Transitioning from private to public schools and "red shirting" (Dallas: fit in, renting)
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Looking for some advice from folks who have had their kids enter the public school system recently, at any level really, but especially Kindergarten in the northern suburbs. What has been your experience? I know the public schools, especially Plano and others, have a great reputation. We are in Allen ISD zoned to a supposedly great elementary. But sometimes reputation is just that and doesn't translate to all schools or all grade levels.
Specifically, we are trying to decide between
(1) Keeping our son (late June birthday) in his private "school" for Kindergarten and start him in public in first grade. Or
(2) perhaps send him private Kinder next year and the repeat kinder the year after. How prevalent is "red shirting" in this area? It always seemed absurd to me but now other parents are making me feel like Im crazy for not holding my June babies back. And
(3) enrolling him in public kinder in the fall.
Finances are a factor in that we have two younger children in full time care and it would be great to have that tuition every month for other things. It is manageable to send all three, but definitely a sacrifice. His current teacher, obviously, thinks it would be terrible for him to be in public kindergarten and we should at least wait until 1st grade where they supposedly do more to separate kids by ability. However, I have read that kids come into the public Kindergartens at all levels of readiness and do just fine.
My main concern is that he will be bored and get into trouble. Im not one of those parents that think their kid is a genius and deserves special accommodations, but he has certainly benefited from being in school full time for two years with older kids with access and encouragement to advance at his own pace. In reviewing the info packet I received from the public school, he has mastered all of their Kindergarten learning "objectives" for the year already.
I can't be the only parent that has made the switch from private to public, or similar. Is kindergarten the best age to transition? I can't afford to put all my kids through private schooling K-12 and I feel that is the path we are heading down if we keep justifying tuition because they are advanced. All of our kids are June babies so I feel the added pressure of getting it right with the first one, as we will probably keep with the same decision for the others.
Red-shirting for late birthdays is very common--
my grandson lives in FL and was born July 31--he is 2.5 and his mom who is elementary teacher and his dad have decided to hold him back and have him repeat the same grade at his pre-school next year---he will be doing same stuff w/different teacher I think--
so when he turns 6 (late in summer several years from now) he will be going into K--either at this school or at the local public school...
We have friends in Colleyville with son whose birthday is 8/28 and his grandmother is elementary teacher--they knew before he was born that he was going to be held-back a year in preschool so that he wouldn't go to K public school until he was 6--
he needed it...although his size was not an issue, he did have small motor skills that needed more time to develop and some of his "antsy-ness" was improved...
There are various ways to do it--but from what I know--if your child attends a Kindergarten class in an accredited center then s/he is deemed to have gotten that public school credit...
you don't always get the choice to enrol in a public school kindergaten class and basically repeat the grade...
lot of it has to do with class size at that particular school/ISD maybe...
years ago our daughter was 4--birthday in Nov--and she was enrolled in K class at school in Sheveport LA where the age changes Jan 1--
she tested for this school which was a magnet school so she had the appropriate mental/physical capabilities and was doing well socially/grade-wise in her class...
when we moved to TX in Feb--after she had gone to school since August--she was told she could not enter the local kindergarten class...I think that decision was more because the school was overcrowded even though newly opened in August than because she wasn't capable of finished the curricula...
She had to go back to pre-school and do two years there before she could enroll in public school---
I think that really bored her and was one reason she kind of lost her taste for school...
His current teacher, obviously, thinks it would be terrible for him to be in public kindergarten and we should at least wait until 1st grade where they supposedly do more to separate kids by ability. However, I have read that kids come into the public Kindergartens at all levels of readiness and do just fine.
My main concern is that he will be bored and get into trouble. Im not one of those parents that think their kid is a genius and deserves special accommodations, but he has certainly benefited from being in school full time for two years with older kids with access and encouragement to advance at his own pace. In reviewing the info packet I received from the public school, he has mastered all of their Kindergarten learning "objectives" for the
Is his current teacher basing her advice on what she knows to be true about your child and his learning habits/abilities, or is she biased about public schools? I think this should be the primary consideration. Kids behave differently at school than at home.
IMHO, the decision should be based purely on the child - not a "date." Speaking from my own experience: my first child had a fall birthday, and he was one of the oldest of his class. It was a struggle to keep him challenged, and I wished we had put him in a private school where he could have started kindergarten earlier.
Second child had a spring birthday. He actually tested out much higher than my oldest child and was a kindergarten superstar, so we never even considered holding him back. Yet he was one of the youngest in his class, and he was always a little more immature, less disciplined, etc. In hindsight, he might have benefitted from this approach.
Try not to let finances play into the decision too much. Will one more year really eat into your finances that much? Are you really struggling, or are you just frustrated about not taking as many vacations as you would like? (not trying to be flippant here, but sometimes these are the attitudes). If you know in your heart that your child would benefit from being held back, hold him back.
As for your other children, see above. They are individuals, and they will have different requirements. One of them may very well benefit from being held back while the other will do just fine.
Also - have you tried posting this to the "Parenting" forum?
If you're worried he already knows most of the K curriculum, why would you subject him to TWO years of it??? Ignore all those "other parents" - they don't know your kid.
Having said all that, as an earlier poster noted, if you want to keep the "red-shirt" option open, you'd probably need to start with private K, as the public schools aren't going to go for holding him back for a second year of K unless it's completely wheels-off the first year.
As for private K vs. public K:
Unless it's an exceptional learning environment, I would save your money. Keep in mind that the private school has a vested $$$ interest in keeping you there one more year.
Back when my kid was in elementary school, a lot of the kids who came to 1st grade with private K backgrounds were actually lagging in class - so they got negative value for money. Why? Because the overlap between public and private curriculums had quite a few gaps in it. That, and those who held their kids out of public K tended to be "apron strings" parents.
Is his current teacher basing her advice on what she knows to be true about your child and his learning habits/abilities, or is she biased about public schools? I think this should be the primary consideration. Kids behave differently at school than at home.
IMHO, the decision should be based purely on the child - not a "date." Speaking from my own experience: my first child had a fall birthday, and he was one of the oldest of his class. It was a struggle to keep him challenged, and I wished we had put him in a private school where he could have started kindergarten earlier.
Second child had a spring birthday. He actually tested out much higher than my oldest child and was a kindergarten superstar, so we never even considered holding him back. Yet he was one of the youngest in his class, and he was always a little more immature, less disciplined, etc. In hindsight, he might have benefitted from this approach.
Try not to let finances play into the decision too much. Will one more year really eat into your finances that much? Are you really struggling, or are you just frustrated about not taking as many vacations as you would like? (not trying to be flippant here, but sometimes these are the attitudes). If you know in your heart that your child would benefit from being held back, hold him back.
As for your other children, see above. They are individuals, and they will have different requirements. One of them may very well benefit from being held back while the other will do just fine.
Also - have you tried posting this to the "Parenting" forum?
Good luck.
Thanks for this feedback. I think the teacher is talking about him specifically, being bored even if we don't hold him back, and I assume it would be much worse if we do. But her point was that Kindergarteners in the public schools are learning letters and shapes and he is beyond that. I want to be sure this is true or just her perception of public Kindergarten.
I am leaning towards keeping him at grade level but still the private vs. public issue remains as he does seem ahead of the curve. It sounds like maybe your second child adjusted fine even though he was testing advanced?
I will try re-framing my question for the more general parenting forum for additional feedback. Thanks for the suggestion.
[quote=loves2read;38862641]
Thanks for sharing your experience. Just to clarify, y daughter's child is at a 2nd grade reading level now and she is still holding them back a year?
Red shirting is usually done for three reasons. 1. Athletics 2. Academics 3. Social. Academic advantage doesn't last long but physical advantage over younger classmates helps up until teen years. Social advantage depends upon child's personality, some need it while others don't need it.
Redshirting can give boost to average children, help a smaller or slower child immensely but it can be a disservice to a really bright child. For kids with a high IQ, it is more challenging to not being challanged academically then struggling to fit in socially. results depend upon a child, teachers, peers and other factors so there is no definite answer to this dilemma.
My parents made me and my sister skip a grade because we were getting straight A's and not feeling challanged, she really thrived in higher grade while I felt lost and though I managed to get decent grades, my confidence suffered and I developed learning disabilities.
Never heard about red shirting till moving to Texas two years ago. However the cutoff dates growing up were either October 1 or December 1. I was born on the cutoff and my parents say they would have never considered it as it would have a been a wasted year. (probably wasn't a big thing back then either). Anyhoo, I guess I was considered the youngest in the class and honestly didn't make a difference...its not like I skipped a grade or anything.
My sibling was 17 days after cutoff and the school wouldn't budge, so they just coughed up the tuition for a private school for one year and then enrolled in first grade. Did 17 days make a big deal in the long run...no at all (unless letting your drivers license a bit later is that dramatical). We were both athletic and involved and that wasn't even a big deal.
My youngest did kindergarten out of state and is 2 weeks after cut-off..and I was since I had proof that she had completed kindergarten, the school never questioned it with me, had we been in the northeast ,she would be exactly where she should be and I would have never considered having her "redo" kindergarten. She has kids who are "her size" and is petite in nature, but my other older two are the same size growth wise and you wouldn't have been able to tell. No problems socially, grades wise or athletics in nature. Most of the out of state parents I have spoken too think its silly to redshirt.
I personally don't believe in red shirting at all unless there is a real academic reason to do so. Kids are coddled way to much these days.
I have a May baby with a speech delay so my situation is different. After testing twice, I finally got him into speech through the school district, also Allen. He will start Kindergarten at 5 in the fall for two reasons. One is we would likely lose speech if he doesn't start in the fall as dollars are limited if they don't start K when eligible. Also, he has some other minor issues we haven't been able to nail down and we are hoping once he is in Kindergarten, we can figure out if there are any other issues. I will decide later on if I want him to repeat Kindergarten. I don't see that repeating K would be much different than red-shirting. In my son's case, I'm afraid he will fall behind further if he doesn't start and I have no intentions of going with a private school.
Thanks for this feedback. I think the teacher is talking about him specifically, being bored even if we don't hold him back, and I assume it would be much worse if we do. But her point was that Kindergarteners in the public schools are learning letters and shapes and he is beyond that. I want to be sure this is true or just her perception of public Kindergarten.
I am leaning towards keeping him at grade level but still the private vs. public issue remains as he does seem ahead of the curve. It sounds like maybe your second child adjusted fine even though he was testing advanced?
I will try re-framing my question for the more general parenting forum for additional feedback. Thanks for the suggestion.
Kindergarten hasn't been just about learning letters and shapes in a long time. I don't live in Dallas, but my son is now a first grader and his K (public) had much higher expectations than that. He will be expected to be a fairly fluent reader by the time he leaves K. This is in addition to many other skills that move way beyond letter recognition, shapes and colors. These days it is expected that children come into K knowing these things and much more. You might be surprised to learn that your child won't be bored at all, and given the area you live in, it is very likely the other children will enter on the same level as your son and even higher. There were K kids in my son's class who began the year already reading chapter books. By the end of the year a full 1/3 of the class was.
Red shirting should be reserved for children who are not yet emotionally prepared for K. Children who have severe separation issues, emotional issues, etc. Given that your son has been in full time care, it is likely he is emotionally prepared to be away from you all day. He likely knows how to wait his turn, share his toys, sit quietly and receive direction from non-parental adults. You know your child best, but if he is not emotionally or developmentally delayed, I can't imagine why you would delay him a year.
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