13:54 - forgot to add. The reason I say its not regional is because in my neighborhood, I know 2 people with 5 year olds that held them back a year.

We are in the same boat. But let me say that it is not just a DC thing. We moved away last summer (and I come back and visit these boards every so often...). In our small city, the cutoff for K in 1 sept. DS is now 3 with a September birthday. If we were in DC, he'd start K just shy of his 5th birthday. here, he'll start K just as he turns 6. We have him in private preschool, and can send him to kindergarten early if we want. but for the reasons others have mentioned, we are not going to push him ahead:
1. He's in the botom 5% for size.
2. His speech is still mushy - at 3 1/2. We've been referred to speech therapy, but for now we are just working with him at home.
3. He's shy.
The decision is easy for us since if we do nothing he starts when he's 6. If we were still in DC, we would be seen as "red shirting" and all the judgements from DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't held back our July boy. Still regret. He is in the 5th grade now. Very active and social, but academically...

And there couldn't be another possibility, right?

What possibility?

Anonymous wrote:We didn't held back our July boy. Still regret. He is in the 5th grade now. Very active and social, but academically...

And there couldn't be another possibility, right?

Oops, meant I haven't read all the "replies".

Op, haven't read all the applies but I am in exactly the same situation. Pre-K boy, August birthday. Have no plans to hold him back for K. He was in PS3 last year (DCPS) and teacher never gave any indication that he needed time to "mature." Same for current Pre-K teacher. My philosophy is that unless I see signs of trouble (social or academic), am keeping him on schedule with his class. FWIW, there are several boys with late summer birthdays in his class and I have not heard any of the parents say they are thinking about holding them back.

Whatever you do, try and make the decision now rather than in a year. we were on the fence with our August birthday boy. We sent him to K on time and it was a big mistake. He was behind academically and socially (though it was hard to see in pre-K since he seemed to be doing fine). By mid-year, he was calling himself stupid and hating school because he wasn't able to pick up what the other kids were doing. teacher recommended repeating K. We did - the first part of the year, he would come home realizing that all his friends are in 1st and he's a "baby" (what his old friends called him - as in "you can't play with us because you're still in K - and you're a baby). It has been a struggle and while he's doing better now and on par with his kindy-classmates, it was a difficult journey. In hindsight, I wish we held him back in pre-k where it wouldn't have been as noticible to him rather than K.

We didn't held back our July boy. Still regret. He is in the 5th grade now. Very active and social, but academically...