That said, she's a girl, and the big issue seems to be boys and sports, which I think is pretty gross. Education first, people. Sports second.

I've read some sports arguments, but I've read WAY more academic arguments for boys (more mature, more able to sit for extended periods of time, more focused) and if the twins were close to the cutoff, I'd consider holding them out a year just to give them a chance to get over their sillies.

With both soccer and baseball we've noticed that even a 6 month difference is HUGE in terms of behavior.

I feel like I've heard it's about social maturity for boys, but is that just smokescreen?

That used to be what I heard, too, and certainly it was an issue with Jake, who has a September birthday (in a district where September 30 was the cutoff, iirc). He *was* young and immature, and wound up doing kindergarten over.

The 60 Minutes piece made it seem that a lot of it was about sports for boys -- I don't think one parent of a girl was even interviewed, although I missed some of it.

Boys in our district tend to start a year later, but we don't have a big sports business around here. I worry about Em being the youngest having the Nov. 30 birthday.

I was always the youngest in my class, but I was big and good at school (and mature enough, I guess), so it was unremarkable. It only came up regularly in college, when I wasn't 18 until the middle of freshman year, or 21 until the middle of senior year. Oddly, most of my best friends from college are December or January birthdays, a year older than me.

I worry with Em because there are maturity issues at work there with the ADD and other stuff that I think may be a touch of autism. But academically, she is fine and holds her own with most things. She's just so little.

Although I will say, when we had no insurance, a couple doctors *did* adjust fees based on what they would have been paid by most insurance. So it doesn't hurt to ask

Yes--especially for doctors that you've been to before, go look at your insurance statements--it'll tell you what actually got paid. You can then say to the doctor "look, I will pay $X right now, because that's what my insurance paid you" or "because my insurance paid you $X+$20, and it's easier when I pay right now as opposed to you having to do insurance paperwork" or whatever.

I did that with my chiropractor--I had a certain number of allowed sessions, and knew his 'no insurance' rate was supposedly $60/visit. But my insurance was only paying him $30, so I told him I'd keep coming and pay up front...

But academically, she is fine and holds her own with most things. She's just so little.

I think the most important thing is involved and caring parents who are encouraging, really. And Em's got two of those.

My mom moved a lot and lost ground and wound up being the largest child in class, and never wanted me to suffer that embarrassment. So she bribed somebody who pulled some strings, had me tested and sent me to school a year early. Man, big mistake. But that's hindsight talking.

Jesse, we freeze our food refuse and then put it in the trash on trash day. Of course we don't use our freezer much, so there's room. But we don't have to put up with smelly trash between collection days.

The clinics here have a self-pay rate, and if you can pay everything up front, you get a discount--anywhere from 10-20% reduction.

Jesse, we freeze our food refuse and then put it in the trash on trash day. Of course we don't use our freezer much, so there's room. But we don't have to put up with smelly trash between collection days.

Oh, at least I have a disposal. And mostly cook meat on the weekends, and trash day is Sunday, so it all works out OK.