<p>From my outside the box perspective (I homeschooled my boys until they were older), I now watch many little boys in my daughter’s classes exhaust themselves trying to sit still and pay attention all day, well before they’re developmentally ready, I wonder how many smart boys are redshirted by their parents because they are simply physically and emotionally unready to be in a formal school setting at five or even six, sitting at desks for hours; writing and drawing when they want to be building with legos and wrestling; and learning to read to read whether their brains are ready or not for that huge step. I remember feeling nothing but relief that I didn’t have to send my boys off to a full school day when they were little. </p>
<p>In Finland–the school system du jour–children don’t start formal schooling until age seven. In my local public school, we start intensively teaching reading when children are five. Without access to good subsidized childcare or good parental leave, parents demand earlier full-time school and that, coupled with our obsession with creating Baby Einsteins, creates a too much, too fast environment that may be at least partially responsible for the redshirting of little boys. In our case, an hour (in fifteen minute spurts) of direct instruction in math and reading/writing coupled with lots of read-aloud time and even more active play was all the boys needed to develop their minds and bodies at an age appropriate level until they were 7 or 8–and I remember what a challenge it was to even get them to sit and concentrate for those short spurts! I remember teaching my oldest (currently at Exeter) basic addition and subtraction through hopscotch. :)</p>
<p>It’s not age IMO–it’s hard for teachers to have students with a wide range of learning readiness. From my observation (I’m a teacher and I’ve spent lots of time volunteering in my daughter’s classroom), readiness has very little to do with age–I’ve seen 7 1/2 olds who could barely read cat and those who were just over 6 voraciously reading chapter books. In fact, I had two sons who fit that description–both of whom are successful high school students today.</p>
<p>As usual, when it comes to kids, one size never fits all–but formal ed. starting at a later age is a norm in those countries whose education systems we love to compare with our own.</p>