Redshirting and MCPS

[Anonymous]

I'm considering giving my child an extra year of preschool because her birthday is 4 days before the school cutoff and she's on the shy side (and super small). I'm sure she'd do fine academically; I'm more concerned about how she'll do socially, especially down the line. We haven't decided yet, but are strongly leaning in that direction.

From everything I'm reading on DCUM, though, elementary school in MCPS is unchallenging. I don't want to make her bored out of her mind. She's either going to be the absolute youngest or among the oldest. What would you do?? We're not dying to pay for an extra year of preschool, but want to make the best long term decision.

[Anonymous]

She won’t be the absolute oldest in most MCPS, because summer birthdays often redshirt. In our class oldest has May birthday.

I find the K curriculum to be very academic and particularly focused on social-emotional development. My kid is toward the older end with an early Septmber birthday just after the cutoff, and I’m glad we didn’t pursue EEK so she had the extra year of PK to work on social-emotional development.

[Anonymous]

My child has the same birthday as yours! and was also small and painfully shy in preschool. We went back and forth about what to do about kindergarten. Her preschool teacher encouraged us to send her on time, for two reasons. 1) She'd be terribly bored doing another year of pre-K when she was on the verge of reading and SO ready for more learning than the preschool could offer, and 2) She was likely always going to be small, so holding her back a year wouldn't mean she'd suddenly be the biggest in her class, and she'd probably always be shy, so another year of preschool wouldn't necessarily manifest in a whole new personality 12 months later.

We sent her on time to kindergarten. The first few months were a little rough, but they are for every new kindergartener. (This child is my middle of three, so we've BTDT many times now.) Now she's in 6th grade. Yes, she's still small (though not always the smallest in her class!). Yes, she's very young (always the youngest in her class). But she's also at the top of her class academically, has blossomed socially, is a star on a sports team filled with girls who are older and taller, and has had friends from preschool in her class most years at school (which wouldn't have happened if we'd held her back).

We have no regrets about sending her on time.

[Anonymous]

You know your kid best. Go with your gut.

[Anonymous]

DD’s bday is about 2 weeks before your daughter’s. We never considered holding her back. Academically, she was ready. She, too is very petite, and while not an extreme extrovert, got along well with most and is inclusive and open with classmates. Like the pp’s daughter, her age and size has not held her back academically, with sports or socially. She has gone through hgc, magnet middle and will start magnet high school in the fall. She keeps up with bigger girls in her sport and has been able to find good, supportive friends along the way.

You know your child best, but don’t assume that a small, shy child will not blossom without an extra year of pre-k.

[Anonymous]

I am choosing not to redshirt my August boy

[Anonymous]

Would not redshirt for MCPS. We did not for any of our three kids with summer bdays. They’ve done very well socially, academically and athletically. The shortest of then got recruited to boarding school for his sport after 9th grade, we did it.

[Anonymous]

We have a one-week before the cut-off DD, who we did not enroll to start as a just-turned-5 year old. She was, and is, very academically advanced, but at age just 5 still had a lot of separation anxiety and clicked with very few kids. (Tolerated kids well generally, but friends needed to be actual friends from a younger age). We made the right choice for her. She really started to blossom in 2nd grade. Yes, she was very bored at times, but now she has been identified as GT and is with her people. Turns out the preschool friends were GT, too. She has always been gravitating to the same type.

We did a transitional K program at a different school when some of her older preschool friends went off to K. That worked out to be a terrific year.

[Anonymous]

My child is the absolute youngest with a September birthday and its fine. Curriculum is very slow. I'd send them. They may always be small and that is not a reason to hold back. My child is short. Bad genetics are my guess and they will always be short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a one-week before the cut-off DD, who we did not enroll to start as a just-turned-5 year old. She was, and is, very academically advanced, but at age just 5 still had a lot of separation anxiety and clicked with very few kids. (Tolerated kids well generally, but friends needed to be actual friends from a younger age). We made the right choice for her. She really started to blossom in 2nd grade. Yes, she was very bored at times, but now she has been identified as GT and is with her people. Turns out the preschool friends were GT, too. She has always been gravitating to the same type.

We did a transitional K program at a different school when some of her older preschool friends went off to K. That worked out to be a terrific year.

If you are a year older than other kids, its very easy to be identified as gifted. About 40% of the kids at MCPS are identified in 3rd for gifted and test but there are very few slots so an easy way to get into the gifted program is to hold back a year, but why not send on time and then they will be challenged better being a year ahead. My kid who we sent early was identified as gifted. The gifted school was too far away so we had to turn it down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a one-week before the cut-off DD, who we did not enroll to start as a just-turned-5 year old. She was, and is, very academically advanced, but at age just 5 still had a lot of separation anxiety and clicked with very few kids. (Tolerated kids well generally, but friends needed to be actual friends from a younger age). We made the right choice for her. She really started to blossom in 2nd grade. Yes, she was very bored at times, but now she has been identified as GT and is with her people. Turns out the preschool friends were GT, too. She has always been gravitating to the same type.

We did a transitional K program at a different school when some of her older preschool friends went off to K. That worked out to be a terrific year.

If you are a year older than other kids, its very easy to be identified as gifted. About 40% of the kids at MCPS are identified in 3rd for gifted and test but there are very few slots so an easy way to get into the gifted program is to hold back a year, but why not send on time and then they will be challenged better being a year ahead. My kid who we sent early was identified as gifted. The gifted school was too far away so we had to turn it down.

No, the screening tests are age adjusted to the month. So an older child needs a higher score. My August birthday DC was selected for an HGC and it was the first time she was not the youngest in her class with since there were several summer birthdays and someone who'd skipped a grade. Anyway, I don't think birthday games the system and you should always plan for how the regular program will serve them. My Nov birthday DC was not in a magnets, always one of the older kids in class, and is more jaded about being unchallenged at school.

I'll plus one the not holding back for being small. Growing up I was always the smallest (but middle of the pack age wise). It was a relief when I would switch from oldest grade of one school to the youngest grade of the next one. I'd still get grief for being small, but it was nice to go from no way you're in 5th grade to6th graders are small this year. These are petty things that can't really be re-engineered, but we all remember them. My niece (not MCPS) was held back was held back for coordination issues and she's not small. Being noticeably bigger and more mature puts a target on her back and the queen bees have her marked as a big dummy (cruel, but thinking back I remember that was my method of dealing with bigger kids, too). When it comes to playground wars, parents can never know if they've fixed the odds.

[Anonymous]

My DD was 5 in June and is the 2nd youngest in her class. ( there is one Aug kid and no July kids).
She got all P's on her report card and is reading a year ahead of target for K. She loves her teacher and loves school. We are at a focus school too but I have been really happy so far. She hasnt made many close friends which I am surprised about but seems to get on well with all her classmates. She does have friends thru my Moms group and she joined an after school group and has made friends through doing that.
I would send your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm considering giving my child an extra year of preschool because her birthday is 4 days before the school cutoff and she's on the shy side (and super small). I'm sure she'd do fine academically; I'm more concerned about how she'll do socially, especially down the line. We haven't decided yet, but are strongly leaning in that direction.

From everything I'm reading on DCUM, though, elementary school in MCPS is unchallenging. I don't want to make her bored out of her mind. She's either going to be the absolute youngest or among the oldest. What would you do?? We're not dying to pay for an extra year of preschool, but want to make the best long term decision.

You shouldn't go by what you read on DCUM.

However, if you are concerned about her being challenged, then you should send her now, not delay a year. If you do delay a year, I hope that you will not complain next year that she's bored because the curriculum is unchallenging...

She won't necessarily be the youngest if you send her now, because there are kids who do early entry to kindergarten who will be younger.

If she's super small now, she'll almost certainly still be small next year.

Something to keep in mind, for your long-term decision, is that if you send her now, she will graduate from high school when she is 17 and turn 18 right at the beginning of college (if she goes to college right after high school); if you delay a year, she will turn 18 right at the beginning of her senior year of high school.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the feedback. To clarify, I would never delay solely because she's small. We're considering it because she's slow to warm and still mostly parallel playing at age 3.5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the feedback. To clarify, I would never delay solely because she's small. We're considering it because she's slow to warm and still mostly parallel playing at age 3.5.

So you're not talking about the 2018-2019 school year, but the 2019-2020 school year? OP, this is not a decision you should make now. Wait until next spring.