S/O general board: redshirting?

[Marie463]

I was reading the thread on the general board regarding redshirting (holding kids from attending K for an additional year for varied reasons) and was wondering how this impacts kids who are advanced/gifted.

 

For example....I was recently speaking with a friend who sends her ds to public school. He is gifted and the school allowed him to attend 1/2 day K (which is the norm here) and then finish out the rest of the day in 1st grade. Then, he started 2nd grade the next fall - when he normally would have been entering grade 1 - which made him the youngest in his class. And now that he is the youngest in his class, he is in a classroom with kids who are not just one year older, but in the case of those who were redshirted, two to almost three years older! Crazy, huh?

 

So, does anyone have any stories/experiences to share about how redshirting impacts kids who are gifted?

 

 

__________

Mom to DS (4) and DS (18m)

[KristenS]

No personal stories, but a similar discussion came up on another gifted forum. There were folks there who did it both ways ... redshirted for maturity issues, and then went for acceleration and grade skipping. It sounded weird at first, but then I figured, as a homeschooler, that's what I do with my kid in the areas he needs it ... so why not?

 

I do think it makes it hard for a classroom teacher to teach to such a wide range of abilities. Not that teachers can't do it, but that today's overall lack of discipline and the stupid strict adherence to a curriculum (rarely chosen by the teacher) makes it VERY hard for them. So, though I'm not in favor of age segregation, I do think that redshirting makes it rough overall for the class. I'm sure it helps some kids, but it doesn't much help the group.

 

A pity we can't just do away with ages, and work with ability grouping ... but even then the ranges are wild ... kids who can read high school materials at 5 but sure can't do similar level written work ... wiggly kids ... and so on... Sigh.

[patchfire]

Redshirting was one of the big reasons we initially chose homeschooling!

 

The school cut-off here is September 1, but school begins around August 10 each year. Her birthday is August 5! I knew someone with a daughter two years older, also with an August birthday, and her very bright, already reading, probably gifted, etc. daughter had been put in special ed classes... because her scissor skills (and other fine motor skills) were not up to par with all of the other kids in her class. Keep in mind, this little girl was technically four when she started kindergarten, and was in a class full of kids very close to turning seven! Of course she had different fine motor skills!

 

So, looking at the redshirting trends around us, we knew that dd would struggle from a fine motor skills standpoint and probably also socially. If we had kept her back, though, her academics would have suffered mightily. Now that she's older, in theory, she could merge with her appropriate class without trouble (well, except now she wouldn't fit in their math scheme!).

 

But, yes, I think it definitely has the potential for a negative impact on gifted kids.

[nova147]

I've been told redshirting is why our school district refuses to consider early kindergarten entrance. DS is an early October baby and was SO ready for kindergarten this fall, even according to the district's psychologist (who agreed to test him knowing the district wouldn't allow him entrance because we wanted to take the results to some private schools). After the testing, she and the kindergarten principal both told me that he was ready, but that so many of the kids would be 6 turning 7 that it would be hard for him anyway. I guess I'm just glad homeschool is an option for us.

[Jen in PA]

Redshirting is not quite as much of a problem here as it seems to be in other areas, but it is an issue that gets raised when people hear that my dc have summer birthdays. Since we homeschool this hasn't been a problem, but I know it would be an issue if we sent them to ps. I started K when dd was 4, and did the same a few months ago with ds..... so the gap would be massive for us.

[skaterbabs]

I'll chime in on the other side. We *didn't* redshirt Yacko, and in hindsight it was a serious mistake despite his advanced academic abilities. He's paying for it now, and will start high school late.

[melmichigan]

Redshirting was one of the big reasons we initially chose homeschooling!

 

So, looking at the redshirting trends around us, we knew that dd would struggle from a fine motor skills standpoint and probably also socially. If we had kept her back, though, her academics would have suffered mightily.

 

:iagree: My DD started K at 4, she was beyond ready but had the fine motor issues and until this year was having a little trouble with creative writing. She was age appropriate, just not grade appropriate at the time. She has since caught up.

 

My other DD was more than ready but because of her birthday wouldn't have been allowed to start. Good thing that was the year we decided to homeschool.

 

My concern is, if you hold the child back and then request acceleration/grade skips or other accomodations down the road, how likely is the school to react positively? I see that as a potential problem. The other thing you get is the comparison with a gifted child who is working a few years ahead, and the child who really should just be a year or two ahead. We had that come up a few times with my DD, we were constantly having to remind the school of her age. She was 9 and in 5th grade and needed higher work while being compared to a 11 or 12 year old who needed the same level of work. There is a difference. :D

Edited January 6, 2010 by melmichigan

[StephanieZ]

Well, I'd rather imagine that the red-shirting of OTHER kids would be generally beneficial for gifted kids in the class since it would raise the *average* level in the classroom and thereby hopefully encourage the teacher to teach to a higher level.

 

(Of course, this doesn't address the issue of how much more chaotic the classroom would be due to the wider age range/ability range of the students. . . Though, perhaps that might even be beneficial as it would pressure the teacher/school to ability group instead of teach the entire class as one level.)

 

Since it is generally beneficial for gifted kids to be grade-accelerated and/or ability-grouped, I'd imagine that red-shirting of other kids would help the non-red-shirted gifted kids.

 

I'd imagine that in general red-shirting would be the last thing you'd want to do for a gifted kid as it would decrease the relative challenge of the classroom for the child.

 

This issue is one of the many reasons that contributed to our decision to homeschool. Our oldest has a December birthday and I knew she'd be better off academically entering K at 4-turning-5, not 5-turning-6 (which was an option when I was that age, but was not in our school district).

 

I couldn't have early placed her at that time, but I could have waited until her 1st grade year (hs'ing or private schooling K at 4-turning-5). . . and then placed her in 2nd the following year. . . But, doing that would have meant she'd have been in classes with kids soooo much older, and I didn't want her

 

a) going off to college that early (not yet 18) or

 

b) socially exposed to a peer group of up to 18-24 mos older than her for the many years of her schooling.

 

The only "normal" school option to get her the gifted/accelerated schooling she needed would have been a private school for the gifted, which was over $20K/yr per child. . . which would have been utterly unaffordable for us over the long haul with 2 additional gifted dc coming up. . .

 

I think it is better that I was able to keep my kids at their age-official schooling years while enriching/accelerating content flexibly over time, anticipating that they MIGHT skip a final year or two of "high school" in favor of local college attendance or even going away one year early because I can easily make those decisions once each child is closer to the time. . . so as to guage readiness at that time. But, we aren't committed NOW to the age at high school graduation/completion. . .

[Laura Corin]

Well, I'd rather imagine that the red-shirting of OTHER kids would be generally beneficial for gifted kids in the class since it would raise the *average* level in the classroom and thereby hopefully encourage the teacher to teach to a higher level.

 

 

If the intellectual level is higher, that would be good for gifted children. Many gifted children, however, have fine motor skills that do not match up with their intellectual ability. Surrounded by children who are much older, they may find that the intellectual challenge is so wrapped up with the motor skill requirements of the class that they are not able to keep up.

 

Calvin just made the cut-off when he started K-equivalent at 4 3/4. Some children in the class had been red-shirted. He was unable to keep up in writing, so was left alternately bored and frustrated.

 

We actually tried to keep Calvin back a year because of his fine motor skills and social skills. We were told that he was too tall!

 

Laura

[melmichigan]

I think it is better that I was able to keep my kids at their age-official schooling years while enriching/accelerating content flexibly over time, anticipating that they MIGHT skip a final year or two of "high school" in favor of local college attendance or even going away one year early because I can easily make those decisions once each child is closer to the time. . . so as to guage readiness at that time. But, we aren't committed NOW to the age at high school graduation/completion. . .

 

:iagree:

[asta]

If the intellectual level is higher, that would be good for gifted children. Many gifted children, however, have fine motor skills that do not match up with their intellectual ability. Surrounded by children who are much older, they may find that the intellectual challenge is so wrapped up with the motor skill requirements of the class that they are not able to keep up.

 

Calvin just made the cut-off when he started K-equivalent at 4 3/4. Some children in the class had been red-shirted. He was unable to keep up in writing, so was left alternately bored and frustrated.

 

We actually tried to keep Calvin back a year because of his fine motor skills and social skills. We were told that he was too tall!

 

Laura

 

Two notes -

 

One, I have a niece who is over 6 feet tall and is also exceptionally gifted. By 7th grade, they simply moved her to the high school (skipped 8th). Then, near as I can tell, they moved her to 11th after 9th grade.

 

Now, yes, she stuck out like a sore thumb (her dad is 6'6", so she being 6'3" is odd, but not unexpected), but she is a complete introvert. She plays NO sports, so it isn't like people are doing the "hey! tall girl for the basketball/track/soccer team!" thing. She's smarter than EVERYONE around her (some of the teachers don't even want her in their classes), and although she is the sweetest, politest, most un-in your face girl (eg: she doesn't go around correcting people or anything) - the reality is, her brain is moving WAY faster than the people around her.

 

But she is STILL only just 15. What on earth is she going to do? Go away to college at 16? The colleges near where she lives aren't up to her level. Big sigh there.

 

Next - my own kid started school in Europe and was inadvertently moved up a grade when we moved from one country to another. He was very tall, very smart, and no one noticed. It wasn't until I was HSing and looking towards high school that it dawned on me that, although he was ahead academically, he was going to be eaten alive socially (1 1/2 years younger + Aspergers does not equal a non-stressful PS freshman year). We deliberately slowed down to put him "in line" with PS guidelines, though he'd actually end up 6 months "older".

 

And then we just ended up HSing for highschool...

 

 

a

[KAR120C]

Honestly? Getting a good fit at PS would have required WAY more than a particular age range. We would have had to deal with an academic fit that was several years off, more variability in the early years than one grade could address, pacing issues no matter what his classmates ages, topical/ interest issues... I don't think anyone else's choices about grade placement would have made a bit of difference.

 

We have relied upon the flexibility of homeschooling in so many ways - pacing, appropriate materials, going to a greater depth in some areas while glossing over those that aren't as interesting, different group learning opportunities that allow him to work with a wide range of classmates/ teammates and sometimes be the youngest and sometimes the oldest... and working on our own when a group just won't fit...

 

I know we're kind of an extreme case, but I really think homeschooling has always been our only good option. If PS here had the flexibility that I've heard of in other places (I have friends with similarly extreme cases for whom the public schools have worked rather well, with enough accomodations), then with some luck we might have been able to make it work. But the ages of his classmates would have been the least of our worries.

[cougarmom4]

I'll chime in on the other side. We *didn't* redshirt Yacko, and in hindsight it was a serious mistake despite his advanced academic abilities. He's paying for it now, and will start high school late.

 

If you don't mind my asking, could you elaborate on how it is affecting him now? We also didn't redshirt our July/Aug birthdays due to academic abilities. I'd like to hear from someone who has btdt.

[StephanieZ]

If the intellectual level is higher, that would be good for gifted children. Many gifted children, however, have fine motor skills that do not match up with their intellectual ability. Surrounded by children who are much older, they may find that the intellectual challenge is so wrapped up with the motor skill requirements of the class that they are not able to keep up.

 

Calvin just made the cut-off when he started K-equivalent at 4 3/4. Some children in the class had been red-shirted. He was unable to keep up in writing, so was left alternately bored and frustrated.

 

We actually tried to keep Calvin back a year because of his fine motor skills and social skills. We were told that he was too tall!

 

Laura

 

Alas, asynchronous development is a hallmark of gifted kids. :)

 

I think the trickiest thing about schooling gifted kids has got to be that unevenness of advancement. Otherwise, it would obviously be a no-brainer to simply advance them.

 

Back in the day (70s/80s), gifted education was treated as a branch of special ed! My mom was an attorney and did some education law and even acted as an administrative judge in cases where parents were fighting for services for special ed kids.

 

Gifted kids had the same rights to an appropriate education as disabled/"special" ed kids. My mom used that aspect of the law to keep me in gifted ed classes in JR high even when my behavior was very bad and the teachers wanted me out. :) Her successful argument was that the ps system had an obligation to educate me appropriately, and gifted classes weren't a privilege. . . they were a RIGHT just like special ed for diablied/ld/ed kids. If you tested in to GT, you stayed in.

 

Today, I know our former county (Fairfax Cy, VA, which is still among the best ps systems in the US) has not only gutted the amazing center-based (school w/in a school) gifted program I attended, but treats gifted placement as a reward for good behavior/performance as well. It's nuts. . . as the research is clear that gifted kids often act out and/or underperform if they are not adequately challenged. . . they are BORED. . . so bad behavior in class can be a symptom of needing specialized education. . .

 

I am sad about the current state of gifted education in regular schools. It seems that gifted kids are being used as teacher's aides and as test-score boosters. . . their individual gifts are not given adequate nurture. I am glad I can give my own dc the best at home, but I feel sad for the kids and our country that most gifted kids are stuck in ps where they are taken advantage of and educationally neglected.

[Storm Bay]

No personal stories, but a similar discussion came up on another gifted forum. There were folks there who did it both ways ... redshirted for maturity issues, and then went for acceleration and grade skipping. It sounded weird at first, but then I figured, as a homeschooler, that's what I do with my kid in the areas he needs it ... so why not?

.

 

 

Not quite the same thing, but re: holding back and later skipping--one of my kid brothers had a best friend who was held back in K because he wasn't ready for gr 1, but later was skipped and reunited with those he was in K with.

 

It might be hard for the teacher, but having a classroom of dc at the same academic level of various ages might be easier than having a classroom of age peers who really need materials at different levels.

 

But the writing thing can be an issue. I had a year where no one knew what to do with me (okay, I had many years like that, but this is one.) I went to a private school for gr 5. I was put in a gr 6 reading class/English class. It was too easy, so I was moved to a gr 7 class (the highest in that school). My writing skills were inferior, however, so I ended up in a gr 5 English class. I have no idea what they were thinking, but that last move was horrendous for my self esteem and I still remember it. Of course, that class was with my main teacher who called the three Karen/Karins in the class by their first name and last initial and one of us had a surname that started with the letter P, so she wasn't exactly a beacon of wisdom, was she?

[Storm Bay]

Another thought in light of the post about not putting a 6 yo with a group of 6 yos. That is something that has to be individually addressed, since some dc are also accellerated socially & emotionally. I had a close friend I met at 10 who had started K at 4 and had absolutely no trouble socially, etc, with her peers. She was also known as a brain, of course. She ended up graduating a semester early and went to Cornell shortly before her 17th birthday to start midyear. We lost touch sometime during her time there so I can't say how everything ended up, though, and there are too many people with her name for me to have been able to find her.

 

Personally, I find homeschooling perfect for my dc due to asynchronous development (for one fine motor issues and late reading, for another socially, for a third other reasons). Even if they had even development, there isn't anything around here that would have been a good fit for them.

[skaterbabs]

If you don't mind my asking, could you elaborate on how it is affecting him now? We also didn't redshirt our July/Aug birthdays due to academic abilities. I'd like to hear from someone who has btdt.

 

Academically, he could EASILY handle the work. In K he was one of just two or three student in his class who understood before starting school that L,M, N, O and P are separate letters. He could identify every letter in the alphabet by ASL sign or in print, and could count to 30 before his second birthday. At 18 months he was using the broom handle to pop the chain on the front door so he could get out. Emotionally & socially he was a year behind his classmates, and had turned 5 less than 6 weeks before starting K. Behaviorally, he was a problem. His teacher adored him, but he was obviously not ready for a school setting.

 

After K we requested that he be held back because we KNEW, as did his teacher AND the school administration, that he simply was not mature enough for 1st grade, but since he was holding his own academically, they would not retain him. At the end of first and second grades the scenario was repeated. Between 2nd and 3rd, we moved into a different county and it would have been an ideal time to hold him back with absolutely NO social issues as a result. The new school refused to hold him back because the hold school promoted him. For the next few years it just got worse and worse until he was (incorrectly, but it did provide him an IEP) diagnosed as ADHD/ODD. (We suspect he has Aspberger's Syndrome based on the testing Wacko went through before his DX of PDD-NOS/HFA.)

 

When he finished 5th grade we again requested that he NOT be promoted. He was not ready for middle school academically or emotionally. They promoted him anyway, telling us "About half of the IEP 6th graders fail 6th grade anyway." :confused::angry: So basically they were telling us they didn't care if he failed 6th and frankly expected he would do so, and were sending him ANYWAY.

 

We had some other issues with the middle school, which he attended during summer school for a few weeks, after which we pulled him. Most of what we went through would have not been an issue had he been given that extra year to mature, as his maturity level appears to run about 15-18 months behind his chronological age.

[Jen in PA]

Another thought in light of the post about not putting a 6 yo with a group of 6 yos. That is something that has to be individually addressed, since some dc are also accellerated socially & emotionally. I had a close friend I met at 10 who had started K at 4 and had absolutely no trouble socially, etc, with her peers. She was also known as a brain, of course. She ended up graduating a semester early and went to Cornell shortly before her 17th birthday to start midyear. We lost touch sometime during her time there so I can't say how everything ended up, though, and there are too many people with her name for me to have been able to find her.

 

Personally, I find homeschooling perfect for my dc due to asynchronous development (for one fine motor issues and late reading, for another socially, for a third other reasons). Even if they had even development, there isn't anything around here that would have been a good fit for them.

 

This is something that I think about often. DD is a social butterfly and gravitates towards older children. The friends she has made lately in both our neighborhood and our hs co-op are 3 years older than she is. We don't have to do anything official about grade level for quite some time, but I have no trouble with having started her early since she fits right in socially with the grade level that I consider her. Her handwriting might be an issue in ps, but my 13 year old stepson who is in ps actually has much worse handwriting and has always been the oldest in his class (just missed the cutoff for K), so I really don't worry about that too much, either.

[joannqn]

I know we're kind of an extreme case, but I really think homeschooling has always been our only good option.

 

:iagree:

 

I can't picture school working for either of my kids on any level other than recess.

 

I am sad about the current state of gifted education in regular schools. It seems that gifted kids are being used as teacher's aides and as test-score boosters. . . their individual gifts are not given adequate nurture. I am glad I can give my own dc the best at home, but I feel sad for the kids and our country that most gifted kids are stuck in ps where they are taken advantage of and educationally neglected.

 

:iagree:

 

This is one reason I ended up homeschooling. When I was in school, I shelved books for the librarian every day while my class did math. I didn't get to rejoin my classmates for math until they caught up. When I was finally put into the GATE program, all it really amounted to was more writing. Suddenly, our assignments were 10 times longer; rather than writing a page about an insect of our choice, we were writing 30 pages about an insect of our choice. I'm not exaggerating...I wrote everything you could possibly ever want to know about ants, complete with cover, table of contents, bibliography, illustrations, and graphs. By the time I got into middle school, we all entered the same classes as everyone else. I didn't want that to happen to my kids.

[Storm Bay]

This is something that I think about often. DD is a social butterfly and gravitates towards older children. The friends she has made lately in both our neighborhood and our hs co-op are 3 years older than she is. We don't have to do anything official about grade level for quite some time, but I have no trouble with having started her early since she fits right in socially with the grade level that I consider her. Her handwriting might be an issue in ps, but my 13 year old stepson who is in ps actually has much worse handwriting and has always been the oldest in his class (just missed the cutoff for K), so I really don't worry about that too much, either.

 

 

I just realized I made a typo and said "putting a 6 yo in a group of 6 yos"--that last one should have been 7 yos, but thankfully the rest of it fixed that, didn't it? I'm no typing ace.

 

As for fine motor skills, both of my dd's were able to print letters, etc, at 3, but that doesn't mean either of them has lovely handwriting now. They could if they were to slow down and work at it more carefully, though, since they did well enough in handwriting. However, they could do the written work. Ds, OTOH was more behind in fine motor skills than even most boys his age. I don't care what the studies say, as a piano teacher and one who has discussed this with some very experienced piano teachers, most boys are behind most girls in fine motor skills at the age of 6 regardless of academic savvy or lack thereof.

[Storm Bay]

 

I

 

This is one reason I ended up homeschooling. When I was in school, I shelved books for the librarian every day while my class did math. I didn't get to rejoin my classmates for math until they caught up. When I was finally put into the GATE program, all it really amounted to was more writing. Suddenly, our assignments were 10 times longer; rather than writing a page about an insect of our choice, we were writing 30 pages about an insect of our choice. I'm not exaggerating...I wrote everything you could possibly ever want to know about ants, complete with cover, table of contents, bibliography, illustrations, and graphs. By the time I got into middle school, we all entered the same classes as everyone else. I didn't want that to happen to my kids.

 

They had my dd reading stories aloud to her class and things like that in gr 2, her last year in ps.

 

An interesting read is a book called Gifted Grownups. I didn't read the entire book, but I thought it interesting that amongst all of her suggestions for parents of gifted dc working with the schools, she pointed out that most gifted grownups who had fond school memories learned at home (that's how I remember it--she could have been addressing the one category of gifted grownups I belong to, the ones she called independent.) I was amazed that she didn't suggest that as a help. There is more to the book than that, however.

[skaterbabs]

DD is a social butterfly and gravitates towards older children. The friends she has made lately in both our neighborhood and our hs co-op are 3 years older than she is.

 

Dot is the same way. She has figure skating lessons once a week, with a 45 minute practice session before her class. She's possibly the youngest child there (certainly she's in the youngest group of kids) being only 6 years and 3 months old. She adores the older kids, and at her practice session last night, rather than playing with the kids who were close to her in age, she "aped" the kids n that 10-12 age range who were actively practicing their skills in preparation for their lessons. It's not at all uncommon to take her to a public session and find her glued to a younger teen.

 

At her current rate, she'll be starting 3rd grade work in September. She won't turn 7 until October. We'd only intended to keep her home until 3rd grade and reevaluate when she was old enough (3rd grade) for the gifted pull-out program. Somehow I suspect that it will be difficult to get her enrolled at grade level. :glare: Guess who will likely be home for longer than planned? :tongue_smilie:

[LibrarianMom]

They had my dd reading stories aloud to her class and things like that in gr 2, her last year in ps.

 

 

At my dd's school, in 2nd grade reading aloud to the class is the reward for all students when they meet a certain reading level. They make a huge deal out of it.

[EKS]

I was told by my older son's first grade teacher that he was completely immature (which was true) and that I should have held him back (June birthday) and I should consider repeating first grade. At the time, even though I had no clue that he was gifted and he was academically about two years behind I decided to keep him at his grade-by-age level. Now, in grade 8, he is doing mostly high school level work (with the glaring exception of AAS 3, LOL) and has been doing some high school level work for the past three years. If he were in school at this moment and redshirted, he would now be in 7th grade, probably bored out of his mind. I am SO glad I didn't decide to hold him back.

[talexand]

I almost held my middle child back. I wouldn't call it red shirting in his case because it would have been done to meet his needs, not to give him an advantage. He has an August birthday and he had a lot of anxiety at 4-6 years old. At just turned 5 there was no way he could go to K in elementary school. He still needed the support of a small preschool environment so I kept him with his preschool teacher who taught a Pre-K/K mix. She taught the kids at their own level so he was getting mostly first grade work from her.

 

When it came time for first grade I planned to send him to public school K because he was still really not ready because of his anxiety. But he insisted on going to first grade so I let him make the decision. He was pretty insistent and it was his battle. In first grade he was accelerated in reading and math to second grade. He was 1 to 2 years younger than the kids there but it was his favorite part of the day. Red shirting isn't done much here or the difference could have been even more but at that point I don't think it would have made much difference. I already had to work with the teachers to make sure they understood what he needed to be successful. It helps that he wants very much to be good and not draw attention to himself. That adds to his anxiety but it also makes things easier for the teachers and makes them more willing to help him out. But it also means that I have to let them know when he needs some help. He is working on asking for help but it is hard for him.

 

If I had held him back he would have been miserable. Because he is so young in his class school fits him generally better academically than my other kids who are older in their class. The subject acceleration makes a big difference too although my older son has this as well but it still doesn't give him what he needs.

[Crimson Wife]

I've got an October birthday girl and a November birthday boy. I started pre-k with my DD the year she turned 4 and K the year she turned 5. I'm planning to start pre-k with my DS next year when he turns 5 and K the following year when he turns 6. They're both gifted but my DS is 2E and he is also less mature when it comes to attention span & fine motor skills.

 

I don't think we can make blanket statements that redshirting is always bad for gifted kids. Delaying formal academics can be very appropriate, especially for boys.

[Nan in Mass]

I wish I'd known this was possible, so I could have waited a year with my oldest. My children are small and emotionally young, not as far as self-discipline but as far as robustness (very sensitive). My oldest wound up with many friends who were a year younger, when he got to high school and his choices for friends expanded. He refused to go to college until a few years after he graduated. The middle child has a summer birthday and he repeated kindergarten. The youngest also has a summer birthday and was still very quiet and small, so we waited a year for him to do kindergarten. And he taught himself to read that year LOL. We sent him to kindergarten anyway, and then homeschooled him after that. My children aren't super gifted, just a brightish, and I think the "red-shirting" was good for them. They matched their classmates emotionally and as young children, that was more important than academically matching. When they reach high school, they have many options for more advanced classes. My middle one did community college classes, and my youngest will, too. It was better that the middle one went to college at 19 than at 18. He is a late bloomer, academically, despite being bright, and that gave his academic skills another year to solidify. The same will be true of my youngest. Despite having friends who are older than he is by a year or two, and taking CC classes, I can tell already at 15 that it is going to be better to have him go away at 19 than at 18. We're not in any hurry. That is my children, though. Other children whose gifts were more reading-writing based (rather than engineering-based or puzzle-based or social-based) would be different. I could tell by looking at the faces of their kindergarten classmates that I had made the right decision.

-Nan