Was he tested for dyslexia? There are different forms of it that can affect sentence structure and the number inversion you were talking about. It may be a good idea for him to be tested for it if he hasn’t been already.
I think the school day is too long and he is tired or burnt out. I’d be curious if math is at the end of the day. Maybe they just grade hard on writing. My older son is still a crappy writer, but he was never into reading either.
He is six years old! Dianosing dyslexia in a six year old is no easy task. Plus…as I said earlier…and on the other thread…what kinds of differential instruction has been offered to this child? If none…start there.
This story is disturbing to me. I wonder if the school is trying to cook the books by holding back kids with pretty normal minor delays so that once they hit 3rd grade and take standardized tests, they will score higher than they would have if they took the test at the regular age. Either that or what if they are trying to encourage the parent to move the student from their school. Charter schools in NYC are under a lot of pressure to show achievement via high test scores. The OP hasn’t said anything that would indicate that her son should be left back. He sounds like a pretty typical 6-year-old to me.
Also it is just February. There is lots of room for growth and progress between now and the end of the school year. I wouldn’t make any decision yet, but keep in communication with the teacher/specialists at his school. And keep confident and positive in front of him when he is doing his work.
I also think this sounds like a typical six year old. I see writing like that all the time from first graders. They are just learning. I think it sounds like too much pressure on this kid from the school. That is a very long day. Give him time to grow and to be a little kid.
Our kids were both born in Nov and the pediatrician recommended we have S stay an extra year in pre-school, to have more time to develop socially. He was academically very advanced because he was reading at age 3.5 (self-taught and highly verbal). Both our kids were 5% for height and weight, so were not teased about being bigger than others. They did very nicely being retained in pre-school (along with may others who were born later in the year).
It is tougher once the kid is in 1st grade. If I were going to retain the child, I’d look into other schools and consider transferring the kid so he wouldn’t be stigmatized as being the only (or one of the few) retained at this school. I’d also look into having an independent neuropsych evaluation. Sometimes insurers will part of the cost.
Our D wasn’t even reading in Feb of 1st grade but was reading above grade level by the end of 1st grade (all on her own–no intervention by us or teacher or school). The examples you cite look fairly typical to me and similar to a lot of work I’ve seen done by 1st graders, but you could ask the neuropsych person about those.
I personally feel that if it’s necessary or suggested to “repeat” 1st grade that it’s is NOT the makings of a social/emotional disaster. It’s first grade! Your child might be disappointed but will make new friends and find their place socially And likely more academic success to set the stage for a better 2nd grade and so on. Not what most parents want to do, but a roadblock you can and will get past.
But from what the OP said, I’m not convinced that her son needs to be held back academically.
Just want to thank everyone for their input - really insightful feedback. My plan is to gather more information from the teacher and bring in a tutor for the math but also not to stress too much (yet!).
I would send him outside to play! He’s so young!! He’ll be burnt out by the time he’s 10. 
That really is a long day, especially if it’s all or largely academic. Our kids started at 8 and were done by 2:15 most days and 1:30 on Wednesdays.
After school programs can be less structured and more playing and fun but kids do benefit from some down time and some time to explore their own interests. Our kids loved having the time and freedom to read and explore what THEY wanted to in their own way.
Personally, I’m working at 3pm so I’m more than happy for my kids to be in school till 4:30. Our kindergarten does dismiss early (7:45-4pm).
OP - is your son physically conforming with the other boys his age? I ask because if he is especially large, he might stand out and feel awkward in a class of younger kids. If he is small for his age, then a move “backward” could be a very positive thing for a boy from a body image/confidence standpoint. Not that the physical is more important than the academic, but it is a factor to consider.
Of course you should obtain a true assessment/opinion from experts and teachers who know him best. But if everything else is equal, I would favor holding the boy back rather than keeping him in with his current age group. If he is truly developmentally behind the other kids, then keeping him back is 100% the right decision. On the other hand, if you mistakenly hold him back and all he really needed was a bit more time, then you really haven’t harmed him. It is the safer decision - assuming that there is not a definitive assessment that he should move forward.
These things get much harder to do when the boy gets older. I know many who have done this at the middle school level, out of necessity. Believe me, that’s not the ideal time to figure this out. The earlier, the better.
So kindergarten is from 7 45 tilI’ 4 00? I’m sorry, that’s not school hours, that is daycare. I hope they are only doing structured classwork for part of that time and the rest “Normal” kid time.
When my kids were in preschool at 3.5 years old, it was 8-11:30. There were other kids who stayed much longer, but the entire preschool ended at 2:30 or 3pm. Folks who needed care longer had to enroll them in the Y or other program or hire help, as it was felt the kids need more unstructured time.
Personally, I think it’s tough being around a group of others for most of your waking day as a young child–too much togetherness is tough on a lot of folks. Sadly, work schedules make this fairly common.
7:45-4:00? For kindergarten? Our full day kindergarten students attend school from 8:40-3:20. I am hoping that at least an hour at the start and finish to your son’s kindergarten day is actually a before and after school program which is play based. If it is student instructional time, I would like to see the evidence based research that an 8 1/4 hour student instruction day has educational benefit.
And if the school day really IS that long, the very last thing I would be doing at home is school work…other than having you parents read aloud to your kids at bedtime. And this includes hiring a tutor. After an eight hour plus school day…I would not advocate for tuturoi game at home. I would be asking what the school is doing. Period.
This is a Charter School…and I’m wondering if it is designed to provide in house day care for working parents, in addition to the student instructional day.
And I will add…if this Charter School can’t provide assistance to your student academically, I would be shopping around for a school that CAN…and WILL.
Many charter schools in NYC are managed by networks that believe in an extended day and very structured academics for all students. And most of them are at the elementary-school level.
Back in MY day, first grade writing involved a lot of imitation and repetition: copying what the teacher wrote on the board. Nowadays, first graders are expected to come up with an original idea, put it into a cohesive sentence or paragraph, and spell phonetically. This can be very frustrating to some students for many reasons. My youngest found it very hard to put all those steps together. He also didn’t want to spell incorrectly and so that stunted his ideas because he would only use words he could spell. From my experience, writing expectations for first graders are unrealistic, especially for boys who usually are somewhat behind the girls in the language areas.
Like others have said, I don’t know if I would sorry too much at this point. Some skills take longer to develop.
If you REALLY are concerned, it is worth the investment to have him privately tested. Worth every penny.
And the reason these charter schools seem to succeed is they weed out the normal kids who can’t keep up the pace.
OP: what do you really think about his development? How’s he doing at home with catching onto things & ideas & conversations? Truly - kids all develop at different rates. I agree with “3boystogo” above and ditto her remarks.
we’ve “red-shirted” one kid; and sent one early. in hindsight, i know our red-shirted kid would have been fine without that extra year. It was a good for him on the physical side of things though.
one side benefit with holding your son back a year: you’d have some time where academics wont be on the forefront = and probably there will be several months without much academic stress to let him play, invent, draw, climb, run, build, chase, pretend, etc. etc. Those carefree days are fleeting - you’ll have many many many days ahead where academics are the focus.