Matt, could you hook me up with those links too?

Sure thing, I'll post in Natter if and when I track 'em down.

I was the next-youngest member of my graduating class, and I honestly think starting later on the three Ds (driving, dating, and drinking) kept me out of a lot of trouble.

I graduated high school at 17 and turned 18 about 2 weeks before starting college. Alcohol use was pretty widespread in my high school. I got more comment because I didn't drink around my peers (my choice) until I had one (and no more!) at a graduation picnic/party.

The drinking age was 18 then, so turning 21 was kind of a non-event.

My niece's birthday is in October, and she was 17 when she started college in the mid-'90s. She has said that the first couple of months were inconvenient because she couldn't do (or in some cases, needed parental permission to do) things that her 18-year-old classmates could do.

I got to eat a wild strawberry on my run this morning. Go me!

Urm, that's all I got. Should go run errands instead of lazing about on the internet. Or go wash the dishes from last night's cookie-baking and then run errands.

Leif skipped a year and is about a month and a half from the cutoff so he is the way youngest in his class, but still on the honor roll. He'll be sixteen when he graduates. He could probably skip another year academically, but he's doing well socially right now and being that much younger might cause problems there. It's a tough balance between not being challenged much academically and socialization.

Poor kid looked so tiny when he tried out for the middle school soccer team.

No more Iron Man movies, Stark in 2 more Avengers: [link]

I was the next-youngest member of my graduating class, and I honestly think starting later on the three Ds (driving, dating, and drinking) kept me out of a lot of trouble.

Yes, because otherwise you would've been dating all the ladies and getting into trouble, right? If only you'd been a year older. Sigh...;)

Urm, that's all I got. Should go run errands instead of lazing about on the internet. Or go wash the dishes from last night's cookie-baking and then run errands.

Mmmmmm cookies.

No more Iron Man movies, Stark in 2 more Avengers: [link]

Good! Getting to that article, I had to go by a "For Your Consideration" ad for Political Animals, which reminded me that James Wolk played the good twin and Sebastian Stan the bad twin. Good times.

You guys, I really want a new job. I think three years is my limit! I'm just so over it now, and need to find some good prospects.

The last time I looked at the research, the academic advantages of holding back disappear by third grade, and overall it's better to put your kid in a more stimulating environment earlier.

I found this to be true for Franny, but I am leery of applying statistical models to actual kids. Each kid is different. Franny is fairly immature for her age (but I wouldn't say she's behind her peers, just near the rear) academically she's thriving, so maybe some parallels with Em. All in all I'm fine with our decision although I had many doubts over the years. As for Isaac, he's born in Spring so there was no issue over which year to start him, and while he's academically way ahead of his grade, emotionally and socially he's where he should be.

I would look at Ryan as a whole package and try to best serve both social and academic needs. I've seen parents hold back kids who were academically advanced in order to meet a perceived social need, and I ultimately think they did their child a bit of a disservice as the kids wound up bored in K & 1 and thus still acted out, so the attempt to meet the child's social needs wasn't effective. Whereas other kids who needed to catch up both academically and socially really thrive when they are given that extra year. And some schools have a 2 year kindergarten for younger kids, which I think is a great idea. If that had been an option for Franny, I would have done it.