Education and school discussion, venting welcome!

[Pookie]

Yes, she was a late birthday. July 14 birthday for a Set 1 cut-off. So she was one of the youngest (if not the youngest) in the class. During our discussions with the K teacher, she brought up this fact and said her delay in this area could very well be because she's still quite young. So yes, she was young for her class, not young in the grand scheme of a 5 year old goes to K, you know what I mean?

)

Just of of curiosity, why you say she's not young for going to kinder? I ask this because we're contemplating sending my DD to kinder next year with an Oct bday. Cut-off here is Aug. 31st. However redshirting is really prevalent here. We switched preschools this year so she could do pre-k, but the director pointed out that many kids will be almost 1 1/2 years older than DD if we do that since most summer bdays hold back here. Haven't made any decisions yet. Just trying to get as much info to make a good decision. But I definitely don't want to send her next year if she's going to end up needing more help just for being on the young end, kwim?

[dragonfly_71]

I grew up with milk straight from the farm, literally, I would walk to the farm with my milk jug in the early evening and buy milk from that day's milking. But even that milk was pasteurized already. They did not sell untreated milk because of e-coli concerns even when we asked for it to make yogurt. I don't buy shelf stable milk because I can't stand the taste but DS doesn't mind it. He brings a water bottle to school every day but at the beginning of kindergarten he asked why he couldn't have milk or juice for his snack like the other kids and well, I really didn't see a reason why he couldn't have milk, especially since he can definitely use the extra calories so I started packing Horizon milk for snack. But in the paperwork we got from his teacher for first grade it stated that an extra juice or milk drink for snack is not necessary. I don't know if that means she doesn't want kids to bring a drink or just that it's optional. I didn't pack milk for snack today and I'll ask DS what the other kids had and we'll go from there.

[E&O]

Pookie- My thought was in most cases you go start K when you turn 5. And so she was 5 and using that logic, she wasn't necessarily "young" for K. And maybe in her classroom she was the youngest but if you looked at a larger group of K kids, she was right were she should be age-wise. (I'm still not sure if that makes sense).

I knew she was close to the cut-off and I knew 'redshirting' was growing in prevelance (maybe I was a little niave as to just how much of that went on), but DH said if the enrollment assesment showed no reason to hold her back, then we would not. We felt she was mature enough and had been in a daycare/pre-school setting since 3 months so we figured she was prepared for that aspect. Her pre-assesment score was 75/100 so we figured we'd move ahead. That's what we used to make our decision.

And I don't think you can assume she'll need help just because she in on the young-side.

In other news, the teacher assignments were mailed out Friday and we still haven't received hers. She is sooooo anxious to know who she got. Our neighbor and 2 of her good freinds are all in the same class so far. It will take a stroke of extremely good luck for her to be assigned to that teacher as well. The odds just don't look good. Hopefully we find the letter waiting for us tonight.

[Annette]

I get funny looks cause I am not red shirting DS. He's slated to start K next fall and I am pretty sure he'll be ready. He will turn 5 the first week of school.

[mcgwigan]

I'm always so interested in the young for K discussions -I'm thinking maybe there's a regional pattern? Here in NY our cutoff is Dec 1 so a child born in July would be in the mid age range. There's a ton of DSS's friends with October & November birthday's. I wouldn't hesitate to send a July or August birthday to K when they turned 5...although my DSS was started when he turned 5 the first week of school and DH thinks, in hindsight, we should have held him back. DS2 has an 11/7 birthday and there is no way I'll send him to K when he's 4 and not turning 5 until November!

[kristin]

I get funny looks cause I am not red shirting DS. He's slated to start K next fall and I am pretty sure he'll be ready. He will turn 5 the first week of school.

Be prepared to deal with this often. DD is 6 months younger than the next oldest child on her class. I can't tell you how many obnoxious comments I get from other parents, ranging from "How could you do that to your child?" to "You'll pay for pushing her ahead in middle school". Depending on the snarkiness of the offender, my answer ranges anywhere from "We've done alot of research and we are comfortable with our decision" to "I won't "dumb-down" my child just because everyone else does".

DD missed the cut-off by only two days(which shows how prevalent red-shirting is) and she is well ahead of her classmates both academically and socially. Her BFF is 14 months older.

There are only 2 classes of third grade at DS's school. After the first day of school it is apparent that the grade was split according to ability level. I volunteered often for reading groups for both classes last year so i'm aware of only their reading abilities. The parents who have kids in the lower group are incensed, and I'm pretty
irritated too. DS was placed in the higher group but all of the boys who I'd rather DS play with are in the other class. I am looking forward to him being more challenged, but I'd like him to have a nice peer group as well. Guess you can't have it all.

[Annette]

Kristin - those are some crazy comments.
I am curious as to how the classes are going to be split up whether it's by ability or birthday. I think there's 5 classes of each grade at the school. I have no idea if DS has to take a test or do some sort of assessment before kindergarten. I know there is one if your child misses the cutoff and wants to get ahead, but no idea about the on time kids.

[gardenmommy]

Re: redshirting
While I think each parent has the right to hold back a child at their discretion I often wonder how they will explain their choice to their child. DD had her 7th birthday at the beginning of this month, and the next day we attended one of her classmates 8th birthday parties. Their age difference came up in conversation and the birthday boy asked his mom why my DD was a year younger and they were in the same class...the mom explained that some kids start early. It was awkward to say the least, but IMO thsee types of answers will only last for so long before the kids start to really want to know why. I'd hate to gave to explain things like that to my kids.

[Pookie]

Re: redshirting
While I think each parent has the right to hold back a child at their discretion I often wonder how they will explain their choice to their child. DD had her 7th birthday at the beginning of this month, and the next day we attended one of her classmates 8th birthday parties. Their age difference came up in conversation and the birthday boy asked his mom why my DD was a year younger and they were in the same class...the mom explained that some kids start early. It was awkward to say the least, but IMO thsee types of answers will only last for so long before the kids start to really want to know why. I'd hate to gave to explain things like that to my kids.

Yea, but I'm thinking this will go both ways. We had a long conversation tonight because DS (March bday) wanted to know why DD is going to have to test into kinder when he didn't have too. I'm also concerned about explaining to DD why we pushed her ahead instead of letting her have another year at home. The prevalent comment around here is, "You'll never regret the extra year." (I'm personally still in favor of her starting next year with her Oct. Bday. I also have an Oct bday and hated being older than everyone. But in that era the trend was to push ahead.)

[Pookie]

Kristen If we start DD next year with her Oct bday, most likely the next oldest kid will also be 6 months ahead. How is your DD doing with that? Does it bug her that other kids are older? The biggest concern other people have voiced is how it will play out in jr. high/ high school. I know that's still far off, but do you have any thoughts on this? Big topic in our house right now since we just left our beloved preschool so DD could do pre-k this year. Got to say, I love my boys spring bdays, lol.