Redshirting Your Child and Winners Announced

My summer baby started Kindergarten when the cutoff was December 31. I recall that I didn’t give a huge amount of thought to whether I should send her or not. If I was sending her to Kindergarten now, I would explore the concept of “redshirting.”

School award ceremonies are even more fun with music.

I thought about redshirting. Back in 2003, the whole redshirting thing wasn’t on my radar. Plus, most of the preschools in my community (it’s semirural) do not have a PreK program. Most preschools near me only have programs for 4s. These programs are not as rigorous as traditional PreK programs and tend to meet only 3 mornings or afternoons a week. The benefit of redshirting your child is that your child is one of the older and more mature Kindergarteners after the extra year of preschool.

The options for schools with PreKs were over a 30-minute drive from my home. I had an infant at the time and it was awfully tempting to have my K and 2nd grader hop on the same bus to school. My kid was in morning K so I felt that she had time to decompress in the afternoons as well as do at-home learning, library storytimes, play dates, and nature center outings. She loved Kindergarten. She found the joy of reading. Became adept at counting, sorting, and patterns. Loved riding the school bus.

Did you redshirt your child? Why? Why not?

Before I forget I have winners!

Congrats to Sara, Heidi, Stephanie, Debi and Michelle on winning the Super Diaper Diary prize pack from Scholastic. Happy reading!

More winners to be announced soon for the following giveaways. Don’t forget to enter:

Keep your PC safe with antivirus software from Chicalogic — ends 10/14/2011.
Real Steel prize pack — ends 10/17/2011.
Kneebouncers Who Says Moo? storybook app — ends 10/28/2011.
McDonalds New Happy Meal coupons — ends 10/31/2011

And I have one more giveaway for my local readers. If you live near to Rockville or in Montgomery County, I have a giveaway for a gift card to the Bean Bag Deli in Rockville, MD.