HELP advise Child late birthday need to redshirt Kinder inMD

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Maryland Teachers Chatboard

HELP advise Child late birthday need to redshirt Kinder inMD

by Dena

Mar 15, 2012

I am desperate. My husband is being transferred to Maryland from California! Our school district in California offers an amazing "Teddy" program aka transitional kindergarten for the children with late birthdays! Especially boys! My son was to be enrolled in this amazing program for fall 2012 but we are moving to Maryland! Maryland offers nothing close to this program from what I have researched. Everything is a pre-k which is preschool for 4 year olds. I have researched for days and days and have found nothing! Not even private schools! I'm very concerned because my sons birthday falls late and he needs the "Teddy" program aka Transitional Kindergarten! I feel like I'm at a dead end! I've contacted several principles, school board etc in Maryland and they have no clue what I'm talking about! Today I contacted the state board of education in Maryland and am waiting for a call back. I'm really at a loss, can someone please help direct me?

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what is your son's birth date? You don't say what your son's age is, so what to you mean by late birthday? Take a breath and calm down. You do not NEED to redshirt your son. You are moving and being stretched thin by stress. Maybe my story can provide some perspective. When my son (born in November)was age 4 (in the mid-1990s), Maryland allowed all kids who were going to turn 5 ...See MoreYou don't say what your son's age is, so what to you mean by late birthday? Take a breath and calm down. You do not NEED to redshirt your son. You are moving and being stretched thin by stress. Maybe my story can provide some perspective. When my son (born in November)was age 4 (in the mid-1990s), Maryland allowed all kids who were going to turn 5 by Dec. 31 (Maryland teachers, correct me if I am wrong)to start kindergarten in August, even if they would not turn 5 for four more months. Many parents of kids with late birthdays went ahead and enrolled their kids in kindergarten, on the assumption that the state must know what it is doing. My son was of a sensitive nature (he still is) and his dad and I thought it would be in his best interest for him to be one of the older ones in his class rather than one of the youngest. We simply kept him in a wonderful preschool another year, and then enrolled him in a small private religious school which was a great environment for him. He absolutely loved it and thrived there. We would have kept him there except that it went out of business after his first grade year. He then went to public school

In later school years, occasionally my son would complain when friends who were younger than him (December birthdays) were a year ahead of him in school, but other than that it worked out fine. Several years ago, Maryland changed the age cut-off for kindergarden so I believe they have to be five much earlier in the year (before school starts?) in order to start kindergarten. I assume your son is your first child and yes, it is scary to turn your precious baby over to a big bureaucracy of a school system. Many moms feel this way. I sure did. You were all mentally prepared for what they have in CA and now you feel panicky that your son may be in an environment that is less suited for him. I am sorry if Maryland does not have as many options, but as long as your child will be aged 5 when he starts Kinder., why not look for a small private religious school with small classes, a nurturing atmosphere, and lots of individual attention, and enroll him in Kindergarten there? That would be my route.

On 3/15/12, Dena wrote: > I am desperate. My husband is being transferred to Maryland > from California! Our school district in California offers > an amazing "Teddy" program aka transitional kindergarten > for the children with late birthdays! Especially boys! My > son was to be enrolled in this amazing program for fall > 2012 but we are moving to Maryland! Maryland offers nothing > close to this program from what I have researched. > Everything is a pre-k which is preschool for 4 year olds. I > have researched for days and days and have found nothing! > Not even private schools! I'm very concerned because my > sons birthday falls late and he needs the "Teddy" program > aka Transitional Kindergarten! I feel like I'm at a dead > end! I've contacted several principles, school board etc in > Maryland and they have no clue what I'm talking about! > Today I contacted the state board of education in Maryland > and am waiting for a call back. I'm really at a loss, can > someone please help direct me?

Mar 15, 2012

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