O.K. my youngest of three is nearly 5 now, but until I started looking at this site I hadn't ever heard of Starfall. I guess I'm just out of the picture on the latest stuff out there.

I don't believe that allowing a child to play with an educational game or watch educational TV is hothousing. I do believe that forcing a child who is otherwise not interested to do the same would come closer to that definition.

I was such a clueless parent. I had no idea that GT testing in CA schools was a multiple choice test and that the kids were scored relative to other kids in the same grade, and not their age peers. When I was a kid, CA sent a psychologist to my house to administer the SBLM; my score was divided by my age. It never occurred to me that the state had switched to something much cheaper, and unfair in a different way.

I blogged about it ad nauseum in Implications of Academic Redshirting Implications of Academic Redshirting. The comments I received are very interesting.
http://badmomgoodmom.blogspot.com/2009/07/red-shirt-kindergarten.html

To me, it depends on the child. Some kids might do best waiting a year, and be a good fit for a particular gifted program, even if they wouldn't have qualified if they started school a year earlier.
I just can't get upset about whether or not some other kid is actually gifted or not, or whether a gifted program actually takes gifted kids. Whether a child has been "hot housed" to qualify.
I do worry about the kids who needed special education and tuned out or dropped out and are underachieving because they were lost to the system. I want the gifted programs to "save" them and breathe new life into academics. No matter what year they started school, whether you call them gifted or not.

See, and I've thought about why it does bother me and I think that it is primarily b/c a program that is full of hothoused kids probably isn't going to meet the needs of gifted kids. My dds don't perform well in pressure cookers where the parents and/or kids are super competitive. They need different learning approaches, not just bragging rights and lots of extra work which is what seems to happen in some of the gifted programs that aren't really geared toward gifted kids.

This is all very interesting. I had heard of redshirting for academic or sporting reasons, but never really thought that much about it, as how did it affect my child ? Ds6 is in 1st grade at a Title 1 school (about 70% of the students are free or reduced lunches). We actually open enrolled our son there,as it is convenient to my work, as well as being the specialised "Math, Science and Technology" school. I doubt very much that there is any redshirting going on here, so other than kids who were held back in Kindergarten, they are in the "right" grade for their age on the whole. Ds6 in now in 1st grade, he has a June birthday so is probably one of the youngest kids - and is definitely one of the shortest However, he is way ahead of the game academically (one of two top readers, and the top in math). It's interesting to think how different things might be if he were in a different school - there are several where I know many kids don't start K until a year late (I run a daycare, and a couple of my kids went to private preschool, and were told they weren't ready for K, even though I know they were !) An interestng discussion - thanks !

In DD8's school there are 4 kids out of 35 in her grade who were redshirted. 3 of them are in her class of 17. There may be more but I only know of these because their parents have said as much. We were considering putting DD5 who is in K through a k12 virtual school in the same school next year.

I must admit that redshirting is one of the items that is giving us pause when considering what to do for DD5 next year. Through her VA DD5 will possibly have completed first grade reading and math by the end of her K year. She has a summer birthday and will still be 5 at the end of her K year. In the school her sister attends there are a number of students in both DD5's age appropriate class, rising 1st, as well as in the rising 2nd who were redshirted. In DD5's case if she were grade skipped she'd be 6 all year in 2nd grade and in a class with some children 2 years older then her. She is tall for her age if it even matters and we believe she is socially advanced. She is not prepared though for some of the social issues that comes with age for some children and has no tolerance for unpredictable or manipulative behavior. Basically, she's not worldly enough to deal with some of the social issue which could arise. For this and a number of other more pertinent reasons were are most likely going to continue doing the VA and consider entrance into a B&M school when she is older and more socially savvy in conjunction with a grade skip.

As far as hothousing goes we still see it in DD8's 3rd grade class. They have a pullout math enrichment program with students being pulled out for it for each unit. They are tested prior to each unit and if the ace the test they go to enrichment. I have had two mom's say that they research the curriculum online and then either hire a tutor or teach the child themselves at home the material so they can get into the program. In the meantime DD8 does not care to do well on the unit tests because she says enrichment isn't any more challenging for her then her regular class. She's sat in enrichment teaching other students how to do things according to her. She has little desire to do any of her beloved math at home anymore because she does not want to get further ahead and _we_ are told by the school not to teach her advanced concepts.

I wonder how Gladwell's book, "Outliers" will impact the trend of redshirting for non social or academic reasons.

we're just seeing red-shirting first hand here but at this point it helps us a bit. My daughter is in kindergarden with 2 children who are already six. My daughter and these two are grouped together for reading and other advanced topics. So without these two i wonder if they'd bother to do it just for my daughter. But i do find it annoying to talk to these moms about their "gifted" children who are actually quite typical but in the wrong grade!
irene

what bugs me is that districts allow parents to make the decision to hold their children back without testing them first to see if changing their age appropriate placement will be best for the child, but parents who would like their child to start a year early must have their children tested to see if they qualify to change their age appropriate placement. it all just seems so backwards. what are we really valuing in a situation like this- size? age? cheating? lol.....bc it doesn't seem to be academics.

I had no idea this went on. Very interesting!