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Teacher wan'ts to hold son back in 1st grade..UPDATE been tested

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I enjoyed kindergarten so much that I took it twice. They changed the cut-off-date after the first go around so I stuck around for another year.
 
If anything, move him into more advanced classes. If he's bored and not being challenged enough, repeating the grade would only make it worse.
 
If maturity really is the problem the teacher should be recommending an accelerated program so he can be with kids closer to his age doing the "older" kids work.
 
Many schools aren't so fortunate as to have accelerated programs for smart kids with behavioral issues.

Maybe this is how the teacher thinks she can help him.
 
randomrogue said:
Your call. I was right before the cutoff as well but the age difference was only a year. Why in the world are there 8 and 9 year olds in 1st grade? They placed me with the 4th graders when I was in 3rd grade so I was with older children and it's not that big of a problem but I'll be honest I would have preferred to have been around my friends my own age.

5 - Kindergarten
6 - First grade
7 - Second grade
8 - Third grade
9 - Fourth grade

If anything you should find a school that doesn't have dumb kids in it. That's what this really boils down to. You have a normal kid, smart, who's bored in his classes. Find him an accelerated school. I was bored too but they had the gate program and later on I went to Magnet schools which was pretty awesome until I moved to a school district that didn't have them and was bored out of my mind again.
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lol

yeah my daughter is in 5th grad and 10 years old. She is the youngest in teh class. There are 11 and a few 12 yr olds.

She is the smallest in her class. hmm she could also be the smallest in 4th, 3rd grades. heck she is smaller then some of the Kindergartners.


The school is good in other stuff though. My daughters class avarage score in the State standardized testing is 90%. nearly all the kids are high for reading and math.

It is one of the reasons we moved into the area. it was about the time my daughter was in K that we started hearing stories about them holding back for BS reasons. They talked about doing it to my daughter based on size. but that was dropped. She has always been very mature and bright. hell in fact i think to mature for her age at times.
 
waggy said:
lol

yeah my daughter is in 5th grad and 10 years old. She is the youngest in teh class. There are 11 and a few 12 yr olds.

She is the smallest in her class. hmm she could also be the smallest in 4th, 3rd grades. heck she is smaller then some of the Kindergartners.


The school is good in other stuff though. My daughters class avarage score in the State standardized testing is 90%. nearly all the kids are high for reading and math.

It is one of the reasons we moved into the area. it was about the time my daughter was in K that we started hearing stories about them holding back for BS reasons. They talked about doing it to my daughter based on size. but that was dropped. She has always been very mature and bright. hell in fact i think to mature for her age at times.
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Do you think your kids will grow up to be short? Because then they'll just need to adapt to being smaller than their peers.
 
I'm not so sure dumbing down things for a smart kid is going to help things. Do you guys all remember 1st grade? You solidified your reading and writing skills from kindergarten and made macaroni hand turkeys for thanksgiving. I'm sure there was some math in there too but you get my point. Can you imagine a smart kid having to retake that? The school he is in is really ass backwards since the majority of first grade was about learning how to work in groups, cooperate, identify what a whale is, how an egg hatches, grow lima beans, etc. Nine year olds doing that is a giant joke.

Obviously moving isn't a reasonable option but if you're by Chicago I would assume they have some kind of accelerated programs and schools.
 
I would tell them no way. If your child is fine with classes move him forward.

If my parents did that crap to me (following this stupid idea from the school), I would be resentful layer in life as it would be wasting a year of my life.

My daughter acts out at times in school and I have never considered holding her back.
 
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waggy said:
lol

yeah my daughter is in 5th grad and 10 years old. She is the youngest in teh class. There are 11 and a few 12 yr olds.

She is the smallest in her class. hmm she could also be the smallest in 4th, 3rd grades. heck she is smaller then some of the Kindergartners.


The school is good in other stuff though. My daughters class avarage score in the State standardized testing is 90%. nearly all the kids are high for reading and math.

It is one of the reasons we moved into the area. it was about the time my daughter was in K that we started hearing stories about them holding back for BS reasons. They talked about doing it to my daughter based on size. but that was dropped. She has always been very mature and bright. hell in fact i think to mature for her age at times.
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Well considering they're 1-2 years older than most classes, they better damn well be good at testing. 😉
 
Do not hold your child back for anything other than academic reasons.
If he is bored now, having to do the same things again next year will only make it worse.
Sounds like the teacher is an idiot and I really question how a school could allow kids that old to be held back that much.
It is Illinois though so it should surprise me much.
 
Sounds very similar to my son. I would definitely have a meeting with the school's Principal or VP, the guidance councilor, and the teacher.

My son barely makes the cutoff. School analysis tests are above average intellectually, but has some problems with self control, appropriate reactions to situations, and overall emtional maturity. But, he's fucking 6...

Same complaints for him: doesn't want to sit still, would rather play outside, etc...

Yea...he's a 6 YO boy, duh.

I would not advocate holding him back, if he's less challenged academically next year...he'll be even more bored.

All the schools want now is little robots who pound out worksheets like there's no tomorrow.
 
SheHateMe said:
Some Kindergartens have cut off dates for when your child becomes age eligible to attend. Some kid's birthdays fall after the cut off and they have to wait an extra year to get into Kindergarten. It isn't unusual to have a child turn 7 in Kindergarten or be 8 in second grade.

I have a cousin who is the same age as me that was held back after moving to Ohio, his birthday was too late they said and they wouldn't let him start kindergarten. He is a whole year behind me in terms of school. When I graduated HS, he was still in 11th grade.

My sister is 5 and was able to start on time..but, her birthday is in May. My cousin's birthday is in November.
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Yeah I get the cutoff and I can see one or two, but that seems like excessively old for the majority to be.

KT
 
waggy said:
lol

yeah my daughter is in 5th grad and 10 years old. She is the youngest in teh class. There are 11 and a few 12 yr olds.

She is the smallest in her class. hmm she could also be the smallest in 4th, 3rd grades. heck she is smaller then some of the Kindergartners.


The school is good in other stuff though. My daughters class avarage score in the State standardized testing is 90%. nearly all the kids are high for reading and math.

It is one of the reasons we moved into the area. it was about the time my daughter was in K that we started hearing stories about them holding back for BS reasons. They talked about doing it to my daughter based on size. but that was dropped. She has always been very mature and bright. hell in fact i think to mature for her age at times.
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I was the smallest guy in my class since I was a year younger. Ok so I wasn't going to play varsity football in high school. That's ok. There are plenty of other sports out there that don't require you to be large. Get your kids into Soccer, Martial Arts, Tennis, Badminton, Gymnastics, Cheer, etc.

One thing is certain, nobody in my school was over 1 year older than me. There were definitely no 19 year olds graduating. Ok one exception - there was a half retarded guy who was 20 or 21 when he graduated. Complete exception to the rule.
 
I realize that I tend to spam this in every thread, but is homeschooling an option? If this school is crazy enough to think that normal boy behavior is so much of a problem he needs to be held back, I would not want him in that school. If homeschooling is not an option, could you get him into a different school in the area?
 
My parents were in the exact same predicament when I was a young lad. My situation was nearly identical to what you're describing with your son. Fight, fight, fight to not get him held back. My maturity eventually caught up to my peers, and I shudder to think what could've happened to me if I was let to intellectually rot on the vine for an entire year.
 
I don't have kids, but, I can relate to your son in some ways since school was boring and not challenging to me at all.

It sounds like your son has a problem. His problem seems to be that he is intelligent/smart.

Holding your son back is a HUGE mistake. He needs more challenging content.

Maybe they should instead think about skipping him up a grade? Maybe if he skips a grade the classes will be challenging enough to keep him interested?

Otherwise, If the school is incapable of giving your son a good education, you may wish to look at private school enrollment, moving to another city with a better school district, or going with a home schooling option? These may not be possible/feasible, but, I really think holding your child back is going to hurt them in the long run.
 
Red Storm said:
Well considering they're 1-2 years older than most classes, they better damn well be good at testing. 😉
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how the hell do you think this school is keeping those test scores high? Holding the smart kids back so the test scores look better.

In my high school they forced us to take AP classes, because one of the metrics used to determine how "good" a school is, is to see what percentage of students take AP classes, well that's great, but 1/2 of those students are failing those AP classes 😀
 
randomrogue said:
I'm not so sure dumbing down things for a smart kid is going to help things. Do you guys all remember 1st grade? You solidified your reading and writing skills from kindergarten and made macaroni hand turkeys for thanksgiving. I'm sure there was some math in there too but you get my point. Can you imagine a smart kid having to retake that? The school he is in is really ass backwards since the majority of first grade was about learning how to work in groups, cooperate, identify what a whale is, how an egg hatches, grow lima beans, etc. Nine year olds doing that is a giant joke.

Obviously moving isn't a reasonable option but if you're by Chicago I would assume they have some kind of accelerated programs and schools.
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that is our question. He is bored with the work now, he is doing well in teh "math" (basic addition and subtraction. ones and tens only) he knows all the shapes, etc. As i said for reading he is above 1st grade level.

I think he would be bored shitless having to go over what a square is and 1+1 is again when he is doing 12+3 and nailing it.


edit: just found a math page. its not 12+3 its 70+4 etc. doing rows of 10 and 70+5 etc.he gets it right. they also do something called "math minute" where they do a sheet of addition/sub and he gets nearly 80% with 1-2 wrong. there are 30 on the page.
 
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what the hell ... 9 years old in first grade? that means they will be able to drive before they get to highschool lol?

when i was in school i had a late birthday and i graduated 8th grade when i was 13. most people were 14.

that puts me at 6 in 1st grade and the others at 7.

8-9 year olds in first grade would be like holding back us for 2 years in a row. fuck that...
 
Mixolydian said:
If anything, move him into more advanced classes. If he's bored and not being challenged enough, repeating the grade would only make it worse.
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yep, he's probably bored because he's more advanced than his classmates. It's sad that instead of rewarding and encouraging him to move ahead, they're more content to try and make him conform to what every other student in the class is doing and punishing him by making him repeat course work he's clearly already excelled at.

Does that school offer any advanced classes?
 
waggy said:
My son's teacher want's to hold him back in first grade. the reason? immaturity.
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Don't. Do. It.

Be thankful he's gonna leave this teacher behind when he gets to 1st grade.

But - get him tested for 'gifted', and find out how his school handles gifted children. Around here, they get assigned tougher work in class and advanced topics, providing more of a mental challenge. If he's bored, it's possible he'd enjoy being challenged .
 
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