Anonymous wrote:A friend of mine has a K boy with an August bday and she recently told me he's having a lot of trouble and she may have to have him repeat K. He had been in highly regarded, 3-day-a-week preK program in Bethesda and knew his letters but not his letter sounds and did not know how to write more than his name.

My friend thought her son would be okay given that many people told her that it's normal for entering kindergarteners to be in this stage of pre-reading/writing. Well it apparently wasn't normal at his school and she said she got called in a few weeks into the school year by the teacher who told her her son was really far behind. The situation has been terrible for her son's self-esteem.

I'm not saying you should hold back your son, OP, but that it might be helpful to look at the demographics/abilities of the K students in your home school before making a decision. It really varies a great deal in MCPS.

This is really awful. I feel like some schools want the children in KG to already know what they are supposed to learn in KG.

A friend of mine has a K boy with an August bday and she recently told me he's having a lot of trouble and she may have to have him repeat K. He had been in highly regarded, 3-day-a-week preK program in Bethesda and knew his letters but not his letter sounds and did not know how to write more than his name.

My friend thought her son would be okay given that many people told her that it's normal for entering kindergarteners to be in this stage of pre-reading/writing. Well it apparently wasn't normal at his school and she said she got called in a few weeks into the school year by the teacher who told her her son was really far behind. The situation has been terrible for her son's self-esteem.

I'm not saying you should hold back your son, OP, but that it might be helpful to look at the demographics/abilities of the K students in your home school before making a decision. It really varies a great deal in MCPS.

It's September 1 for MCPS. Rising K students must be 5 by Sept. 1.

What is the mcps cutoff age or birthdate anyhow? I thought it was October in some places...?...

My DS has a mid-August birthday and started in MCPS just two weeks after turning five. I was worried that he wasn't ready - he's short and super active, but his PreK teacher said he was totally ready. He could read and write basic words a few months before school started.

He's been very happy in both K and 1st grade. Teachers say he does well socially and academically, and he's in the top quadrant of readers. That said, both years there have been kids in his class that are a FULL YEAR older than him. Parents have redshirted their kids for various reasons, which only exacerbates the age differences in the classroom. I don't wish I'd held him back, but do feel odd how much older some of the kids are...

I'm the K teacher who posted earlier, and OP, based on the details you have provided, I see absolutely no reason for you to hold him back. I taught in MCPS for 10 years before deciding last year to take time off and stay home with twins, so I'm not too far removed from MCPS K scene. He is your baby, and it's hard to envision him as a grown-up kindergartner, but in September, he will be. Trust me, they are ALL babies when the school year starts! Are you looking at current kindergartners as a judge of his readiness? Current K kids are halfway to first grade--you should be measuring him against his current peers, if anyone. If he is fitting in well with them now, he will continue to do so in K. His teacher will know that he's on the younger side, and if he needs a little more TLC, he'll get what he needs. All the kids are going to be active, and that is built into the school day.

As you've said maturity is not an issue, if you wait and send him next year, he will be far more mature than his classmates, and that's not a good situation for him either. In fact, if he has been in a daycare/preschool program since 15 months, he will likely be ahead of some of his classmates. Some kids come in with no school experience at all. Academically, the students will be all over the place. His readiness or interest in learning should not be a factor in this decision. If you had said he was immature when compared to his peers, I would probably say a junior K or half-day private K would be an option worth considering. But with what you've said, I say have faith in him and let him go. Otherwise, you will literally be "holding him back."

And to the PP who said others will hold back, in 10 years of teaching I have had ONE student who was red-shirted, and that was a kid who had a developmental delay. I think it's a topic that is talked about frequently on DCUM, but in reality rarely done. Every year, I always have some kids who just turned five and some who are about to turn six. It all evens out, and it's never obvious who is who.

They have recess in K right after lunch, and they have PE once a week. They rotate through different activities throughout the day. FWIW, I have four boys, including one who turned five in late July and started K on time. My son is doing extremely well in K (and he wasn't reading or anything before starting K, ie: he wasn't advanced or gifted).

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I meant to say he is NOT showing any interest in reading and writing for now

It's just fine that he's not showing interest in reading or writing. That's what kindergarten is for, and he will be fine. If you are concerned about him needing so much more physical activity, maybe you can walk him to school. I found that the once daily recess plus walking to and from school was just fine. They're not strapped to desks all day in K either -- they spend a lot of time moving around the room to different stations, just like preschool. It's 6 hours, of which 1 hour is lunch and recess, and 1 hour is a special (art, music, PE, or media center), and some of the remaining time is "choice centers" where they get to mill about the room and do the activity of their choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the responses. My son has been in a daycare/pre-school since he was 15 months old. He does not have maturity problems. Since we went through a couple of private school applications, we had to get him “tested.” His test scores are solid (not a genius; no developmental delay). I may be emotional, but I look at him and I feel like he is not ready to be in a classroom from 9 am to 3 pm without any recess or PE. He is a very active boy. Also, academically, he knows his letters and numbers, but he cannot read or write at this point, or he is showing any interest in reading and writing for now.

Based on this, you would be doing him a disservice by holding him back. He is active? Yes, he is a four-year-old child. He will still be active when he is five, as will be most of the other children in the class. Why are you trying to restrict him when he sounds completely on par with his peers?

Also, he will have recess (and lunch, and a special probably) every day.

Agree with this poster. When I was worried about my young DS starting K, because all the other kids who were already 5 seemed so much more mature, his preschool teacher commented that right after kids turn 5, they just seem to come into themselves a bit more - become more mature verbally, emotionally, etc. And it turned out to be true.

FWIW, kids do not have to know how to write letters or read in MCPS kindergarten. And you still have 6 months to go. Your son might seem not ready now, but from what you describe, he sounds fine. And, at this age, 6 months can make a big difference in his maturity level!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One reason to hold him back is because others will have held theirs back. This will mean that your son will be going to school with kids a full year older than him if you don't hold him back. Something to think about.

Based on the responses this thread has gotten so far, it seems the trend is NOT to hold back. If OP waits, then her son will be going to school with kids a full year younger than he is. It goes both ways.

I wouldn't consider the responses on DCUM representative of the general population.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the responses. My son has been in a daycare/pre-school since he was 15 months old. He does not have maturity problems. Since we went through a couple of private school applications, we had to get him “tested.” His test scores are solid (not a genius; no developmental delay). I may be emotional, but I look at him and I feel like he is not ready to be in a classroom from 9 am to 3 pm without any recess or PE. He is a very active boy. Also, academically, he knows his letters and numbers, but he cannot read or write at this point, or he is showing any interest in reading and writing for now.

Based on this, you would be doing him a disservice by holding him back. He is active? Yes, he is a four-year-old child. He will still be active when he is five, as will be most of the other children in the class. Why are you trying to restrict him when he sounds completely on par with his peers?

Also, he will have recess (and lunch, and a special probably) every day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son will turn 5 in August and we are trying to decide whether to hold him back for a year or send him to K at our neighborhood MCPS. We are currently thinking that he is too young for K. We have applied to a couple of private schools in the area. I understand that private K is less rigorous than public K. One option we have is to send him to private K for a year and have him repeat K at MCPS when he turns 6. Any thoughts?

Did you send your young 5 year old boy to K at MCPS? If yes, how was your experience? Any regrets? If no, what did you do if you were planning to switch him to public at some point? We cannot afford private all the way, so we need to switch him to public in a few years even if he starts at private K.

Thanks!

Why would you hold him back? If he started kindergarten at six he would be nearly seven when he "graduated". Six years and 10 months is too old for kindergarten.

this is kind of silly. kids born in september start school and immediately turn 6. so they will be six and 9 months at "graduation".

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the responses. My son has been in a daycare/pre-school since he was 15 months old. He does not have maturity problems. Since we went through a couple of private school applications, we had to get him “tested.” His test scores are solid (not a genius; no developmental delay). I may be emotional, but I look at him and I feel like he is not ready to be in a classroom from 9 am to 3 pm without any recess or PE. He is a very active boy. Also, academically, he knows his letters and numbers, but he cannot read or write at this point, or he is showing any interest in reading and writing for now.

OP, you're his mom. I think we're kind of designed to think our babies are "too little for that." But that doesn't mean they actually are.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the responses. My son has been in a daycare/pre-school since he was 15 months old. He does not have maturity problems. Since we went through a couple of private school applications, we had to get him “tested.” His test scores are solid (not a genius; no developmental delay). I may be emotional, but I look at him and I feel like he is not ready to be in a classroom from 9 am to 3 pm without any recess or PE. He is a very active boy. Also, academically, he knows his letters and numbers, but he cannot read or write at this point, or he is showing any interest in reading and writing for now.

MCPS offers daily recess.

OP here again. I meant to say he is NOT showing any interest in reading and writing for now