Amazing preschools we have here in Montgomery County.

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Anonymous wrote:
Geez, you have got to be kidding. MCPS K and even 1st grade barely covers what most preschools do with 3 and 4 year kids. OP -the bar is incredibly low now and most kids are bored or just doing busy work. The biggest challenge in K is sitting still at your desk. From an academic standpoint, 3 year olds could handle the new curriculum.

The only reason to red shirt in MCPS is for social development or athletic reasons.

Amazing preschools we have here in Montgomery County.

Anonymous wrote:
Geez, you have got to be kidding. MCPS K and even 1st grade barely covers what most preschools do with 3 and 4 year kids. OP -the bar is incredibly low now and most kids are bored or just doing busy work. The biggest challenge in K is sitting still at your desk. From an academic standpoint, 3 year olds could handle the new curriculum.

The only reason to red shirt in MCPS is for social development or athletic reasons.

As an MCPS elementary school teacher, I would say to take the advice of her preschool teachers if you trust their judgment. There are plenty of children who need "extra" attention. Also, if she's been in daycare/preschool all this time, she's already used to the educational environment...although I recognize K may look very different than her current preschool. While this would be a LAST resort and not something you may want to do, we do have parents who put their kids in K, pull them out for a year of private K and then put them back in for 1st. However, it sounds like she is likely read....and there is a ton of growth between now and September!

Anonymous wrote:Sadly, I am not sure if the kids in the overcrowded MontCo K classrooms get any personal attention that helps them blossom if they're not really ready to be there. They learn classroom rules, they learn how to read, but there is no play except recess, not much time to get to know classmates. It's highly structured. You do pay a lot for a TransK program, but the classes are small and personalized and more flexible.

Parents are in the best position to understand whether their kids are truly ready for the school environment. The calendar is a rough guideline. With kids who are close to the cut-off dates, it can go either way depending on individual development. There's no right or wrong answer, just a judgment call.

Anonymous wrote:We have a late Aug DD and made the decision to wait until she was 6 to start K. Our preschool teachers said she was ready. We found a great Transitional K program in which 60% of the kids had August birthdays. That was a great year for her in building confidence, making new friends, and developing a sense of identity. She has not been bored in MCPS. The work is adapted to the kids' level, so she has been challenged. You know your child the best, either decision will be ok.

Anonymous wrote:The boys are giants, too big for K at age 6 and 6.5. Otherwise it is just a huge age gap for a teacher to deal with. Socially and academically.

Anonymous wrote:It is a little arbitrary with kids on the cusp with August birthdays. If they were born Sept. 2, there would be no issue that they wait an extra year. Go with your instinct. Kindergarten is a full year. She shouldn't be bored. Our end of Oct. birthday child was too young to test for early entrance and we were happy not to have a choice to make. She'll be fine if you hold her back a year. She won't be the oldest at least in Bethesda/Chevy Chase and she'll do fine. Not sure what it's like in less affluent areas.

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Reread my post. I said unless their are developmental delays. I agree that is a true issue to hold back. Unfortunately many do for sports, size, and "might not be ready." I don't think they are valid reasons and I wish MCPS had a cut off unless you go to the school specialist and they test you out for the following year. Then the red shirting for no reason would calm down and kids with issues and not would be in the right grade. In my child's class, there were kids turning 5 in Oct and 7 in April. That is insane.

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Anonymous wrote: My son has a September birthday and there's no way we will hold him back just on account of his age.

FYI, in MoCo the cutoff is 9/1 so you won't be holding your kid back, he will just miss the cutoff and be one of the oldest.

Any kid up to an Oct 11th can enter K if they test in. My daughter has 7 kids on her school with birthdays in Sept and Oct. she is one of them

I am aware of that, but this parent won't be holding their kid back. They would be pushing them ahead in that case.

But for my daughter, in my eyes, it was holding them back. She was socially and academically ready to attend school. So I get what the PP is feeling. It was only about 8yrs ago that they pushed back the entrance date month by month. And funny thing is, more people than ever are red shirting their kids, even with the age requirement going up. So now you have people that sit and wonder with their summer birthday kids. You shouldn't. They should be in K unless there is a developmental issue. A kid who can't sit still could be even worse waiting a year. They will be bored in class, not challenged and EXPECTED to be on good behavior, more so than the youngest group. I think red shirting backfires for the most part and moms are afraid to admit it.

This is 9:45. I don't think redshirting (and I don't like this word because I didn't redshirt my child--that I feel is the lingo when done for sports purposes--I held him back a year) backfires unless it's gone into just due to age near the arbitrary cutoff, size of child, perceived immaturity etc... I think if parents are really very well informed about their child's abilities (ie: developmental delays that are already causing significant issues) then it's probably the right path to take.