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I think we should make kindergarten easier (roll it back to where it was in the 1990s. Kindergarten is the new first grade, and shouldn't be.) and make the cut-off December 31. That way one birth year would be kept together, it's awkward having a few months hang off.
This whole trend of starting school in EARLY August or even JULY is BS, school should start between August 20 and September 10, and end between May 20 and June 15. August should be part of summer break, not May. My county's school district started August 8 this year (2016-17) and ends on May 26. What's wrong with August 22 or 29 and June 2 or 9?
Kindergarten should start about six weeks later (some time in October) and end at the same time in late May/early June. Sending kids to kindergarten on say, October 10 instead of August 8 gives them two more months to mature. Just as an example, a kid born Sept. 30, 2011 (just making the cut-off) would be the same age on Aug. 8, 2016 as a kid born Dec. 2, 2011 on Oct. 10, 2016. Both are 53 days shy of their 5th birthday.
For example, in my high school graduating class, the cut-off was September 30, so the range was <Oct 1992 - Sept 1993 instead of being just all of 1993 and a few scattered LATE 1992 births.
In such an instance, redshirting should be for October - December birthdays who aren't ready for kindergarten. For instance, a December 25 birthday may be one of the youngest in their class or may wait a year (As I probably would have, as I have Asperger's Syndrome).
I think it hinders them, and here's why. Our DS was born April 4th, 1993. The cut-off in our area is September 1st, so he missed the cut-off by a lot, and it never occurred to us to have him take the early-entrance exam. We started him at Kindergarten when he was 5 and he did very well. At the end of the year, it was recommended that he straight to 2nd grade, as they thought he wasn't being challenged enough. We refused. We wanted him where he was, and he went to 1st grade with all his friends. He excelled with ease all throughout elementary school, middle school, and high school, graduating as valedictorian of the class of 2011, and going to a prestigious college. It was college that became a problem. His classes finally became challenging, but because he was so used to breezing through his work with no bumps, he had never learned how to properly tackle challenging problems. He would give up on any assignment that required more than 5% of his brain power, as he wasn't used to having to use any more than that. He got put on academic probation at the end of his 1st semester and got kicked out of the university at the end of the year. He came home feeling all down about himself and wondering what had gone wrong with him. He took a year off to work and travel and the following year(what would have been his junior year), he enrolled at a local community college, and it was there that he finally learned how to work hard. Last year, he transferred to a well-respected state university, and is finishing up his junior year, doing just as well as he did in high school. He's going to be okay, but there's no doubt in my mind that if we had skipped him like we were advised to, he would have been appropriately challenged, and would have learned how to work hard early on, and it wouldn't have been a problem in college. Moral of the story? Don't redshirt just to make your child's life easier, because sooner or later, they will have to work hard and it's better if they learn how to early on.
I'm interested in this topic and people's opinion. Due to various reasons my wife homeschooled our oldest son for kindergarten and now 1st grade. He is enrolled in the homeschool program that is affiliated with our local school district so he gets teacher support and gets to do certain things with the school as well. We are possibly wanting to enroll him in public school this coming year.
We are undecided on whether to enroll him in 1st or 2nd grade. His birthday is august 28th and the cut off is august 31st, he will be turning 7 right at the start of the school year. So he would either be the oldest, or the very youngest, by up to a year. His homeschool "teacher" says definitely 2nd grade but I'm not so sure. Academically, I think he would do fine in 2nd grade, but he'd be with kids who were turning 8 at the start of the school year and have already been in the routine of public school for 3 years now vs his 1st year learning the ropes. So he could possibly be socially behind his peers in 2nd grade. For this reason, I'm leaning towards 1st grade so he'd be one of the oldest. Any educator thoughts on this? Any advantage to being the oldest or youngest in class? Thanks.
We are undecided on whether to enroll him in 1st or 2nd grade. His birthday is august 28th and the cut off is august 31st, he will be turning 7 right at the start of the school year. So he would either be the oldest, or the very youngest, by up to a year. His homeschool "teacher" says definitely 2nd grade but I'm not so sure. Academically, I think he would do fine in 2nd grade, but he'd be with kids who were turning 8 at the start of the school year and have already been in the routine of public school for 3 years now vs his 1st year learning the ropes. So he could possibly be socially behind his peers in 2nd grade. For this reason, I'm leaning towards 1st grade so he'd be one of the oldest. Any educator thoughts on this? Any advantage to being the oldest or youngest in class? Thanks.
I would strongly advise you to put him in 2nd grade. That is where he belongs, and if you put him in 1st grade, everything will be a breeze for him, and just like my son, he won't learn how to work hard until it's too late. Another thing you have to consider is his adult life. The longer he's in school, the longer you have to support him. Do you really want to have to support him an extra year?
This whole trend of starting school in EARLY August or even JULY is BS, school should start between August 20 and September 10, and end between May 20 and June 15. August should be part of summer break, not May. My county's school district started August 8 this year (2016-17) and ends on May 26. What's wrong with August 22 or 29 and June 2 or 9?
The early starts (besides full-on year-round schools) are usually done to finish the first semester before Christmas and/or allow more time for fixed-date standardized testing. With the more traditional calendar the final part of the first semester is after the winter break.
I was always the youngest one in my classes. My intellectual development was on par with my classmates, and I was always about average in size, but I was socially and emotionally somewhat behind my actual age, thus considerably behind most of my classmates. This was not good and it set me up for a number of long term issues.
The poll is too simplistic to be meaningful. I don't think indiscriminate redshirting just to give kids an advantage is helpful. Kids who could handle work at their actual grade level can get bored if red-shirted.
OTOH, I've met people who said that even though they were enrolled appropriately for their age, they had no idea what was going on in kindergarten, and even first grade. They were completely lost. Those are kids who would have benefitted from red-shirting. One sounded like he should have been held back 2 grades.
Kids with late birthday dates should be handled on a case-by-case basis. In my observation and experience, many can handle the work of the class that's 1/2 year ahead of them, and don't suffer socially. They find a niche to fit in with. YMMV with these kids, though.
My son missed the cutoff, so he started Kindergarten at 5.75 years old. I was disappointed that he had to wait another year, but it was good for him personally
But in general, not having any 4 year olds in Kindergarten is always a good idea. Better to have the child older than younger.
I will weigh in, though I really think the poll is too simplistic.
My ds was redshirted with a late May birthday and a cutoff of September. This was a good thing because he was socially not ready. Academically, he was way ahead, but our school system was excellent and he always worked ahead in his areas of strength, math and science. He never had an IEP or a 504 (this was in the mid-70s), but now with what we know because of his son, he probably has asperger's syndrome and dyslexia though not the traditional kind of dyslexia. He always did well academically despite this, but struggled socially until he found his niche in high school and college.
My dd went right on time and did very well. Again academics was not a problem because our school system kept her challenged and she took all honors and AP in high school. She was pretty socially adept and had lots of friends. She's a theater kid - backstage theater though so she did not perform a lot, just created sets and did props, etc. She got her degree in that and she loves working part time at various theaters although she cannot get a full time job doing that especially now that she has her own toddler.
As for me, I went to kindergarten at 4 with a March birthday and feel like the only challenges were in jr. high. Otherwise, I was quite successful academically and I had my *group* of friends.
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