DH won't budge on this one

[disykat]

My son with the November birthday will also be 18 most of his senior year by luck of the draw. My younger son with the May birthday would've been 19 a month before graduation if I had decided to keep him out to give him the age advantage. Those are the ones I'm curious about.

 

[Jenzebelle]

My sister will turn 19 2mos after graduation this year. Most of her friends are at least 6mos younger than she is. Her boyfriend of 2yrs is 11mos younger than she is.

It doesn't faze her in the least to be older than her friends. She doesn't get teased about her age, and she was never made to feel anything than what she is - an extremely bright, athletic, popular, and beautiful girl.

My parents learned an important lesson by not putting me in preschool and putting me in Kindergarten so young. Socially I was not ready for it - I had no experience with kids my own age until Kindergarten and then I felt like a freak because I was the only kid that could read.

My sister had maturity issues, so my parents held her back a year (as they did with my brother). And they have said repeatedly that they have never regretted it.

 

[BethR]

Originally posted by Rock'n Robin

Another thing is that our district doesn't really hold kids back that I've seen-in our district report cards there is a zero retention rate--now I don't know if that's because they are all so smart they can move on, or if the district just wants a zero retention rate!

Exactly the reason that I feel that your DS should NOT go to Kindergarten until you think that he is absolutely ready!

It is pretty much the same in our school district - NO one is held back - except occasionally a very few in Kindergarten. The school district seems to be more concerned about how a child feels about not being their classmates than with how much they know! A child will MUCH more easily get over having to make new friends in class, than having to struggle thoughout their school years!

I have volunteered at our school tutoring those children who need some extra one on one help. When I talk to the teacher who coordinates this program, I cannot tell you how many of these students are being pushed along because the school district will not retain them!
And how many times I have heard people put their kids in Kindergarten as soon as they are of age - because they want to save on child care!
Since you cannot depend on the school to do the right thing once your child is in the system, I STRONGLY encourage parents to make sure that their child is absolutely ready when they start kindergarten!

My oldest DD was 18 1/2 when she graduated. She has a December birthday and our cut-off is September 1. She was in the top ten percent of her class and had many friends on varying ages. Some were already 19 when they graduated. One was barely 17 when she graduated due to her placement after home schooling and moving school districts. I do not think that there was any real difference in these kids. They were all within 24 months in age - I don't think that it makes a whole lot of difference in the late teen years
.
Best of luck for you and your DS, Robin.

Making decisions concerning our children is sometimes agonizing.

 

[Pam]

My daughter has a mid-September birthday, she started school when she was 5 and then turned 6 a couple of weeks later. Currently she is 17.5 years old and is a junior. She will be 18.5 when she graduates next year.

My son has an end of April birthday. We chose to wait and send him to kindergarten when he was 6, something we have never regretted. Currently he is in 8th grade. He will have turned 19 a little more than a month before he graduates High School.

Over half of the parents in our school district have decided not to send their children to school until they are 6.

Both children are honors students in accelerate classes, involved in school, Church, and other activities.