Don't forget that in England everyone starts primary school at age 4, in uniforms. And, assuming they do 2 years of A levels, enter university at age 17.
In Asia, children start FT school at age 4 as well.
Here in America, every state (or county??!) has different age cutoffs and it's ridiculous.

We fall 2 days inside the cutoff date so are looking at having our daughter sit around bored for age 5 or paying for private school for 2 years and then coming back in to the public system and not missing a beat. It's a lot of money in addition to property taxes (which pay public schools).
Sadly the "tests" you can take for your 4 year 11 month old to start are driven mainly by school capacity issues, not test scores and recommendation

Anonymous wrote:I thought ahead ~ about whether I wanted to be living with a 19 year old man who was still in high school.

Ok, what about an 18 year old man who is still in high school? I am redshirting my son who turned 6 last week. He will be starting KG this September. However, I do not see much difference between him and his friend who was born in October, or his MoCo friend who was born in September. Will he be more of a "man" going into college than these friends who are just one and two months younger than him?

19:18 You think somehow a Sept. kid can't handle high school whereas an August or July one can? Come on. Family is from New York and the kids up there start K at four and cutoff is Dec. 31st. Oh, and their curriculum is harder too.

Didn't mean to be so harsh. They should of course work with the redshirted kid, but not cater a special curriculum just for him just because his parents decided to redshirt.

Good luck with high school!

Sending my Sept. kid on time. He's doing great academically and socially and will be at or above the curriculum level. Don't need anyone telling me I should hold him back just because he's a Sept. kid. If the cutoff is Sept. 30th, the schools should be dealing with my son, not the redshirted June birthday kid.

Former K teacher: redshirting a Sept boy is a no brainer. August, maybe. Earlier than that, the child should be very immature to consider it.

Anonymous wrote:Unless there is a specific developmental concern, redshirting is a prime example of parents thinking their child is too special for everyone else's rules.

Someone has to be the youngest.

+1.

Red shirting without a specific reason that is agreed to by a teacher, doctor or other specialist is ridiculous and should not be allowed.

Parents is this area are just trying to give their kids an edge.

I think people understand Sept. kids, it's the others they don't get like the July and June birthdays. With up to 30 kids in the class it can make a difference for the teacher to teach to many levels. And sometimes there are kids that actually go to K the year before and then unsurprisingly are "bored" the second year they repeat K and the parents complain then to the teacher. If you're going to redshirt at least give the child a different experience. Find a nature school or something.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just turned 5. She is classmates with a pair of twins who turned 6 recently. They will be starting K in Sept so they will turn 7 before 1st grade starts.

Wait, and they'll turn 8 before 2nd grade starts?! That's only a month before my on time October DS will turn 8.

That's crazy that they are a month apart!!! How can the teacher possibly handle the age difference?!!?!

16:01 All I know is the Vienna and Oakton schools from what I've heard all have 2 recesses and a 1/2 hour of free play with a play area. Also Fairfax County has more "specials" during the day than Montgomery County does and actually has a shorter day and shorter year.

We just finished "Ramona Age 8". She was in the 3rd grade, not 2nd or 1st.

16:30 You don't make a lot of sense. The cutoff until just several years ago in almost all states was Dec. 31. I believe the state of VA still has a Dec. 31st cutoff requirement but each county has decided to make the cutoff earlier. Schools in VA start in Sept. so I have no idea why one of the posters wanted to make it Aug. 1. Sept. 1 could make some sense, but it isn't so why not just work with the current cutoff? It seems to be a good middle ground between the Aug 1st state cutoffs and the Dec. 31 state cutoffs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Other countries send their kids to school at later ages and that works well. Is it possible that we are pushing academics down to earlier and earlier ages that are inappropriate for most kids?
K used to be all about play. Lots of people in their 50's and 60's are very successful in life, many of whom never even went to kindergarten. Are we shortchanging our kids in other areas by making K all about academics?

Answer: Absolutely yes!

...The K teacher last year told us the hardest part of teaching is that some come in at 4 and others at 6 and that's a huge spread developmentally. The schools should just pick a date and stick to it unless there is some verifiable reason to hold them back or put them ahead a grade.

No child should be entering K at age 4. They should be at least 5, so the date should be 1 September or before. Missouri requires kids to have turned 5 before 1 August, so that kids have been 5 for at least a couple of weeks before school starts and they have the right idea.

VA cutoff is Sept 30, so yes they can enter K at age 4.

Right, and I believe that a better choice would be 1 August. With that date, you are assured that every child is already five. Four is just too young and it is not fair that parents should be accused of "redshirting" when they are simply doing what is right for their children. A 1 August cut-off date means that there is no need to worry about four year olds in class with older kids.

It used to be that when a kid went to college they had almost no risk of violating the law for drinking a beer because it would usually be about 3 months until they could drink at 18. Now if a kid graduates early, say at 17, they will not be able to legally drink a beer for most of their college career. Not saying this is the reason that parents hold kids back, but the world of education is not what it used to be. Couple that with ncaa coaches who benefit from bigger and more experienced players, and older students often make a whole lot of sense.