Anonymous
Post 08/05/2011 00:25     Subject: Re:My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
My DC is a HS private school senior this year and entered private school when the MD and the school's cutoff was 12/31/94. They just printed the class list and there are kids born in 1992 and 1993 (and it’s not a “special” school). My DC was born in 1994 and seems immature compared to his peers. Gee, I wonder why? I agree that it’s a problem.
Anonymous
Post 08/05/2011 00:22     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
My daughter is in the same boat at a similar school. She has a summer birthday, and we decided to put her forward - a very difficult decision. Academically and athletically, she is running circles around the older kids, and I don't think that they will ever catch up with HER. But they can be intimidating. They're big, they've done nursery twice, they know all the tricks, and they are often more sophisticated than her (and not in a good way).

I'm thinking of pulling her out of her private school after this year. Either she will repeat kindergarten at another private, or we will move to a suburb with excellent public schools. She'll still be one of the youngest kids in her class, but at least she won't be a full 1 1/2 year younger than them.

It's frustrating. I don't think that all of these kids seem to be catching up, even with the gift of an extra year. And it hurts the other kids.



They know all the tricks? And yet she runs circles around them and they will never catch up with HER? Competitive much?


What the person was saying is her/his daughter is still younger and more innocent, given she has not lived long enough to learn all the mischief the other ankle biters have learned because they are so much older. Aside from that, she is better at sports and academics. I can relate because the description is one I would assign to my own child. I get it, parent of smart gifted girl. You are not alone.

By the way, don't believe the hype about the good public schools. The kids in those are old as hell, too! I am going through the same issue as you are now. I am now considering homeschooling, after paying so much for private school and being told my child is too young to go beyond Kindergarten.
Anonymous
Post 08/05/2011 00:14     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
I am so confused by all this. I started Kindergarten when I was 4yrs. and 9 months old. Seriously, my peers would be turning 7 by today's standards, just ask your friends and neighbors how old their sons are, you will be shocked to know the big oversized jokers are going to Kindergarten!!!! It's funny, because we thought the kids were just big, until we found out they are just much older!! LOL!
Anonymous
Post 08/05/2011 00:03     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
Thank you, GDS, for having what seems to be the only sane admissions standards for age cut offs. I hope that peer schools will follow your lead.
Anonymous
Post 08/05/2011 00:02     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't say problems, but concerns. I don't understand why it happens. If a child was not ready for entrance at their grade the first year, why are they entering that same grade the following year. I do see differences in maturity among these boys. It makes the ones who struggle to sit still as young boys (although Beauvoir a great place, not always sympathetic to) stand out even more. And as a mother of young children, I don't know what if any the repercussions of these age spans will be. Guess we can only keep an eye on the situation.


Thanks. That's helpful. Our summer birthday DS was "ready" the year before he started, and we thought a fair amount about whether to apply to pre-K then. In the end, it was a preference of ours that he start later given what we understood from others at the school was the current age range in classes. As far as I can tell, it's been a good placement for him. We've heard positive feedback from teachers about his relationships within the class, in that he's a good friend, focused, somewhat introverted, and kind. I'm hoping that this isn't causing concerns among other parents and kids.


Too bad for DB, being taught to follow the masses already. OMG!! Can I guess the "current age range in classes" is about 1 to 1.5 years greater than the state regulated guidelines for almost every U.S. school?

What is my point, we cannot make decisions for our children based on what everyone else is doing. Young boys are not the only individuals who have trouble sitting still, many humans do; particularly high ability people, who get bored easily. Ooops, I guess that would be ADHD, huh?

Note: This is not a personal attack, I am just trying to make a point.
Anonymous
Post 08/04/2011 23:58     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
Anonymous wrote:I live in Germantown, MD. Eight of my neighbors have admitted to intentionally holding their boys out of school for an additional year, specifically and disturbingly, to give them: 1.) A physical advantage for sports and to prevent them from being targets of bullying; 2.) Time to "mature" socially; and 3.) Time to be ready for all-day school. WTF is wrong with these people? How in the heck is my 5-year old going to thrive in a class with them?

Who sends a child to Kindergarten at 6-7? Something should be done about it. My son reads, adds, subtracts, and writes at a first to second grade level. The schools have told us he is too young to go to first grade. I can see why, due to all others being so old when they show up. However, why should my 5-year old be penalized?

We need to demand classes for slow kids that are old as heck to be placed together, so younger smart kids can be allowed to excel without the issues that will exist when they are blended into one class together. This issue is so bad that pediatricians and school staff are even recommending delayed entry of boys into school. I think it is discriminiation against boys. It is wrong!!

Teachers should be trained to manage and teach both sexes; there are only 2 - boy and girl! Is it that hard? Are we Americans that dumb, now? WOW!!!!


If your child is smart and relatively coordinated and athletic, he will be fine!

I've observed that many of the kids being held back aren't exactly going to end up as rocket scientists. Or Olympic athletes. There's a reason the schools need to hold them back, and it isn't alway because a child needs an extra year to catch up with his or her peers.



Anonymous
Post 08/04/2011 23:57     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
Ask the administrators they are usually honest about. Held back is either redshirted, repeating a grade on going on to a transitional year such as pre-first. In the Baltimore area at one of the top schools they said 50 % went to pre-first another school mentioned 30-40% going to pre-first. Another school mentioned how 30% of their pre-k students were repeating, not moving to k. I'm not making this up, you can go and do a search on pre-first and count the students. That is the number of students who should be in first but were not moved ahead. I do not want to mention a school specificially.

Also, as previously mentioned there are schools they say that they want boys to be 5 1/2 and that at least 1/2 of their students are 6 by the end of the year (end of Dec.)
Anonymous
Post 08/04/2011 23:53     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
I live in Germantown, MD. Eight of my neighbors have admitted to intentionally holding their boys out of school for an additional year, specifically and disturbingly, to give them: 1.) A physical advantage for sports and to prevent them from being targets of bullying; 2.) Time to "mature" socially; and 3.) Time to be ready for all-day school. WTF is wrong with these people? How in the heck is my 5-year old going to thrive in a class with them?

Who sends a child to Kindergarten at 6-7? Something should be done about it. My son reads, adds, subtracts, and writes at a first to second grade level. The schools have told us he is too young to go to first grade. I can see why, due to all others being so old when they show up. However, why should my 5-year old be penalized?

We need to demand classes for slow kids that are old as heck to be placed together, so younger smart kids can be allowed to excel without the issues that will exist when they are blended into one class together. This issue is so bad that pediatricians and school staff are even recommending delayed entry of boys into school. I think it is discriminiation against boys. It is wrong!!

Teachers should be trained to manage and teach both sexes; there are only 2 - boy and girl! Is it that hard? Are we Americans that dumb, now? WOW!!!!
Anonymous
Post 08/04/2011 23:47     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't say problems, but concerns. I don't understand why it happens. If a child was not ready for entrance at their grade the first year, why are they entering that same grade the following year. I do see differences in maturity among these boys. It makes the ones who struggle to sit still as young boys (although Beauvoir a great place, not always sympathetic to) stand out even more. And as a mother of young children, I don't know what if any the repercussions of these age spans will be. Guess we can only keep an eye on the situation.


Thanks. That's helpful. Our summer birthday DS was "ready" the year before he started, and we thought a fair amount about whether to apply to pre-K then. In the end, it was a preference of ours that he start later given what we understood from others at the school was the current age range in classes. As far as I can tell, it's been a good placement for him. We've heard positive feedback from teachers about his relationships within the class, in that he's a good friend, focused, somewhat introverted, and kind. I'm hoping that this isn't causing concerns among other parents and kids.
Anonymous
Post 08/04/2011 23:40     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
I wouldn't say problems, but concerns. I don't understand why it happens. If a child was not ready for entrance at their grade the first year, why are they entering that same grade the following year. I do see differences in maturity among these boys. It makes the ones who struggle to sit still as young boys (although Beauvoir a great place, not always sympathetic to) stand out even more. And as a mother of young children, I don't know what if any the repercussions of these age spans will be. Guess we can only keep an eye on the situation.
Anonymous
Post 08/04/2011 23:40     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
Take a look at the peer-reviewed research, which unanimously concludes holding kids back is harmful to them!
Anonymous
Post 08/04/2011 22:06     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think it works in the early years so less summer kids admitted to top schools, less deemed gifted because they advanced for 5 or 6 but not for 7.

Too many people doing it, it as become a problem. In my kids preschool at the end of the year, he was turning 4 while a peer was turning 6.


I too am frustrated by it. My DS is at beauvoir and has classmates 1 1/2 years+ older than him. Especially the boys. I can't figure out if the school is encouraging it or not. Or if they think it makes them more ready to sit still, read, etc... It makes me uncomfortable that there are kids so much bigger and older than him in his class. And I think, at times, it's intimidating to the younger (age/grade appropriate) kids.

Mothers have been telling me the pre-k/k classes this year will continue the trend.



Our DS is at Beauvoir also, and I've only found an age spread of 15 months in his class, and only one kid this year born before July. Are you really finding many kids who had birthdays before June who are on the older side, or is it one or two? I haven't seen this but I'm guessing this may shift year to year. Have you found this to be a problem in the classroom, or if it something that's on your mind to watch out for? I really haven't noticed any problems (or anything at all about the age difference). I only notice the birthdays as a result of the birthday parties. I'd like to know if there are problems in the higher grades or if it's just a concern you're voicing.

Thanks.
Anonymous
Post 08/04/2011 20:42     Subject: Re:My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
With an 8 year spread between our three kids we have a good feel for the change in philosophy at our school. About 7 years ago a new LS Head started moving towards "older" classes. Our youngest has a May birthday and they wanted to hold back on admitting to PreK. It's a private school and they can run their school as they see fit but we don't have to play along. We thanked them for their consideration and left. They reconsidered and we enrolled youngest --- for the family's sake as much as anything.

Big mistake. We spent way too much energy and time listening and responding to ridiculous evaluations and comparisons to older kids (there were 3 kids more than 12 months older). It did not bother us at all that our DC couldn't write sentences at the start of 1st grade or read chapter books. We had two older children as a frame of reference and we knew DC was just fine. It bothered us that some families took this stuff seriously and did all sorts of testing and hiring of tutors to "help" their perfectly normal and bright kids.

By 3rd grade our DC was cruising and they left us alone but what a waste of time.
Anonymous
Post 08/04/2011 19:34     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
Anonymous wrote:
My daughter is in the same boat at a similar school. She has a summer birthday, and we decided to put her forward - a very difficult decision. Academically and athletically, she is running circles around the older kids, and I don't think that they will ever catch up with HER. But they can be intimidating. They're big, they've done nursery twice, they know all the tricks, and they are often more sophisticated than her (and not in a good way).

I'm thinking of pulling her out of her private school after this year. Either she will repeat kindergarten at another private, or we will move to a suburb with excellent public schools. She'll still be one of the youngest kids in her class, but at least she won't be a full 1 1/2 year younger than them.

It's frustrating. I don't think that all of these kids seem to be catching up, even with the gift of an extra year. And it hurts the other kids.



They know all the tricks? And yet she runs circles around them and they will never catch up with HER? Competitive much?
Anonymous
Post 08/04/2011 19:13     Subject: My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.
Anonymous wrote:I have seen 30% - 50% of classes held
Back.


Where? Please be specific. Also please define "held back".