Thread: Red-Shirting?

Have any of you thought about red-shirting? Do any of you have strong opinions on red-shirting?

For those of you knew to the term, it is when parents deliberately hold their children back for an extra year before starting kindgarten. Some studies have shown it to give children an advantageous school experience, due to the fact they may be more physically/socially/emotionally mature than their younger peers (see here )

I'm pretty sure I'm in favor of red-shirting...and in favor of parent's having the choice to red-shirt if they please. As to whether we'll do it for sure, I'm not certain. Laszlo's birthday is early in the school year, so he'll already be a bit older...it really depends on him.

Right now I'm thinking I'm going to homeschool. We have a lot of moving in our future to places with not so great school systems and I'd hate for his education to get messed up thanks to the military. When we start "kindergarten" will depend entirely on him, but I'd start him no later than the year he turns 6.
If for some reason we do put DS in regular school, I wouldn't hold him back but with an early November birthday he'd be one of the oldest anyways for most school systems.

My parents had the choice with my little sister and they chose to hold her back (she liked to talk a lot and they thought waiting a year would lead to her being quieter for k). They regret it now and feel that it negatively impacted my sister. While waiting another year can really help some kids out a whole lot who aren't emotionally or socially prepared, there really was nothing that warranted having my sister wait. She got bored and wasn't challenged in school, which lead to her being a distraction to others and discipline issues. At their district it pretty much takes an act of God to get moved up a grade. She's a senior in high school right now.

In NY the cut-off is either November 30th or December 1st, I can't remember. Both of my kids are fall birthdays and I red-shirted both of them.

With Sam she did 3s preschool the fall she turned 4, then the 4s/universal pre-k preschool the fall she turned 5, then went to K the fall she turned 6. It worked out well for her. She's in first grade now and a LOT of the kids in her class are struggling with the new math standards and she isn't.

With Tom we planned on doing the same thing. His 3s preschool class was REALLY young though - including 3 kids who turned 3 in the fall when he was turning 4. The school recommended we switch him to the 3 morning 4s program. So he just started that today. So this year has been split, then next year he'll do the 5 morning 4s (which is the universal pre-k program), then he'll start K the year that he's turning 6.

After seeing the current NYS math standards there's no way I'd put him in K the year he's chronologically "ready" because it's just crazy. That being said, our district has a special program for kids that are old enough for K but not academically/emotionally ready. The problem is it's full day so he'd still be eating lunch and school and be gone all day. If I don't think he'd old enough for K then I don't think he's old enough for that either

If I had a summer baby I would. DD will be starting right before her 6th birthday. Is that right? When do kids start kindergarten?

Natalie, in your case I think it's crazy to let kids who are 4 and not turning 5 till halfway through the school year into K! Most places have a cut off in September these days (I've seen as early as July and as late as yours though). With Aiden having a November birthday he wouldn't start till he was 5 almost 6. Holding him back another year would have him starting at 6, almost 7! BIG difference.

Erin, Teagan's birthday is one of those gray areas that it depends on the district when they "should" start. For the longest 5 was typical, but I'm seeing more and more with 6 being typical. I think it really depends on the kid!

Originally Posted by alwayssmile

I think it really depends on the kid!

I think you hit the nail on the head! BTW, I was homeschooled.

It will also depend on where we're living when we make that decision, and if we're able to afford Waldorf schools. If we end up going with a private Waldorf elementary, I likely won't redshirt. But if we're still living in a decent area of Portland and public-schooling, we will. I don't know what redshirting statistics in our area look like, but I'm confident that they're much higher than the national average of 20%. It seems like DS would have a disadvantage entering at 5 with so many other older kids!

Thanks for humoring me guys - I know this wasn't directly related to AP, but I'm glad to talk about it with like-minded Mamas!

I'll be homeschooling Ethan starting this fall. He'll turn 5 in July but he's nowhere near ready for K so I'll start with the Pre-k4 program. OTOH, I'm going to check into more details of the curriculum I'll be using to see how Gabriel would do with it (he'll be 3 in December). So there's a very slight possibility one will be a year ahead and the other a year behind (in the same grade) but I'm not holding my breath

Great to see you, Natalie The kids are so big!

Originally Posted by alwayssmile

Erin, Teagan's birthday is one of those gray areas that it depends on the district when they "should" start. For the longest 5 was typical, but I'm seeing more and more with 6 being typical. I think it really depends on the kid!

Well, I'm definitely not starting her when she's 4. I don't care what my district says. I was one of the oldest in my class and it worked out well for me .

Hi Connie!! Yours are big and adorable

I am a December birthday (NY then too) so I was 5-almost-6 and it worked well for me too. One person recently said it's the difference between an extra year of childhood or an extra year of working before you can retire. I guess putting it that way makes me even more a fan of keeping them home an extra year!

Sam's first grade class has something like 5 (almost 1/3) of the kids in the reading group that needs help, along with weekly notes home asking us to PLEASE practice math because it's complicated and most kids are struggling. Sam's in the highest reading group (4 kids in that) and understands the math. For her, I think that extra year really helped. It helps her feel confident too - the kids aren't stupid. They all know who needs help with reading and who is struggling with math. Being one of the kids who isn't struggling is good for her self-esteem. She knows she's smart (and to be fair, there are other older kids who are struggling, it's not just age, it's partly that Sam's really bright and she learned to read at 4.5 so of course she's going to be ahead of kids who were learning to read last year).

My SIL is an elementary school teacher and she says that she can almost always point out the summer babies who started when they were 4. Since I'm still counting my baby's age in months right now I can only imagine that an entire year will still make a huge difference in the 4-6 age range.

I think for some working parents its a matter of finances more than anything. Kindergarten is free and daycare can be expensive. Knocking out that huge payment can really help. We're fortunate in that we'll be able (hopefully) to afford daycare for an extra year. If all goes to plan we'll have #2 in daycare with DD. Sending them to the same place for another year will make our lives a lot less hectic. I'm not sure how my daycare would handle "red-shirting" because they have a Kindergarten now. I don't know if they have a room for 5 year olds. If all her friends are moving up to the Kindergarten class in the Fall she's turning 5 then perhaps it'll be less traumatic to bump her up to the Kindergarten class but then keep her back a year when she moves to another school?