Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We applied to Baltimore privates from out of state and our summer and early fall birthday boys were not asked to repeat their grade at the schools they where were accepted. (coming in late elementary school)

Then your kids will be a year to 18 months younger than their classmates. Because the Baltimore private schools definitely hold back all summer and some spring birthdays.

I am familiar with Baltimore privates making recommendations based on the individual children, beyond just birthday, with some kids progressing normally and others held back but from what I have seen the decision is given to the parent.

Anonymous wrote:We applied to Baltimore privates from out of state and our summer and early fall birthday boys were not asked to repeat their grade at the schools they where were accepted. (coming in late elementary school)

Then your kids will be a year to 18 months younger than their classmates. Because the Baltimore private schools definitely hold back all summer and some spring birthdays.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a September birthday and crushed school, got a 1500 plus on SATs in 7th grade and to this day wish I had been red shirted. My parents even later apologized notwithstanding my academic experience was excellent. It sucks being younger and smaller and it really stinks when as a freshman in college you come home and are dunking all over the “star” players during pick up. I also didn’t stop growing until I was 20.

My very smart boys were absolutely redshirted.

My September boy went at age 5 and is glad we didn't dumb him down an hold him back.

Make whatever decisions you’re comfortable with for your own family, but lose the ignorant judgment.

Anonymous wrote:Beauvoir has brought up retention for our June kindergartener son. They claim impulsiveness/immaturity.. academics aren’t a concern. Many of the boys in his class are six going on seven, however the girls are mostly five or have just turned six.

What will you do? Also in the same situation, at another school.
I have this very strong feeling this is going to follow him and he's going to be that kid because he will always be compared against this cohort.

Anonymous wrote:What about girls? Holding this conversation and it's so stressful.

Make the decision based on your daughter. It happens for girls, but doesn't seem to happen as often as boys.

Our school seems to want to redshirt anyone June and later, boy or girl. We also had to make the decision for our June daughter and spoke with parents at our school to help gauge the landscape. We were fortunate to already know PK teachers and what the PK and K curriculum looked like. All of that helped. I'd even read that book Outliers and not a single female is mentioned so that was of very little help. But general consensus is girls don't face many of the same concerns as their male counterparts.

Redshirting JUNE birthdays?! That's insane.

Anonymous wrote:Beauvoir has brought up retention for our June kindergartener son. They claim impulsiveness/immaturity.. academics aren’t a concern. Many of the boys in his class are six going on seven, however the girls are mostly five or have just turned six.

Those older kids aren't more mature, just older. I'd worry about a school that doesn't have age appropriate expectations and holds back kids based off their needs.

Anonymous wrote:I was a September birthday and crushed school, got a 1500 plus on SATs in 7th grade and to this day wish I had been red shirted. My parents even later apologized notwithstanding my academic experience was excellent. It sucks being younger and smaller and it really stinks when as a freshman in college you come home and are dunking all over the “star” players during pick up. I also didn’t stop growing until I was 20.

My very smart boys were absolutely redshirted.

My September boy went at age 5 and is glad we didn't dumb him down an hold him back.

It is highly school dependent. Some will want to, some will not care. The more traditional schools seem more set on redshirting.

I was a September birthday and crushed school, got a 1500 plus on SATs in 7th grade and to this day wish I had been red shirted. My parents even later apologized notwithstanding my academic experience was excellent. It sucks being younger and smaller and it really stinks when as a freshman in college you come home and are dunking all over the “star” players during pick up. I also didn’t stop growing until I was 20.

My very smart boys were absolutely redshirted.

Kids are BVR. Many summer birthdays are redshirted, but I know of a few who aren’t. It’s not mandatory, they make a recommendation based on the playdate. In my experience, if your son is verbal, mature and independent, they won’t redshirt.

My son is not like yours (especially the verbal part), he has a match birthday and they said nothing about redshirting him… had he been born in June maybe they would have.

I think it’s school-dependent - those that have a small Kindergarten class, sibling and faculty preference have to make decisions based on numbers. So in any year if they know a lot of the girl spots are going to be taken by the above mentioned categories, they’ll advise you to redshirt a summer birthday girl because they don’t have space. Or conversely, accept a summer boy if there is space.

Beauvoir has brought up retention for our June kindergartener son. They claim impulsiveness/immaturity.. academics aren’t a concern. Many of the boys in his class are six going on seven, however the girls are mostly five or have just turned six.

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the school. For example, GDS: no. Beauvoir and Sidwell: highly probable.

I agree with the Beauvoir note. I have a June boy who was redshirted. I also know of another June and July boy who was redshirted. HOWEVER, my son also has another June boy in his class who is not redshirted so it's possible, but not a guarantee.

Interesting to read how far back this goes. I don't have much insight on girls except the girls don't seem to be redshirted.

I have a June birthday DD in private not redshirted. She has several friends younger than her so it’s definitely not a thing at our school. They are running a business and want your money. If you don’t want to redshirt they won’t make you.