DD is 4 and a Sept baby. She is the youngest in her pre-K class but it is only 6 girls. She's at a play based church nursery, 2hrs a day, same as last year.
Last year (age 3) I didn't worry too much, as long as she was getting social interaction and having fun it was a success to me. She is on the shy and very quiet at school (not at home though). This year they are starting to tell me she is lagging socially, physically..and just younger than the rest. Ok, fine. A little surprising considering the safe and small size of the class (the social piece) but not entirely.
But this was in October and here the teacher was telling me I should consider holding her back only one month in. She said she might change her mind but never had in 15 years. I do understand her suggestion and something I was considering anyway, but didn't really appreciate her writing off DD so early. Why not work with DD a bit especially with a teacher/ratio of 1:3! I now feel like the remainder of this year is a waste and just a glorified play group. DD is very smart, is ahead of most at this point in terms of basic academc skills, but yes very quiet when among others and shy so I feel like i need to really think about some choices for this next year since it could be the difference between thriving and just biding time.
My choices (all involve holding her back), are to keep her at this school and go to an inbetween class (almost 5's) which allows for consistency but also would be little change or progress I believe other than more play and hoping DD matures and comes out of her shell on her own. Other options are moving her elsewhere - maybe Montessori type schools (less structure by age, more supportive of each child's style) or going private (more academic focus and actual curriculum that she might be able to find a niche). There are negatives to both though, means potentially switching schools 2 times before going to the public elementary school. And with private this would very expensive and it starts to only make more sense if you stick it out for the long haul which is just too pricey at this age for us.
Not sure what I'm hoping to hear but had to write it out and maybe there's a mom here who's had some experience that is similar. Even if just with the different types of schools and styles.