I have a 4YO with a September birthday and a 5YO with a February birthday. 5YO is in K this year and I was surprised at how many kids either started school already being 6 or have had birthdays since school started. It's at least half the class (21 kids). There's another 5YO down the street who also has a Feb birthday and his mom redshirted him this year, meaning if we do have DS2 start K next year he'd be going to school with a kid exactly the same age as DS1, which just boggles my mind. It's making me feel like I'm being forced to redshirt DS2 because he could realistically be 23 months younger than kids in his class!

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Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure what kindergarten will look like next year (recess? circle time? etc), and I'm nervous about the amount of people who redshirted this year making next year's cohort huge. Would it be crazy to redshirt next year? DC has a spring birthday but is tall, but has some speech disorders we're dealing with in speech therapy.

Definitely hold him back. Focus on speech. Then he can work on social skills in k when he’s better able to engage with his peers.

OP never mentioned social skills. Don't just focus on speech. Kids need academics too. Been there, done that.

They don’t “need” academics. BTDT too.

Yes, they do. Keeping a child home at 5, no academics with a language disorder makes no sense when 5 is a critical time.

OP, do DL if a parent is home to support or if you have to pay for child care either way, then pay for K. It will be equal costs. You don't want to avoid academics at age five as if there are academic concerns, the longer you wait to identify concerns and get help the harder it will be for your child, especially with things like reading.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure what kindergarten will look like next year (recess? circle time? etc), and I'm nervous about the amount of people who redshirted this year making next year's cohort huge. Would it be crazy to redshirt next year? DC has a spring birthday but is tall, but has some speech disorders we're dealing with in speech therapy.

Definitely hold him back. Focus on speech. Then he can work on social skills in k when he’s better able to engage with his peers.

OP never mentioned social skills. Don't just focus on speech. Kids need academics too. Been there, done that.

They don’t “need” academics. BTDT too.

I would send him. They won’t have larger classes. Once a grade hits the max, they will hire a new teacher. Plus, teachers in Fairfax County only get two years off ( unpaid) before they lose tenure. Any teacher who already took a year off for a baby, elder care, health issues, etc., before taking a year off for COVID HAS to come back next year or lose his or her spot. There WILL be space. Promise.

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Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t redshirt a Spring birthday, but I would start looking now at private K’s (many churches offer full day K if they already have a preschool program) or see if your day care or any of the day cares in your area will do full day K. The church preschool where my DS attends expanded from their usual 1 to 3 full day K classes due to demand.

I wouldn’t bet money on public school being back to normal next school year, but the private K’s/K classes at day care are pretty normal, with playground and outside time, just no full-school programs or mixing of classes and very few shared supplies.

OP. Private is unfortunately not an option for us unless my husband gets promoted.

Private full day K at my kid’s church school is $750/month, so really not that much different than day care for a kid that age. They don’t have before or after care though which does complicate things if both parents are working outside the home. The religious schools are going to be much more affordable than secular private school.

I've looked at Catholic schools and it's about $12k if you aren't Catholic. DH and I work opposite shifts to avoid daycare costs.

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Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t redshirt a Spring birthday, but I would start looking now at private K’s (many churches offer full day K if they already have a preschool program) or see if your day care or any of the day cares in your area will do full day K. The church preschool where my DS attends expanded from their usual 1 to 3 full day K classes due to demand.

I wouldn’t bet money on public school being back to normal next school year, but the private K’s/K classes at day care are pretty normal, with playground and outside time, just no full-school programs or mixing of classes and very few shared supplies.

OP. Private is unfortunately not an option for us unless my husband gets promoted.

Private full day K at my kid’s church school is $750/month, so really not that much different than day care for a kid that age. They don’t have before or after care though which does complicate things if both parents are working outside the home. The religious schools are going to be much more affordable than secular private school.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t redshirt a Spring birthday, but I would start looking now at private K’s (many churches offer full day K if they already have a preschool program) or see if your day care or any of the day cares in your area will do full day K. The church preschool where my DS attends expanded from their usual 1 to 3 full day K classes due to demand.

I wouldn’t bet money on public school being back to normal next school year, but the private K’s/K classes at day care are pretty normal, with playground and outside time, just no full-school programs or mixing of classes and very few shared supplies.

OP. Private is unfortunately not an option for us unless my husband gets promoted.

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Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure what kindergarten will look like next year (recess? circle time? etc), and I'm nervous about the amount of people who redshirted this year making next year's cohort huge. Would it be crazy to redshirt next year? DC has a spring birthday but is tall, but has some speech disorders we're dealing with in speech therapy.

Definitely hold him back. Focus on speech. Then he can work on social skills in k when he’s better able to engage with his peers.

OP never mentioned social skills. Don't just focus on speech. Kids need academics too. Been there, done that.

Do you think your speech therapist or pediatrician might have any helpful suggestions re: redshirting?

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure what kindergarten will look like next year (recess? circle time? etc), and I'm nervous about the amount of people who redshirted this year making next year's cohort huge. Would it be crazy to redshirt next year? DC has a spring birthday but is tall, but has some speech disorders we're dealing with in speech therapy.

Definitely hold him back. Focus on speech. Then he can work on social skills in k when he’s better able to engage with his peers.

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Anonymous wrote:So you are talking about starting K at 6 years 4/5 months? Franky, I wouldnt.

My oldest sister's kids are much older than mine. One child has a September birthday; she started kindergarten at 4 going on 5 but at the end of the year the teacher recommended repeating bc she was so young and they did. She graduated high school in 2019 and is happy at college but she was SO over high school by senior year and felt like the other kids were silly, childish etc. Think of your future kid; I would not want to be turning 19 years old and still in high school.

A September kid is not that young. They are starting school at age five. Plenty of our kids did great starting at that age. You don't start kids in K at 6.5. They will be made fun of as you are describing.

I was extrapolating from OP's post. OP's DC has a "spring birthday." Given that OP's DC would normally start kindergarten at 5 years and 4/5 months; with a redshirt OP's DC would start kindergarten at 6 and 4/5 months. In my opinion that is pretty old and OP should think about how it will manifest on the back end of childhood; her kid may not want to be turning 19 and still be in high school.

I wouldn’t redshirt a Spring birthday, but I would start looking now at private K’s (many churches offer full day K if they already have a preschool program) or see if your day care or any of the day cares in your area will do full day K. The church preschool where my DS attends expanded from their usual 1 to 3 full day K classes due to demand.

I wouldn’t bet money on public school being back to normal next school year, but the private K’s/K classes at day care are pretty normal, with playground and outside time, just no full-school programs or mixing of classes and very few shared supplies.

Anonymous wrote:Will my kid miss anything if I enroll him at private k at a small daycare center, and enroll him at 1st grade at MCPS in person the following year? Is it easy to adjust to MCPS 1st grade without going through MCPS k (virtual/in person) eg teacher expectation, bigger class, rules etc?

Nope, we did that years ago. It worked well as child got more support and attention. No regrets. If you need child care it makes sense.

Will my kid miss anything if I enroll him at private k at a small daycare center, and enroll him at 1st grade at MCPS in person the following year? Is it easy to adjust to MCPS 1st grade without going through MCPS k (virtual/in person) eg teacher expectation, bigger class, rules etc?

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Anonymous wrote:He is tall and will be almost 51/2 to start K on time. No I would not hold back. I might consider homeschooling K for a year then joining in in 1st but I would not redshirt.

That's probably the best option. Hopefully not that many people actually redshirted this year and most just homeschooled or withdrew and sent their kindergarteners to private schools.

Our zoned school in ACPS is dual immersion, though, so I'd worry about him being really behind. I don't speak any Spanish.

He'll figure it out and he will not be the only child who doesn't have a parent who speaks spanish. If anything, it may be good for his language development.