Post by karinothing on May 26, 2020 9:13:19 GMT -5
How are you feeling about Fall 2020? Have you heard anything from your school? Our school hasn't even opened kinder registration yet (it is typically opened by now).
I have always been anti red shirting but the online learning is the only thing that has ever made me question it (Although who knows if things would be normal in Fall 2021). DS1 turns 5 on July 29th (cut off is Sept 30). I have zero idea how he will complete online learning, I can barely get him to attend a 15 minute zoom meeting with his preK class each day (we get in about 2 classes a week). Plus, this school is immersion and I don't know how he is expected to learn Spanish without an actual classroom.
I hope they find a way to get kinder kids in the classroom.
Post by farmvillelover on May 26, 2020 9:22:35 GMT -5
We were going to send my august birthday son on time to kinder. It’s Spanish full immersion. We are likely (eta: almost definitely) holding him back because We can’t replicate 8am-2pm Spanish immersion at home. I was already hesitant about starting him on time and pretty anti redshirt but this pandemic has made our decision easy for us.
We had our parent information session in early March. All of our assessment and registration meetings have been canceled and we are submitting paperwork via email.
I am fully expecting us NOT to go back to school in fall 2020 (or on a very limited schedule) and remain on remote learning. I’m not happy about it but our Kindergarten teachers are amazing. I’m going to have to wait and see how this plays out
Some of this is kid dependent. My DS is ready for kindergarten and we are going to move forward with enrollment no matter what. We have already started him doing “school work” this spring to help get him acclimated to the schedule. But yes. This sucks.
Post by gretchenindisguise on May 26, 2020 9:25:24 GMT -5
Our youngest is going to kindergarten in the fall (hopefully). He's on the older side already (November birthday), so no thoughts of redshirting him. This is also the only glorious year that we will have both kids in the same school, so I'm sad at the prospect that we won't be able to enjoy it.
We have registered and they are doing the assessments via information we filled out and they sent home a thing to have him write his name, abc's, and numbers 1-10.
No idea yet what school will look like in the fall. I see it starting fairly normal-ish and then going distance learning for a time in the winter - but who knows. That's pure speculation on my part.
Post by patches31709 on May 26, 2020 9:26:00 GMT -5
My DD1 is supposed to start K in September. Our region of NY just entered Phase 1 of reopening today. We weren't nearly as hard hit here as other parts of NY (or even our own region). We registered for K in March days before things shut down, so that's all set. She was supposed to go for an in-person assessment. That was cancelled and they sent me a survey to answer instead. We have no idea what will happen in September - distance learning will never work all day every day - so my fingers are crossed they are able to come up with a plan to safely bring the kids in.
Post by jennistarr1 on May 26, 2020 9:28:12 GMT -5
First I will say, I've seen this discussed on local boards and the best response I've seen is to forge ahead as normal and consider repeating a grade if child doesn't seem to do well in K, whatever format it ends up being in
My daughter is an April birthday so the question for us isn't sending her to K...but where
currently she's signed up for a private catholic school and its difficult to imagine paying for tuition and still teaching her myself! Short term--fine, long term--not fine.
I think we are still forging ahead. The school has responded by cutting instructional fees in half (112 instead of 250). From what I've heard online learning at our local public school didn't go well. Apparently K at our catholic school was also done poorly (one zoom meeting total, no interaction with teacher outside of that, late packets) but other grades were better
We've composed an email, but haven't sent it...basically asking what the plan might be. This academic year was sprung on them so no time to prepare. But at this point, I think they need to prepare for fall being online, not wait and see!
Our youngest is going to kindergarten in the fall (hopefully). He's on the older side already (November birthday), so no thoughts of redshirting him. This is also the only glorious year that we will have both kids in the same school, so I'm sad at the prospect that we won't be able to enjoy it.
We have registered and they are doing the assessments via information we filled out and they sent home a thing to have him write his name, abc's, and numbers 1-10.
No idea yet what school will look like in the fall. I see it starting fairly normal-ish and then going distance learning for a time in the winter - but who knows. That's pure speculation on my part.
Our district already said it will be highly unlikely to have full in person school in the fall and that distance learning is the most likely option.
DD1 is supposed to start this fall. She's a May birthday and I think she's ready, so I wouldn't hold her back. She has been full day daycare since she was 1. Our school district did registration already, but all the K events were scheduled for May (open houses, story times, K assessment) and were canceled. I'm so disappointed that she won't get the "normal" experience, but that's life these days. I'm hearing rumors that school will be distance learning in the fall here too. I have no idea how that will work with Kindergarten. I'm also wondering if they may do remote learnign for the older kids and in person school for the younger kids only. We will see. I was really upset about this at first, but I've come to accept it and whatever they do, I will try to roll with it. H and I are lucky that we'll probably be able to flex our work schedules and hopefully still WFH to accommodate if it is distance learning. I worry about people who don't have those options and what they will do. It is a really hard position to be in.
Maybe I'm just having a hard moment as a kinder teacher/parent right now, but if I found out my kindergarten student was going to start off online learning and I had the option to wait a year and it wasn't a huge burden, I'd wait a year. My son has a September 1st birthday (so we missed out cut off by 24 hours anyway), but him being the oldest was the best thing for him and I couldn't even picture him being in 3rd grade right now.
We were going to send my august birthday son on time to kinder. It’s Spanish full immersion. We are likely (eta: almost definitely) holding him back because We can’t replicate 8am-2pm Spanish immersion at home. I was already hesitant about starting him on time and pretty anti redshirt but this pandemic has made our decision easy for us.
Right? How are we supposed to replicate Spanish immersion at all? I don't think I would mind starting him on time otherwise. He knows his letters and numbers, is reading a bit and can do simple math. He is probably ready otherwise?
DS1 is doing distance learning for Spanish immersion and while it is easier being older, the immersion experience is lacking.
I have a daughter who will attend kindergarten next fall (Fall 2021) so I’ve been thinking about this a bit. I realized that people would be hesitant to send their children this fall given the circumstances. I can’t say that I would be thinking any differently at first.
The flip side is that next year’s incoming kindergarten classes are going to be larger than normal. That will have consequences for their entire school time, too.
The whole situation is messy. But, if my daughter was set for kindergarten this fall, I would forge ahead and send her.
We were going to send my august birthday son on time to kinder. It’s Spanish full immersion. We are likely (eta: almost definitely) holding him back because We can’t replicate 8am-2pm Spanish immersion at home. I was already hesitant about starting him on time and pretty anti redshirt but this pandemic has made our decision easy for us.
Right? How are we supposed to replicate Spanish immersion at all? I don't think I would mind starting him on time otherwise. He knows his letters and numbers, is reading a bit and can do simple math. He is probably ready otherwise?
DS1 is doing distance learning for Spanish immersion and while it is easier being older, the immersion experience is lacking.
Mine knows his letters and numbers but not letter sounds. I didn’t sweat that much since they end up learning a different alphabet than normal in Spanish. I actually felt starting immersion as a younger vs older kinder was an advantage. But yeah, no way either of us have to be the teacher. My oldest has a Spanish tutor daily I hired literally just to have conversation with him in Spanish for almost an hour a day so he kept his fluency up.
Send them. If they do poorly, repeat kindergarten next year.
Our district doesn't really do that (apparently it is near impossible to get a kid to repeat) but who knows if that will change with what is going on. Also, the evaluation for whether they can repeat or not is only in English (since it is state parameters not school specific) so not very applicable to Spanish.
Right? How are we supposed to replicate Spanish immersion at all? I don't think I would mind starting him on time otherwise. He knows his letters and numbers, is reading a bit and can do simple math. He is probably ready otherwise?
DS1 is doing distance learning for Spanish immersion and while it is easier being older, the immersion experience is lacking.
Mine knows his letters and numbers but not letter sounds. I didn’t sweat that much since they end up learning a different alphabet than normal in Spanish. I actually felt starting immersion as a younger vs older kinder was an advantage. But yeah, no way either of us have to be the teacher. My oldest has a Spanish tutor daily I hired literally just to have conversation with him in Spanish for almost an hour a day so he kept his fluency up.
Yeah, my kid has a Spanish tutor too. He could work with the younger one, I guess.
These discussions are making me very nervous for July/August babies who will start in the fall of 2021. With the number of people who are going to redshirt their kids this year they will be SOOO much younger than everyone else with the high number of redshirts that are bound to happen this fall.
UGH. I mean, it sucks and I'd be hesitant to start my kid this fall too, but this is going to affect kids for several years if so many are held back.
Thankfully I guess my November baby isn't starting K until 2022.
Maybe I'm just having a hard moment as a kinder teacher/parent right now, but if I found out my kindergarten student was going to start off online learning and I had the option to wait a year and it wasn't a huge burden, I'd wait a year. My son has a September 1st birthday (so we missed out cut off by 24 hours anyway), but him being the oldest was the best thing for him and I couldn't even picture him being in 3rd grade right now.
This is only kind of related, but I'm going to put this here anyway.
I've noticed in real life the teachers in my life are pretty pro-redshirting. And it seems like you as a kindy teacher are not against it either. So...sometimes I wonder if the anti-redshirting is really just a GBCN thing. Most of the teachers I know IRL seem fine with it and actually are encouraging me to do it for my August baby (who is not even 1 yet so WTF).
ETA: I have no plains to redshirt him at this time.
I have a daughter who will attend kindergarten next fall (Fall 2021) so I’ve been thinking about this a bit. I realized that people would be hesitant to send their children this fall given the circumstances. I can’t say that I would be thinking any differently at first.
The flip side is that next year’s incoming kindergarten classes are going to be larger than normal. That will have consequences for their entire school time, too.
The whole situation is messy. But, if my daughter was set for kindergarten this fall, I would forge ahead and send her.
This is where I am at. My daughter goes in fall of 2021 and I am seeing so many people talking about holding their kids back. I can't even imagine the class sizes when she goes. Not to mention the huge age ranges of kids. She could be in class with kids that are almost 7! That just doesn't even seem "fair". I use fair subjectively, because this is truly a first world problem. But thinking that for the rest of her school career she will be competing against so many kids that are so much older then her seems rough.
I'm sending her. She's a March B-day, has done 2 years of pre-k and is ready. School will be different for every kid in the nation this fall. We will adjust. There's no guarantee that things will be "normal" in 2021 so I'm going with the flow.
Also, age adjustments are really common in my area with older kids. Usually, one year doesn't make a difference but if there are a slew of red-shirted kids, they'll adjust them at some point to make the grade levels manageable.
I had a lot of hesitations about kindergarten with my oldest and not even kidding, in this situation, I think I would have homeschooled kindergarten and for her it would have been fine. She was academically ahead anyway. I know that's not popular here, but I really think that's what I would have done.
My youngest goes to kindergarten this fall. As long as her 3 big sibs are going, there's no point for me in keeping her home. She will want to go with the big kids, too, although I have no idea what "school" will be or what our busing will be like.
Dd is going. She turns 6 in September. If she was a summer bday I would consider holding her back. At our school kinders dont do distance learning- only packets. How is that going to work? That isn’t K. I’m really nervous and anxious about the whole thing.
Maybe I'm just having a hard moment as a kinder teacher/parent right now, but if I found out my kindergarten student was going to start off online learning and I had the option to wait a year and it wasn't a huge burden, I'd wait a year. My son has a September 1st birthday (so we missed out cut off by 24 hours anyway), but him being the oldest was the best thing for him and I couldn't even picture him being in 3rd grade right now.
This is only kind of related, but I'm going to put this here anyway.
I've noticed in real life the teachers in my life are pretty pro-redshirting. And it seems like you as a kindy teacher are not against it either. So...sometimes I wonder if the anti-redshirting is really just a GBCN thing. Most of the teachers I know IRL seem fine with it and actually are encouraging me to do it for my August baby (who is not even 1 yet so WTF).
ETA: I have no plains to redshirt him at this time.
Honestly it's because what we expect now in kindergarten and the amount of work given is something you should see in first grade. Students really need to get a good base of social skills and how to self regulate before heading in to kindergarten to be able to meet the academic expectations some districts and teachers have- now, this is all completely school/teacher dependent. I like to think I do a pretty good job of fostering my students' ability to make choices, learn through play, get hands-on experiences. But I'm a veteran teacher who is comfortable with pushing back on admin or simply closing my door and doing what I know is right. If you have a first year teacher or overbearing admin? It's a different story. There isn't nearly as much play in kindergarten as there should be and if you have a child who could benefit from another year of pre-k to grow emotionally and gain some maturity, then I say go for it.
what are your options for continuing pre-k? At your current daycare, right?
Our daycare offers private K, so he would do K at the current daycare and then enroll in K again in 2021. I would not normally object to doing a year of Private K and then starting him in first, but he wouldn't be able to meet the Spanish requirements for first since private K would not be immersion.
Maybe I'm just having a hard moment as a kinder teacher/parent right now, but if I found out my kindergarten student was going to start off online learning and I had the option to wait a year and it wasn't a huge burden, I'd wait a year. My son has a September 1st birthday (so we missed out cut off by 24 hours anyway), but him being the oldest was the best thing for him and I couldn't even picture him being in 3rd grade right now.
This is only kind of related, but I'm going to put this here anyway.
I've noticed in real life the teachers in my life are pretty pro-redshirting. And it seems like you as a kindy teacher are not against it either. So...sometimes I wonder if the anti-redshirting is really just a GBCN thing. Most of the teachers I know IRL seem fine with it and actually are encouraging me to do it for my August baby (who is not even 1 yet so WTF).
ETA: I have no plains to redshirt him at this time.
I don't have a kid entering kindergarten this year, but as a teacher I am pro-redshirting for select reasons. If a kid with a summer birthday is noticeably behind their peers (noticeable to their preschool and Pre-K teachers--parents are not great at evaluating this) socially and emotionally I would MUCH rather see them redshirted than start school "on time." Cutoff dates are truly arbitrary, and kids develop the skills they need to be successful in a school environment at times that are unique to them.
FWIW, I teach high school. Even in 9th and 10th grades I can usually tell which kids in my classroom have summer birthdays. When my August baby entered Pre-K I asked his teacher to give me an honest assessment of his kindergarten readiness at Christmas. She did, and he wasn't ready to go into kindergarten at barely 5. We held him back. It was probably one of my best parenting decisions. He was never the academic superstar of his class, and he never will be, but he's always been socially mature enough to navigate friendships and control his impulses in the classroom. That matters a lot.
This is only kind of related, but I'm going to put this here anyway.
I've noticed in real life the teachers in my life are pretty pro-redshirting. And it seems like you as a kindy teacher are not against it either. So...sometimes I wonder if the anti-redshirting is really just a GBCN thing. Most of the teachers I know IRL seem fine with it and actually are encouraging me to do it for my August baby (who is not even 1 yet so WTF).
ETA: I have no plains to redshirt him at this time.
I don't have a kid entering kindergarten this year, but as a teacher I am pro-redshirting for select reasons. If a kid with a summer birthday is noticeably behind their peers (noticeable to their preschool and Pre-K teachers--parents are not great at evaluating this) socially and emotionally I would MUCH rather see them redshirted than start school "on time." Cutoff dates are truly arbitrary, and kids develop the skills they need to be successful in a school environment at times that are unique to them.
FWIW, I teach high school. Even in 9th and 10th grades I can usually tell which kids in my classroom have summer birthdays. When my August baby entered Pre-K I asked his teacher to give me an honest assessment of his kindergarten readiness at Christmas. She did, and he wasn't ready to go into kindergarten at barely 5. We held him back. It was probably one of my best parenting decisions. He was never the academic superstar of his class, and he never will be, but he's always been socially mature enough to navigate friendships and control his impulses in the classroom. That matters a lot.
This is pretty much exactly how all my IRL teacher friends feel. I'm glad it worked out for your son!
Maybe other places are different but a student would have to be seriously behind (like, an entire year+) to repeat a grade where I live. One of my sons had undiagnosed learning disabilities & was really behind at the end of K & the school wouldn't let him repeat. Summer school plus extra services the next year.
So before anyone thinks "Eh, no biggie if it doesn't work out", you may want to see how easy it is for a child to actually repeat a grade. Fortunately, a lot of the social stigma probably isn't so much there if the year is going to be mostly online.
OP, I, personally, would reshirt. I cannot imagine having to navigate distance learning with a barely 5yo
Maybe other places are different but a student would have to be seriously behind (like, an entire year+) to repeat a grade where I live. One of my sons had diagnosed learning disabilities & was really behind at the end of K & the school wouldn't let him repeat. Summer school plus extra services the next year.
So before anyone thinks "Eh, no biggie if it doesn't work out", you may want to see how easy it is for a child to actually repeat a grade. Fortunately, a lot of the social stigma probably isn't so much there if the year is going to be mostly online.
OP, I, personally, would reshirt. I cannot imagine having to navigate distance learning with a barely 5yo
Right, it is nearly impossible in our district to hold kids back .
These discussions are making me very nervous for July/August babies who will start in the fall of 2021. With the number of people who are going to redshirt their kids this year they will be SOOO much younger than everyone else with the high number of redshirts that are bound to happen this fall.
UGH. I mean, it sucks and I'd be hesitant to start my kid this fall too, but this is going to affect kids for several years if so many are held back.
Thankfully I guess my November baby isn't starting K until 2022.
Yup, I'm here. I have previously been annoyed that my November baby missed the cut off but I am SO GLAD he will not be entering K in fall 2021.
From what I've seen starting K as a virtual program is not an workable for families where all parents work or have other duties such an infant childcare to attend to. I have two kids in e-learning. The older one has a program that would not work and younger one has a program that works overall but would require a lot of parental involvement for a younger kid.
I am sure there are other models out there than the 2 I've seen but I think virtual learning under 8 is unique challenging. My 3rd grader is mostly independent but he still gets frustrated when the links don't work or tries to get into the wrong class because he things it is Thursday when it is Friday.
While I am opposed to red-shirting this might be one time where the overall circumstances would lead me to consider it. I would hope that K, 1st and 2nd graders are the first one's back into the building even if older grades continue with remote learning. I also hope our DOE sets better guidelines for fall. Schools can do pretty much whatever now.