Repeating Kindergarten?

[mamaley]

We're thinking about having ds repeat Kindergarten. He's in K this year at a Montessori school and would be at public school next year. He is extremely social and gets along with everyone, but we are more concerned with other areas. His speech is young, and academically he is behind his peers in his class. We're thinking he can use some more time in the greenhouse, so to speak. But then I read an article online about a research study that said that kids who stay back in K do not do as well as peers academically in 1st and 2nd grades, and that they have more behavioral problems.

Also, he is going to be tested for dyslexia, to make sure he is not academically behind because of that. This is at the suggestion of his teacher.

Has anyone here had a child with 2 kindergartens? Are there any teachers here who have any advice? What should we do?

[Altair]

teacher here

I would look at his age and the K cut off age-- would he be significantly older than his peers, or did he start K early?

while it is true that repeating K generally doesn't solve a problem outright, it's also true that 1st grade is VERY academically challenging for a lot of kids who aren't quite ready.

what are his particular academic levels? can he read some sight words? can he hear some sounds in words (like spelling "dog" DG) does he know the letter sounds and write all his letters? what can he do in math?

i would be wary of sending a child into 1st without additional help if they didn't have basic K skills by the end of the year. you can play catch-up as much as possible with hometutoring, extra tutoring, summer fun/academic programs, etc. if he is dyslexic i would not hold him back, i would help him get extra services at school. evaluating NEVER hurts.

the only way i would hold a kid back in K is if they were evaluated and did not have any special needs, lacked most basic skills needed for 1st, and were on the younger side.

[mamaley]

Ack! I just wrote a long response and now it's gone.

Ok--his bday is late June, and the cutoff is Sept 1.

Academically--he can read some site words (5-10), can write his letters but needs reminding of how to do many of them, is not spelling at all yet, can do some addition problems, with the help of using manipulatives. If it were up to him, he'd play with blocks and legos all the time and build things...he'll do his academic work, but I can't picture him sitting in a desk for a large part of the day and focusing on this stuff yet.

We're having him evaluated for Dyslexia, but we'd be thinking of sending him to K again anyway.

I was just thinking that it makes sense to give him more time to blossom...he got a chance to do Montessori K, then he'd do PS K which would tranisition him into public school environment while giving him a chance to grow.

But...maybe not...a lot of the research doesn't support it. What do you think of the info I gave you?

[mamaley]

Just wanted to add that I was a summer birthday--my bday is 1 month after his--and I stayed back in 2nd grade. I am so glad that I did, though if my own summer baby is going to stay back, I'd rather him do it before he struggles with school for a few years and then gets the stigma that comes with staying back.

Also, as for the stigma, a lot of his Montessori classmates don't make the cutoff date and automatically will be in Kindergarten (though at different schools). So he thinks it's normal that he would go to K too...not as much stigma there...

[Altair]

academically, i think 1st would be a big jump for him in many districts. Have you talked to anyone in your district about what K/1st are like? does your district have an inbetween k/1st placement?

[mamaley]

Thanks for posting...

No, there's not an in-between class at this school.

The academics in first grade sound challenging in our school district. I've talked to many parents at the local school about first grade. They love the school itself, and have had good experiences with teachers, etc, but they say that there is homework every night in first grade. The homework that I saw from one neighbor doesn't look too difficult--but it does sound like there's a lot expected from them. I'll talk to parents about what they specifically do in both grades.

[Mirzam]

My 8 year old repeated kindergarten and it was the best thing we could have done for her. Her birthday was the actual cut off day, so she was four for over a month in Kindergarten. She was obviously the youngest, one of the smallest and while she probably could have coped both academically and socially moving up with the class, she was always a follower, and often played the "baby" in games. The year she repeated she wasn't even the oldest in the class and she blossomed, she was so much more mature socially, and the extra confidence of knowing the routine was great for her. She found her tribe in the children in her second kindergarten year, although there were a couple of children she missed for a while from her first year.

She is still not the oldest in her 2nd grade class, as the school is a Waldorf/Intergrated Day/Mulitple Intelligences, arts based public school, there are several children who didn't start 1st grade until they were over seven.

[lauren]

mamaley I bumped up an old thread for you on the same subject. There are several, but this one seemed most relevant. /some good info.

[mamaley]

Thanks Lauren.

[trimomma]

I can't speak from direct experience, nor have I read any research regarding keeping a child back in K, but I do have a friend that keep her 'late b-day' daughter back in K and is so happy with her decision. Her daughter is in 2nd grade now and my friend said every year there are more reasons that make them happier and happier to have kept her back. Her daughter isn't as easily lead by others as she was when she was the youngest in class. The main thing my friend said that 'sealed the deal' for their decision was when she and her dh realized that if their dd went to college, she would be a young 18.

Good luck with your decision!

[Karry]

I've been lurking on these threads and I think this is a tough decision to make.

I was a summer birthday and was usually the smallest in my class and I did OK. Both of my older two kids are also summer birthdays. My oldest is in first grade. She did fine in kindergarten and really enjoyed it, but she had a difficult time adjusting to first grade. She is one of the top readers in her class, so it wasn't academics that was causing her to not do well. Emotionally she just was less mature than the other kids in her class. She started adjusting better by Oct./Nov.

My ds1 is in preschool and turns 5 in June. We are planning on having Lucas start kindergarten this fall even though he is small for his age. He is starting to read BOB books and plays well with the kids in his preschool class. I have a friend who has a ds who is a month older than Lucas and she wants to hold him back a year. I just don't know if being small is reason enough to hold back a child. I know especially for boys this can be an issue in older grades with sports and things. His preschool teacher has told us Lucas is ready for kindergarten and that he should do fine. Is it better to hold them back from kindergarten an extra year or have them repeat it?

[writermommy]

Does his Montessori school have first grade, or a K/1 multiage class? I ask because my SIL was a Montessori teacher and I know many of them use multiage grouping. Do any other schools in your area offer multiage grouping? If they do, I would strongly suggest a K/1 class for him. When I taught in a public school with multiage grouping, I had a little boy in my class that was left behind in K. It was basically a maturity issue. By January, he was doing the same level work as my first grade students. So we promoted him. He was classified as first grade for the rest of that year and went on to second grade on schedule. It's amazing how much they can mature over a summer. If that little boy had been in a K only class, he would have remained behind when it wasn't necessary.

Another story: My dd struggled with reading in first grade last year. Her teacher wanted to hold her back in first grade. DD was very upset at the idea. I was a teacher and did a LOT of research on the subject in making our decision. What I found was that most studies showed that ultimately holding them back isn't helpful in most cases. The year the students were held back they did much better and the following year they did better. After that, the students that were held back ended up in the same class ranking as they were before being held back, meaning if they were in the bottom 1/4 or 1/2 prior to being retained, they were back there by the third year after retention. So, no real long term gains were made. Most of this research was found through the American Association of School Psychologists. Since dds problem was reading/phonics and she was fine in other areas, I chose not to hold her back.

I knew she needed more one on one attention and as a teacher, I could do this over the summer. I also put her in a summer reading program because she is very shy. At the end of the summer, I took her into school and her first grade teacher tested her. She was amazed at the progress dd made after dd read the first five stories in the second grade reader with only 2 mistakes. She still gets c's on many of the reading tests, but just brought home a few A's in the past two weeks. Her grades are A's and B's in other subject areas. She is doing fine and I am so glad we chose not to hold her back. I mean, does she really need to be at the top of her class? I was an average student all through school before graduating college with a 3.94 GPA. There's no telling what the future holds.

You know your child best. How do you feel? How does he feel? Is the problem pervasive or just in one or two areas? Really ask yourself these questions, read the research and follow your instincts in determining what is best for your child. For my dd, the damage to her confidence would have been disastrous. Others are more resilient. It is a really hard decision. I've been there. Good luck to you and your son.