A decision about Ethan.

At the end of last school year, Ethan's teacher approached me with some concerns she had about Ethan going to second grade. 

The first was his size. The boy is TINY he just turned 7 and he barely wears a 5t,  he can still wear a lot of his 4t shirts and shorts but the jeans are a little short for him. 

The second was his maturity level. I knew when I started him in Kindergarten right BEFORE he turned 5 this might eventually become an issue. In Kindergarten we were so so so blessed to get Mrs. Oliver and Mrs. Mary who somewhat babied Ethan through Kindergarten. Unfortunately, he's still not over that wanting to be babied stage. He still needs constant one on one attention, his attention span is so short, and she was just scared that might make him struggle.

Seems simple enough right? Hold him back.. 

Then I saw his Dibble test scores.. If a Benchmark was 30 Ethan would score something crazy like 78. Academically he is, and always has been kinda off the charts. Because of this the decision was really difficult for us. How much could he grow up over the Summer? Would it discourage him to repeat 1st grade? Would it be good for him to do 1st grade again and be with kids closer to his age and on his maturity level? Because he's so smart would he get bored with it?

After a ton of conversations with friends who had gone through it, educators who have or are going through it, and talking about it over with James and Ethan we decided Ethan repeating first grade would be best for him. I spoke with at least five moms who made the decision and not one of them regretted it. They all had children who were leading and excelling in school now. Ethan is a leader, Ethan likes being the smartest one in the class, and because of this I think it will be encouraging for him to get another year to grow up and mature.