How do I Enroll our daughter in a lower grade? (Cary: home, school districts)

[pradev]

Hello,

I have a question regarding, if we can enroll our daughter, who has finished 6th grade and will be going to 7th grade in the 2016 - 2017 school year, again in 6th grade? She currently enrolled into one of the Wake county schools in the West Cary area. She does good and scored 'Honor Role' (As and Bs couple of times). I am pretty sure that wake county would not allow us to get enrolled her again in 6th grade unless she fails and can't be promoted to 7th grade.

She was born in August in 2004 and has been the youngest kid in all the grades since Kindergarten and all the other kids happen to be at least 7 - 11 months older to her and we see the difference at every level. Now, we are wondering if we relocate to a different county like Chappell Hill/Carboro , Orange county or near by county that have good schools around and can we enroll her in 6th grade again? Or after she is finished her 7th grade at the same school then move to a different county and then enroll again her in 7th grade 2017-2018 school year?


if enrolling in the same grade is not possible in through out NC, then We might also be open to move to another state where good rural school districts are that have good schools if it is possible in a different state.


We are wondering if any body had been through the same path and or have any inputs that would be helpful for us to understand if it is possible and how do we do it.

Thank you in advance,

Dave

[gunni]

I have never come across this, usually find posts from parents wanting to send their kids early to Kindergarten.
Have you talked to your current school administration and shared your concerns ?
I am guessing, your daughter may hate to repeat 6th grade when all her friends are moving up in the same school.
You could try enrolling in her a smaller private or charter school and see if she does better.

I don't remember exactly when WCPSS changed the cut-off date from Oct to Aug.

[JaPaKoMom]

Have you spoken with her school teachers and principal about holding her back? In my experience all it took was speaking with my child's teacher and having him put into the grade we wanted him to repeat. Sixth grade is a little old to be held back so if you are switching schools it might be easier on your daughter. I doubt you would have to move out of state or even out of the county to accomplish your goals. Best of luck in your decision!

[pradev]

Thanks for the quick replies. Actually my wife said we hold her back even before she got enrolled into Kindergarten but I was the one who thought our daughter should just be fine and she has been doing great since KG until now. We did approach her class teachers when she was in 2nd grade and 3rd grade and they always told us that we do not need to do that and she was just fine and they would not recommend to hold her back. She did fine in her 6th grade also. However, it was my idea to explore different ways and see if she can be hold back one more year so, she will be all set for during her come school years and SAT and after that as well.

We did hold our son back one year and put him in the pre-K one extra year. He will be 6 this July and will be going to public school this year in August. So, he just fine. I am just thinking about our daughter to give her more comfort to compete with the older kids not sure if I am thinking right though.

[Francois]

So it sounds like there are two issues-

1) Is it the right thing to do (for HER), to hold her back when she is clearly academically ready to progress?
2) If so, how easy is that to do in Wake county?

For #1, probably somewhere like the Education forum will give you people in the field to talk to about the "philosophical" issues of this. 6th grade does seem a little late to just now be thinking about this. If it were 2nd or 3rd grade, it would be less disruptive for her. My middle school, she is likely to have the stigma of being "held back", even if it was just because of age, forever attached to her.

For #2, find someone at the WCPSS Home Office to talk to about the procedure, which I admit sounds unusual; usually parents are trying to break the deadlines to go UP, not down.

Maybe a year in a private school would be make the most sense, and then back to public? But have you asked your daughter how she will feel suddenly being a year behind her current class?

[annabanana123]

If she's Honor Roll why would you want to hold her back exactly? It doesn't sound like academics are a problem for her. Do you just want her held back purely because of age or for sports or what? I personally wouldn't mess with what isn't broken.

[pradev]

I personally think she would have done better in all respects if she is old enough like the other kids that are older to her I see in all her 6th graders. For instance , during her home work time she wants to still play with her brother and after couple of reminders then she would come back and work on HW may be that is how kids are. She is smart and not that much hard working type of child. For instance, she loves to do math more than language arts where she has to remember all the greek and latin words where most of the English words have originated from. She thinks it is boring to sit down and get them by heart the words in the language Arts. Looking some of these traits it makes me think she is young and holding her back might help with the seriousness and consistency. May be I am over thinking and she may just do fine.

[ERH]

Could you clarify what you said about her A-B grades and making the honor roll a few times? Does she consistently get As and Bs across all subjects, or were the As and Bs you mention an occasional thing?

[pradev]

She gets As and Bs all the time. She only Bs couple of times that she only got Honor Roll over all in 6th grade or else she would have gotten 'A Honor Roll'.

[JaPaKoMom]

Have you spoken with your daughter to see what she would like to do? At her age it can be damaging to her esteem to be held back while her peers continue on, no matter what her grades are.