Are people going to be more likely to redshirt because of COVID?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm pretty shocked that pre-K kids are reading?! Is that a thing? We're moving into the area from Germany where kids dont even get exposed to ANY academics (writing, reading, phonics) until the August AFTER their 6th birthday. The expectation in DC is that your 4 year old is a fully competent reader?!

Montessori can be like that but you won’t find many takers here who think it’s for special needs kids.

[Anonymous]

No, I would not redshirt a May birthday. Not even close to the September 30 cut off.

All kids will be less prepared. Most kids can’t read when they start kindergarten. They sort buttons, learn about ants I think and still get read preschool books. Your kid will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Pp again. My kid finished his preschool studies. He was late in everything he did - walking, talking, reading. He didn’t read until he was 7. He is now thriving in AAP. He is still quiet and not that social. It never occurred to me to hold him back as he was also a spring birthday. I did worry about him. I think all of us do.

He is now 11 and I still worry about how he does socially. He seems immature compared to his classmates. Now it is maybe more naive and innocent. I don’t mind. He is a great kid. My kid was ok and so will yours.

[Anonymous]

My DD is an early September birthday. She could have stated K this year and I kept her back. She’s kind of a spaz and I didn’t see any rush to get her out of the house. I AM SO HAPPY this isn’t her kindergarten year. I realize next fall may be screwed but nothing I can do. I would red shirt if my kid was going into K and it was going to be “online” kindergarten. Keep them back and test into first grade if it turns out your kid is some savant.

[Anonymous]

Defintely redshirt. Why send a child to kindergarten next year if you don't have to? We are still going to be dealing with this pandemic for the next year. I cannot imagine what it will be like with Kindergarten being online. Just do some prep at home and then send him the following fall.

[Anonymous]

Opposite at DD’s school, which is a preschool-8th grade private. We have a 4s preschool class that usually splits between a 5s class and kindergarten, depending on birthdates, academic and behavioral readiness. Some parents of kids who would technically have been considered “redshirted” are lobbying to send them to Kindergarten instead. Our school has been virtual since early March and one of their moms said that if everyone else is 3 months “behind” an extra year doesn’t matter and that they may as well save a year of private school tuition. These are kids who would have really benefited from redshirting and I would only confess here that I hope DD does not end up in their class.

[Anonymous]

I don't think pre-school prep really makes a difference. The big focus in K seems to be reading, so just read a lot to your kid.

I sent my early August DD to K on time this year. She's the 2nd smallest kid in the building, and has grown/learned a lot since school started. It's more likely due to the fact that she had been going to school with older groups of kids vs. babies and toddlers. Your late May kid will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Opposite at DD’s school, which is a preschool-8th grade private. We have a 4s preschool class that usually splits between a 5s class and kindergarten, depending on birthdates, academic and behavioral readiness. Some parents of kids who would technically have been considered “redshirted” are lobbying to send them to Kindergarten instead. Our school has been virtual since early March and one of their moms said that if everyone else is 3 months “behind” an extra year doesn’t matter and that they may as well save a year of private school tuition. These are kids who would have really benefited from redshirting and I would only confess here that I hope DD does not end up in their class.

Kids don’t need to be held back. The school did not do a good job of preparing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm pretty shocked that pre-K kids are reading?! Is that a thing? We're moving into the area from Germany where kids dont even get exposed to ANY academics (writing, reading, phonics) until the August AFTER their 6th birthday. The expectation in DC is that your 4 year old is a fully competent reader?!

Welcome to the DC area. While it is not an expectation for kindergarten, most children from middle-upper class families around here are pushed to read before kindergarten to “keep up with the Jones’” and say their kid is advanced. So you have kindergarten with some kids that don’t even know English and some kids already reading chapter books.

[Anonymous]

Almost all the kids during this COVID situation will be behind what would be typical for their age and grade. I would certainly not want my kid to be even further behind by redshirting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think pre-school prep really makes a difference. The big focus in K seems to be reading, so just read a lot to your kid.

I sent my early August DD to K on time this year. She's the 2nd smallest kid in the building, and has grown/learned a lot since school started. It's more likely due to the fact that she had been going to school with older groups of kids vs. babies and toddlers. Your late May kid will be fine.

Right, your kid benefited from being in the building and benefitting from interactions with older kids. But if we are online for a big chunk of the year, you lose those benefits. That seems to weigh in favor of waiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm pretty shocked that pre-K kids are reading?! Is that a thing? We're moving into the area from Germany where kids dont even get exposed to ANY academics (writing, reading, phonics) until the August AFTER their 6th birthday. The expectation in DC is that your 4 year old is a fully competent reader?!

Welcome to the DC area. While it is not an expectation for kindergarten, most children from middle-upper class families around here are pushed to read before kindergarten to “keep up with the Jones’” and say their kid is advanced. So you have kindergarten with some kids that don’t even know English and some kids already reading chapter books.

Knowing English has nothing to do with it. Kids can immigrate without knowing any English in 2nd, 5th, 9th, etc.

But, yes you have a range from not knowing your letters to reading decently, but even in wealthy schools most kids aren’t reading beyond some very basic site words.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely redshirt in your situation OP. I have a child who will start kindergarten in the fall and I would love to redshirt her, but she would be too old. I’m not worried about the missed months of preschool, I just know that this thing is far from over. While the kids may go back to school on time, it will be a very disruptive year. I imagine they will have to go back and forth from in school teaching and online learning. A May born, small boy, I would definitely wait given what the fall will look like.

I agree. The loss of preschool is no big deal, but the potential cluster F of what school will look like next year is a bigger deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely redshirt in your situation OP. I have a child who will start kindergarten in the fall and I would love to redshirt her, but she would be too old. I’m not worried about the missed months of preschool, I just know that this thing is far from over. While the kids may go back to school on time, it will be a very disruptive year. I imagine they will have to go back and forth from in school teaching and online learning. A May born, small boy, I would definitely wait given what the fall will look like.

I agree. The loss of preschool is no big deal, but the potential cluster F of what school will look like next year is a bigger deal.

Another possibility nobody wants to think about is that online learning might happen for more than one year. All the kids are going to be behind what they would normally be working on for their age because of the difficulties of online instruction. This is going to be even worse for the redshirted kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely redshirt in your situation OP. I have a child who will start kindergarten in the fall and I would love to redshirt her, but she would be too old. I’m not worried about the missed months of preschool, I just know that this thing is far from over. While the kids may go back to school on time, it will be a very disruptive year. I imagine they will have to go back and forth from in school teaching and online learning. A May born, small boy, I would definitely wait given what the fall will look like.

I agree. The loss of preschool is no big deal, but the potential cluster F of what school will look like next year is a bigger deal.

Another possibility nobody wants to think about is that online learning might happen for more than one year. All the kids are going to be behind what they would normally be working on for their age because of the difficulties of online instruction. This is going to be even worse for the redshirted kids.

I don’t think redshirted kids will be further behind. They might by age, but grade is far more relevant. By that metric, they wouldn’t be at a relative disadvantage and may be a little better off because you can get more out of distance learning as you get old and have a better attention span.