Anonymous wrote:

The kindergarten environment they entered no longer exists. K is now a very structured learning process.

yes! I want my kids to play at their 1/2 day preschool until the bitter end I am planning on volunteering for reading groups at our K. I'm sure it will be an eye-opener!

It is very, VERY rare for a K student to be turning 7. Even the red shirted kids who ones who missed the cutoff by a couple days (OCT 3 birthday, for example) will be 6, 6.5 at most usually during the school year.

My DD turned 5 mid sept and we sent her to K. She is the youngest in her class. She is young, but someone has to be the youngest. I could not see her developing much unless I sent her to a new preschool. She is learning and having a ball.

This is the first I've ever heard of redshirting, though I admittedly don't read the school forums as much. I have a daughter starting Kindergarten this fall who will be five years, four months old. I didn't imagine she might be in class with seven year olds. I guess the redshirted kids will be super cool in 8th grade when they can drive to school

Don't believe everything you read on DCUM. The likelihood of a girl turning 7 during K is remote. And, if one does, I'd bet she would be the only one. The people who redshirt are mostly late birthday boys. It is also unlikely that any boys will turn 7 during K.

We started normally and then skipped the grade in ES. No problem. She is in 9th grade now, just turned 14. So she started high school T 13, while other kids were 15 mostly. She is a straight A student in all honor classes ( not just final As, but thought the year she is getting all As), on school sport team and were the only kid who got an award last fall for sports. There is no blanket recommendation, you need to know your child.

This is the first I've ever heard of redshirting, though I admittedly don't read the school forums as much. I have a daughter starting Kindergarten this fall who will be five years, four months old. I didn't imagine she might be in class with seven year olds. I guess the redshirted kids will be super cool in 8th grade when they can drive to school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't start a kid early because there are so many kids starting late now. I wouldn't want my 4 turning 5 kid in class with the 6 turning 7 kids.

I have a 2.5 year old, so forgive me - I am just getting up to speed on VA public schools.

Good lord. Parents seriously do that? How common is it?

My child is in K in a NOVA public now, and there aren't any late-starting kids in his class, which sort of surprised me (I thought there'd be at least one). In our neighborhood, it looks like most kids go on schedule. On the other hand, DC attended a private school for preschool, and there were at least two kids who turned 7 in kindergarten.

And to the OP's question, very few go early anymore - K is the new 1st grade, and I don't think most 4 year olds would be able to handle it. I appreciate the September cutoff - DC has a late fall birthday and definitely wouldn't have been ready for K at 4.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Against VA state law to start K before 5. Can do private K in 4 and switch in 1st.

Not true the cut off is September 30th. You have to be 5 by then in FAirfax county

Yes, that is what I meant. Must be 5 by the cutoff.

The kindergarten environment they entered no longer exists. K is now a very structured learning process.

My mid-September boy started "on time" at 4, turning 5 just after school started.

If had been born 3 weeks later and missed the cutoff, I would have looked into starting him "early". He wouldn't have been that much younger than the next-youngest kids in the class.

If he were born in the spring, though, I don't think I'd have started him early - he'd have been 6-18 months younger than most of the class, and possibly two years younger than any redshirted kids. Big difference.

My kid went to school on time, even though we were aware they were advanced both academically and socially. We think it worked out well and was the correct thing to do. As we approached the end of 1st grade, the school contacted us about skipping 2nd grade. We met with a whole team of professionals at the school--classroom teachers, admin, school counselor and psychologist, and determined it was the best thing to do. That has also turned out to be the best decision for my kid.
I think school's feel much more comfortable exploring the idea of acceleration when they've had exposure to your child, rather than having a parent pushing for early entrance.

My kids weren't allowed to start early - I had to homeschool them. I did kinder and first in one year, when they were four-turning-five (in the fall) and then presented them for second grade.

Why?

Anonymous wrote:My kids weren't allowed to start early - I had to homeschool them. I did kinder and first in one year, when they were four-turning-five (in the fall) and then presented them for second grade.

So they started second grade at age 5?

My kids weren't allowed to start early - I had to homeschool them. I did kinder and first in one year, when they were four-turning-five (in the fall) and then presented them for second grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if anyone here has inside info re: how many people actually do this? I have twins with late November birthdays (they were also born a month early), and while I admit they will more than likely not be emotionally ready for full-day K in the Fall, I'm starting to think it wouldn't be a bad trade-off in terms of the toll it's taking on my mental health to have them home some days . Don't get me wrong: they're awesome, but VERY high energy and into everything and putting them in private Pre-K next year is going to cost a fortune and I could really use that money for therapy! Ah, well...

PP above, it's hard to tell whether you're serious on some level about starting your twins early and are just couching it as a kind of joke because you know people posting here will tell you what a bad idea it would be--? Let's figure you are just joking, PP.

PP here (I am not the OP of this thread, btw). No worries, I was joking. Like I said, I have serious doubts my twins could handle K this coming Fall and I wouldn't try it even if it were an option. They will be attending a half-day Pre-K program at the preschool they're currently attending and I expect it will be a good fit for them. I'm a pretty energetic person and do my best to keep up with them but I fully admit they wear my ass out--definitely looking forward to having them in a program next year that will let them blow off some steam on someone else's time!