Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m only a year into “redshirting” but I feel very relieved we did. My son is in a junior pre-k with all fall birthdays and just this weekend I was talking to another mother in the class who feels the same way I do- that our kids are finally in the right place.

If your sons on the edge of the cutoff and struggling, I would make the change and redshirt. You have very little to lose.

You lose a year of their adult life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m only a year into “redshirting” but I feel very relieved we did. My son is in a junior pre-k with all fall birthdays and just this weekend I was talking to another mother in the class who feels the same way I do- that our kids are finally in the right place.

If your sons on the edge of the cutoff and struggling, I would make the change and redshirt. You have very little to lose.

You lose a year of their adult life.

Anonymous wrote:I’m only a year into “redshirting” but I feel very relieved we did. My son is in a junior pre-k with all fall birthdays and just this weekend I was talking to another mother in the class who feels the same way I do- that our kids are finally in the right place.

If your sons on the edge of the cutoff and struggling, I would make the change and redshirt. You have very little to lose.

Anonymous wrote:I have the perspective of middle school aged kids. I used to be very anti-redshirting. I have changed my mind over the years depending on the situation.

-For a July girl, it could go either way- I'm generally anti redshirting, but I do think my daughter might have benefitted now that she seems so much younger than her peers in middle school (but each kid is different).

-For a July boy, like yours- In Montgomery county there are very few July boys that are not held back. Every August boy I know has been redshirted, along with most June and July. So your son will not just be at the young end if you send him on time, he will be more than a year younger than some kids in his class. Of course this isn't fair or how it should be, but because it is what most are doing, your son will suffer for it when he is older. His friends will be more mature in middle and school, and driving sooner in high school. When they all go through puberty earlier the age gaps become clearer. It's not just about academic readiness- the issues are different older.

-Best course of action in your case is to do a private small Kindergarten (many preschools offer this), so he gets a more advanced curriculum in a small setting, and then wait to decide whether he repeats K elsewhere the next year (probably the better choice) or moves right to first.

-It is hard/unlikely to hold back as he gets older, but unfortunately it is middle school when you may realize he should have been held back.

Anonymous wrote:They should not allow redshirting for July or earlier birthdays. The option should only be for August or September birthdays.

Anonymous wrote:[quote=Anonymous]Can you send him to a small private kindergarten, which will probably cost about the same as preschool, and see how he does. Not great - repeat kindergarten when entering public school. Great - enter public school in first grade.

(Public school kindergarten sucks, by the way. I sent two kids through it, and it was like pre-k in terms of barely academic, but much higher expectations for sitting still. My boy did ok but hated it and emotionally wrung out every day from so much sitting; my girl liked it. But I was never impressed with the curriculum and overcrowding. First grade much, much better.)