Just have your child do 6-8th at a Catholic or Christian k-8 school then you can put them back into public. There were a couple of kids who did this each year when my kids were at the K-8 school.

I spoke to one parent and she just explained to her child that the private school has an earlier cut off so he needed to be in the right grade for his age.

She decided to "reclass" her son and he son was in agreement because he was tired of being the youngest. They thought about it and didn't want him to go through with all the public school graduation stuff and getting excited about going to junior high in the fall. So after winter break she spoke to K-8 school and they had room that year. So she pulled her kid from public school and put him in 5th grade at the private school. So there was no record of him graduating from 6th grade at public. He spent half of fifth, sixth grade, and 7th grade at Catholic K-8 then went back to public for 8th. There was a reason they wanted to go back for 8th but I don't recall why now.

Anonymous wrote:Can you reclass once already in high school - for example, pull out to repeat 9th grade virtually or private school (and play sport) and then put them back in the public school system for 10th grade? To help being able to play their sport in college (and at a better college) and give time to mature...

You can do anything you want but it makes no sense. Academics should come before sports.

Can you reclass once already in high school - for example, pull out to repeat 9th grade virtually or private school (and play sport) and then put them back in the public school system for 10th grade? To help being able to play their sport in college (and at a better college) and give time to mature...

Anonymous wrote:Holding back will not help. Working with them or getting a tutor will.

Holding does help. Specially boys who mature much later than girls. I have two older teen boys.

I held up my oldest, late Summer birthday, he exceeded academically and in sports as well due to being one of the oldest and not the youngest in his class/team. He's in College now.

I sometimes wish I had held up my youngest, June birthday, we've had to work with him a lot more and use tutors to help him through school. As for sports in high school, he feels EVERYONE is older, bigger, stronger, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you out your kid in a year early? So everyone else is 5 and yours is 4?

Yeah this is unfortunately how FCPS works— August and September birthdays start kindergarten at 4.

I believe Sept 30 is the cutoff so a kid could be 4 until then.

Anonymous wrote:So you out your kid in a year early? So everyone else is 5 and yours is 4?

Yeah this is unfortunately how FCPS works— August and September birthdays start kindergarten at 4.

So you out your kid in a year early? So everyone else is 5 and yours is 4?

We actually met with an Ed consultant to explore this idea for our son. We thought an extra year of maturing would help the academic side go more smoothly in high school. Her take was that it is completely do-able- but warned if the kid isn’t 100% on board it would backfire.

So- I think it is all about knowing your kid and exploring the options with them. Once they are in middle school and happy with pals- it may prove hard to get them on board for this. So start the convo and possible moves / repeat year in earlier grades before they are more likely to object.

Anonymous wrote:Its common with basketball.

very common in basketball and even more so with lacrosse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school is not going to magically transform your child into a good student. You would do better for your child academically and save him the embarrassment of being held back a year (because his peers WILL notice and WILL give him a hard time) by spending the money on an executive function coach and tutors to get him up to speed.

Private school will not magically do anything for anyone. But a year of maturity is somewhat magical. Especially a September birthday kid you don’t want to send off to college while still 17.

There are enough kids who do this that it is not as embarrassing as it used to be. Plus when kids get to high school, they don’t really notice who is in their grade anymore. A lot wouldn’t even notice.

Why? It's just a number. There are plenty of 17 year 11 month kids who are more mature than their 18 year 1-3 month counterparts. It's far more about the individual than magically being "ready for college" when you go from late 17 year old to early 18 year old.

Anyway, IMO OP if you know for sure you want to do the grade switch the sooner the better. I don't think the school system is going to try and force your child to 8th when you return if they only got exposure to 6th grade material the year prior. I'd also be very transparent with the private school about what you objectives are for that year (building executive function) so that they can try and emphasize projects and assignments that support that goal.

School is an incredible gift, and throwing a year of it away is shortsighted in most cases.

Just curious why you would not just switch to private and stick with private with the graduation year your child already is? I see a lot of people on here who only have kids in public and really don’t get the differences between public and private. I have kids in both, and the private is a world apart in how it teaches them executive functioning and works with them. They start early but really ramp it up in 6th-8th. If you can do private, just switch and run with it

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school is not going to magically transform your child into a good student. You would do better for your child academically and save him the embarrassment of being held back a year (because his peers WILL notice and WILL give him a hard time) by spending the money on an executive function coach and tutors to get him up to speed.

Private school will not magically do anything for anyone. But a year of maturity is somewhat magical. Especially a September birthday kid you don’t want to send off to college while still 17.

There are enough kids who do this that it is not as embarrassing as it used to be. Plus when kids get to high school, they don’t really notice who is in their grade anymore. A lot wouldn’t even notice.

Why? It's just a number. There are plenty of 17 year 11 month kids who are more mature than their 18 year 1-3 month counterparts. It's far more about the individual than magically being "ready for college" when you go from late 17 year old to early 18 year old.

Anyway, IMO OP if you know for sure you want to do the grade switch the sooner the better. I don't think the school system is going to try and force your child to 8th when you return if they only got exposure to 6th grade material the year prior. I'd also be very transparent with the private school about what you objectives are for that year (building executive function) so that they can try and emphasize projects and assignments that support that goal.

That would be horrible to hold them back a year and send them to the same public as the kids who moved ahead.

If your child will go along with it- go for it. Repeat 8th grade at a private or a homeschool year. Then start 9th a year later either public or private. The maturity alone will set him up for success. Wish my son would have been open to this path. He was not so we are forging ahead. If you are interested in this option - lay the ground work early so the idea is not a surprise.

Alternatively, transfer him to a private for middle school where you repeat the grade at that time. Then back to public for high school where you would normally go. May be a softer social transition? Do what will make life happiest for you family. Angst and constant struggle don’t make for happy family life.

Holding back will not help. Working with them or getting a tutor will.