Holding my daughter back a year in school

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Hello Everyone,

I really need some serious advice on whether or not should I hold my daughter back a year in SK when she is suppose to be in grade 1.
So basically, from JK to grade 1 ( 3 years almost) my daughter has been into 3 different schools due to us moving around and her not adjusting in properly.
She completed JK in an islamic school which she loved very much. We moved to a different place where she did SK in a Montessori school( which is also daycare). My husband and I decided to put her in Montessori because my son was attending that same daycare, so it was a lot convenient for us as the islamic school in that area was 25 min drive. After finishing SK, We then enrolled her in a french-emerg school in grade 1. She stayed in french for 3 months and really struggled learning french and showed no interest in attending that school. She was bullied a lot because she was the only brown girl.
We have now decided to move closer to the islamic school for our daughter but now our problem is that the islamic school principal believes that our daughter should be enrolled in SK instead of grade 1 because her english skills are poor. I do agree with the principal because my daughter has problem spelling and reading words. However, I really don’t want to punish her for our mistakes and not keep her behind an year. At the same time, i don’t want to put her into so much pressure of catching up to the level of her classmates. What should I do??
Has any of you experienced this with your kids?

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Re: Holding my daughter back a year in school

Go easy on her. Let her get enrolled in SK. Some desi parents are obsessed with fast-tracking their children in education (and feel proud about it) and sometimes get too upset at any prospect of their child being one or two years behind their peers, but this has no importance once she completes her education many many years in future. If she has difficulties in English, let her catch up at a more junior level rather than burdening her with so much. She already has had a bad experience very recently.

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Re: Holding my daughter back a year in school

Thanks for the advice. I think I will hold her back another year.

4

Re: Holding my daughter back a year in school

You think that your kid is not ready for grade 1, but age wise, should be there. Why not homeschool her for the next year, and teach her grade 1 curriculum at home. At home, you can always dictate the pace, without burdening the kid. And inshaAllah, when she does well this year, she would be academically ready for grade 2 next year...and at that time, you could put her in a conventional school.