Reply to How did you know you had to hold back your pre-k child one more year??

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[quote=Anonymous]I sent my DS with late August birthday to K on time.  He is very small &lt;5% on growth chart, but there are 2 other boys in his class the same height.  It would be a stretch to call him socially mature, but he can concentrate enough to get through a worksheet or an art project.
I find that K is not a lot different than the preschools, what with the preschools trying to be so academic these days.  The big learning requirement, due to DRA testing, is to learn to read 60 sight words and know the numbers 1-31 by the end of the school year.  The room set up is similar to preschool with three
big tables and centers around the edges of the room, like a book area, a listening to music area, a play kitchen, etc.  When the kids are working on something at
their table, they are allowed to talk and stand, and have plenty of time to complete their work.  The big difference is the big class size, my Ds's has 24 kids.  When they all sit on the floor in front of the smart board, the teachers definitely have to remind kids to pay attention, not bother their friends, raise their hands before talking... they are  pretty fidgety. If you are struggling to decide whether to hold your child back, I think you should call your school and request to observe the current K class, because I'm sure K classes in different schools vary. You can also call the school and ask to talk to a K teacher- I did this, and they seemed very understanding with the struggle to redshirt or not.
One negative I find to putting a late summer birthday to school on time is that there are kids who are a full year older, if not more. If you redshirt your child, s/he will be at school with kids a full year younger, and they may be friends, and you need to be comfortable with that.  My son is best friends with a boy over a year older, and about 8 inches taller than him, and I'm not sure how the other kid's mom feels about this.  
I think there is value in being younger, in having to struggle a tiny bit to keep up.  It's better than having everything coming super easy to you, and never being challenged.  But, if your child is so behind his peers that he will not be able to keep up socially and academically, it's probably a good idea to redshirt.  I think it most cases it doesn't matter whichever way you choose.[/quote]

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