.

The social reasons for red shirting are legitimate. MCPS does very little to help kids navigate social situations and girl bullying is common. Its harder on younger girls who are less socially mature. The flip side is that sometimes the red shirted girls end up being the bossy, bully in the group and have their own issues because they are so much older.

For boys, its more of an athletic issue. After school sports are a big part of the social life for many kids. The younger boys can have a harder time doing well on the team.

[Anonymous]

"Recess is a bit of a zoo" is an understatement. I asked my K child what she did at recess. Answer: ran around and played by myself. Q: Why? A: I couldn't find any of my friends on the playground. Fair enough - there are about 140 kids on the playground for the 30 minute recess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oddly, MCPS is highly structured yet covers very little content. There isn;t much fun in K and 1st grade but there also isn't any academic learning going on unless your child never went to preschool, doesn't know her letters, can't count, and is just learning shapes.

The only things children learn in K-1 in MCPS is their letters, their shapes, and how to count? How about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a little arbitrary with kids on the cusp with August birthdays. If they were born Sept. 2, there would be no issue that they wait an extra year. Go with your instinct. Kindergarten is a full year. She shouldn't be bored. Our end of Oct. birthday child was too young to test for early entrance and we were happy not to have a choice to make. She'll be fine if you hold her back a year. She won't be the oldest at least in Bethesda/Chevy Chase and she'll do fine. Not sure what it's like in less affluent areas.

My daughter was Sept 25th and we sent her early. Best decision we ever met. K is very very basic, especially if you live in an area with high ESL. There was not much she learned that she didn't already know. She did more writing but math was basic so she was bumped to 2nd grade math in 1st. Her reading group was a higher level one so they only met every 2 weeks. We supplemented at home before and after K so that probably made a difference. I was amazed that they started with letters in K. Kids learn those in preschool at 3yrs old. Again, very basic. Unless there is a developmental issue, holding back an Aug birthday is wrong. It is much easier to repeat a grade then ask to skip a grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a girl with a late August birthday. It never occurred to us to hold her back. She is doing great.

Ditto. I can't imagine if she were a grade behind where she is now.

[Anonymous]

ESs must be very different. While I agree that there was essentially no math instruction in my DD's MontCo K, my child was not sitting around learning the alphabet and her shapes, which she did know by 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ESs must be very different. While I agree that there was essentially no math instruction in my DD's MontCo K, my child was not sitting around learning the alphabet and her shapes, which she did know by 3.

What did they start off with then? Ours was definitely letter recognition, them phonetics, then word forming. This even though 1/3 of the class was already reading and 1/3 of the class didn't know letters. The levels were all over.

[Anonymous]

They may have started there, while conducting the month of individual assessments, but the description of letters, shapes and counting to 100 is an unfair characterization of the year of K curriculum, for any level actually, but especially for those who came in already reading.

[Anonymous]

Send her in September when she's 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They may have started there, while conducting the month of individual assessments, but the description of letters, shapes and counting to 100 is an unfair characterization of the year of K curriculum, for any level actually, but especially for those who came in already reading.

My daughter's reading level did not change in my opinion. It was lowered in the beginning of the year and gradually increased to what she really was at the beginning of the year. She was reading Nate the Great books in K and they dumbed her down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They may have started there, while conducting the month of individual assessments, but the description of letters, shapes and counting to 100 is an unfair characterization of the year of K curriculum, for any level actually, but especially for those who came in already reading.

My daughter's reading level did not change in my opinion. It was lowered in the beginning of the year and gradually increased to what she really was at the beginning of the year. She was reading Nate the Great books in K and they dumbed her down.

Your daughter's reading got worse in kindergarten?

[Anonymous]

It's a very different sort of reading in school. They're assessing for comprehension of details. Your child may well come into K reading Nate the Great and totally enjoy it and get the story arc, but not be able to answer the teacher's comprehension questions. Especially when the reading material is NOT interesting, which from what I can tell is usually the case.