Redshirting in preschool

[athens]

@motel6oceanside That sounds great! When he transitions out of Montessori, I’d definitely advise allowing him to take classes at whatever level is appropriate while still technically staying in his grade (this also gives him an advantage in college admissions).

 

[tgia413]

@motel6oceanside Thanks for the insight. He seems to be on par socially and academically for a child who is about to turn 4. I guess part of my apprehension is making the decision now when he hasn't even started his PreK-4 year. If he were showing signs of not being ready for Kindergarten at this time next year, it would be something to seriously consider if we felt the extra year would benefit him. But I think at this point when he still has another year of preschool, it is too early to make that decision. His current preschool will allow children to repeat the PreK-4 year, but not 3/4s. I think I was a little shocked by the suggestion that any child with a birthday in the latter half of the school year repeat just so they can be 6 when they go into Kindergarten. I know from experience a lot of kids would be bored to tears doing a second year of PreK instead of going to K.

 

[motel6oceanside]

@tgia413 If you put him in the 4s class next year and he wasn't ready to move up to K the year after, or you thought he could benefit from extra time in PK- could you make the decision to repeat the PK4 twice?

 

[tgia413]

@motel6oceanside Yes, we could. This is what I have heard of happening more frequently. Parents of kids on the "younger" side of the class can opt to repeat the PreK-4 year, which often makes sense because it'll be a more solid foundation in the skills needed for Kindergarten, not to mention extra time to mature. The downside is that if you use your state funded hours, you can't use them twice and some preschools won't allow you to repeat their program, so you'd have to choose a different school for the second round.

I just feel like deciding now that he should repeat his current year is premature, especially when it is suggested from someone who I met for 5 minutes and who spent a grand total of 2.5 hours with my child. She said he behaved wonderfully, was listening, etc, but wasn't keeping up with the "academic" work they were doing. Which...was to be expected? He's 3 and spent the day with children an entire year ahead of him in school, some of whom repeated a year so they're the age of a typical Kindergartener.

I just fear if we decided NOW to have him repeat, we may come to regret it if the second round of PreK-3 is boring or repetitive and then we'll have made the decision to alter his entire educational track before he even turned 4. I am not sure what parent would decide so quickly to do that, but I guess a lot of parents are more eager to have their child be older than the others in the class.

 

[motel6oceanside]

@tgia413 From a random stranger on the internet- I would follow your gut and not repeat the current year. There's no reason at this point, IMO.