We regret redshirting our son. Skipping a grade fixed the problem.
A parent shares her experience of 'redshirting' her son, only to find that skipping a grade was the better solution for his academic needs. The piece highlights the challenges of navigating varying kindergarten age-cutoff dates across different states.
Why it matters
It illustrates the practical difficulties parents face with school enrollment policies and the ongoing debate regarding the benefits of holding children back versus accelerating their education.
The author held her son back Courtesy of the author Different kindergarten cutoff dates led us to start our son in kindergarten just before he turned 6. By first grade, he was significantly ahead academically and was becoming bored. With his teachers' support, we moved him to second grade halfway through the year. Redshirting my son was based on a technicality. He was born in Maryland, a state where children must be 5 before September 1st to enter kindergarten . With his late October birthday, he was ineligible on the cusp of his 5th birthday. Instead, he entered pre-K through the Montgomery County Public School system. It was the fall of 2020, six months into the COVID pandemic. Even virtually for most of the year, he learned so much from his amazing teacher.
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