Reply to Application and testing process for early Kindergarten entrance

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My twins (b/g) have early October bdays.  They looked ready for kindergarten all during their prior preschool year.  I had them both tested by MCPS, and both were offered early admission to K.  The principal then asked me to come to a meeting where she and the K "team leader" tried to convince me to keep them home another year and "let them play."
After leaving that meeting in tears, I enrolled them in K.  They are now completing 3rd grade at mcps, and have been top of their class for 4 years.  It was one of the best decisions I ever made.
You have to know your own kid.  Yes, I am still concerned about [b]differing levels of "maturity"  when they get to middle school and high school. [/b] But I couldn't hold back kids who were obviously ready for kindergarten.  Principals often have another agenda, one that leads them to prefer older students.[/quote]

My son was a year ahead because we were overseas when he started school.  When we moved back here, I was torn about whether to keep him ahead or have him repeat 1st grade to be with kids his age.  His teachers had all insisted he should go to second grade because he was so smart and such a leader.  My mom, a teacher, who had skipped a grade when she was younger, encouraged me to hold him back.   In the end, he came here and redid 1st grade, which cost him nothing academically as far as I can tell.  But the [b]real benefits came when kids started growing in 6th grade and he turned out to be one of the late bloomers.  It was a brutal couple of years, now past, but I can only imagine how bad it could have been if he would have gone through middle school with kids a year or more older than he was. [/b]

I learned you sometimes can't know what's ahead and there's more to school than academics.  In fact, being a little advanced early on academically, is an advantage that goes away quickly as others catch up. No one was more surprised than I was to see my smart, popular child's grades dip because of social issues/difficulties at school at 12 and 13, but it happened.

Just something to keep in mind...   [/quote]

It's not all about academics.  It's also about developmental progress and social-emotional maturity - not only in K, but for the following 12 years.
[/quote]

Holding a child back with a younger peer group is not always best.  They cannot develop and progress if everyone is a year younger and those are the models they have for them. Some kids do but many kids will rise to the occasion and do just fine. We hold back and it was a huge mistake and had to skip a grade.[/quote]

The late bloomer might also be an "early bloomer" and have similar social issues.  It can be as hard for some kids to be the first to develop.  DD has an August bday and we sent her "on time" to K, even though some suggested giving her the "gift of time".  Even as one of the youngest in the class, she was one of the first to develop breasts and get her period.  So thankful we didn't hold her back and have her deal with this as a 4th grader.

My point isn't to sway anyone in one direction or another, it's just to say you can't predict the future.  You need to make the best decision you can for YOUR kid in YOUR situation with the information you have [b]at the time[/b].  Sometimes issues are just part of a child's personality and extra time won't change a thing, some kids bloom early, some kids bloom late, some kids will rise to a challenge, some kids will shut down if bored when younger.... there is no one right or wrong answer.

(And we never have the benefit of seeing what "would have happened" if you made the opposite choice.  You can guess, but you won't know.  Maybe my early developing DD would have been more confident being one of the oldest kids in the class and it would have been a non-issue.  Maybe PPs late bloomer would have developed other gifts... )

[/quote]

Same here my August boy would have been 6 ft tall and shaving in 7th grade![/quote]

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