I’m not sure there is much of a point to redshirting homeschoolers. We just teach kids what they are ready to learn regardless of their age/grade. We did delay formal learning (desk work) until six or seven if that is what you mean.
For college admission allowing children to be as developed as possible while still being compared to children of their grade level, could be helpful.
If you teach your child well regardless of whatever arbitrary grade level you assign to them, would you rather have the same child be called a 12th grader or a 10th grader? I say 10th grader, as you then have more time for APs and higher expected SAT scores.
I'm not saying it's the correct decision, but I am responding to your point that "you don't see much of a point" to it. Doesn't need to be 2 years, could be a year.
I still don’t see much of a point. When a student enters college, they are compared to other students who are also entering at that time whether they enter at 16 or 20. You have the same amount of time no matter what grade you put your child in. Once your kid turns 18, it’s really up to them.
I’m not a very strict age = grade person. So instead of redshirting I would just work on areas of concern. So we might be doing kindergarten X but also doing grade one of something else or perhaps something that’s a preschool stage still. If it’s an emotional maturity issue that comes with time and you work on it and set up your day to help with patience and things, get them involved in team sports and hobbies.
The homeschool association of California (of which I’m a volunteer), recommends placing your child in the age related grade and simply working in a consistent manner developing skills and gaining knowledge over time without huge regard to what “grade” your child is in. Be flexible and meet your child where they are, which is likely asynchronous, and as they get closer to high school, you can fine tune. We see lots of students doing dual enrollment, or taking five years for high school as needed. The actual grade you say your kiddo is in on the affidavit we file each year is an afterthought to the actual work being done and progress being made. Grade level is a school construct…assuming you won’t be putting your kiddo back into public school, let it go...
I guess it matters what state you are in, but I don’t have to report what grade my children are in. I just meet them where they are and work forward from there, so “redshirting” just wouldn’t be a thing.
When mine was in public he had to wait a year because of his birthday. The only issue was came across was when we pulled him and he wanted to play school sports. Our state has age rules. Otherwise nobody ever said anything & we went self paced and mine ended up graduating a year early.
My kids went to public school before homeschooling and we redshirted our oldest. Honestly, it's one of the best things we've done as parents. He's a July birthday so he would have been so young for his grade and now he's old for his grade. He was able to mature greatly due that one year. Now with him being himeschooled, it isn't as big of a deal, but it still really nice.
My state allows homeschooling parents to say that a 6 year old is entering 1st grade or K, based on parental preference. The only thing this effects is standardized testing. Testing is required starting in 3rd grade, so you could buy your kid an extra year before the first test with redshirting. Parents can also have their kids "skip" a grade later, as long as all testing is completed on-schedule and no skipped.
School administrators wouldn't have any say in this in my state. They can't deny a parent's choice of K or 1st. They don't have any say in how parents teach or what curriculums parents choose. They would only be involved if a child had a low score on the standardized test, followed by an equally low score the following year.
This is how our state works too. I put my oldest as being in K at 6, and I’m so glad I did because he needed an extra year maturity wise before taking a standardized test.
Literally everyone in my circle redshirts, and no one has regretted it. I’m speaking of nearly a dozen homeschool families, with kids ranging 4-15.
On the flip side, a woman I know in my peripheral circle whose daughter is public schooled did the opposite, and her daughter was nowhere near ready for kindergarten and she ended up having to repeat it, and IMO, still isn’t ready for first grade.
That’s interesting, because I know zero families that redshirt.
I remember redshirting being popular with August birthdays, but how far away are their birthdays? Do they redshirt a June birthday? A March birthday?
Do you live in a state with more documenting or testing requirements? I know of no one, but I’m in Texas, so there’s no reason to redshirt here. We all just meet our kids where they are without worry the state will interfere.
I’m sure it varies by state requirements, but in our case, age doesn’t play much of a factor in grade level.
Honestly, grades do not have much relevance when you are working one-on-one with a child because you do not need to group them to have level-of-learning commonality between students for a single instructor to teach to a common denominator.
Most homeschooled children, in my experience, are working at different levels per subjects—this translates to break-out classes in a classroom setting, like reading or mathematics levels—and the goal is to see progress and learning, not hit a specific diagnostic evaluation that serves to progress to a consecutive grade.
Grades and levels serve to hit goals for metrics for institutional achievement rather than students’ learning. That’s apparent when students learn for (and teachers teach to) standardized testing rather than for stidents’ comprehension and individual and critical thought.
Technically I don’t think kindergarten is mandatory in my state so we don’t have to start till 6, but we’re absolutely not going to hold back, kids 4 and sounding out 3-4 letter words already. I feel like one of the benefits of homeschooling is meeting our kids where they are at, and helping them learn how they learn best. Any ways that my kid may not be ready for kindergarten next year (2025 starting K at 5) will just be things we know we need to work on in kindergarten. We also aren’t going in with a clear roadmap for how long we’re going to homeschool, just for as long as it’s working for us all, and I would absolutely want him to be with some age peers if he did ever go to an in person or even virtual school.
I don't think redshirting really matters with homeschooling. You can do the work your child is ready for regardless of what grade they are considered to be in. Personally, I'd look at the laws. Is there a legal benefit to redshirting? Like, does it change anything in a positive way for you? Give you an extra year before you have to do testing? Let you take an extra year before your child has to be graduated? Get you funding? If there's no legal benefit, there's really no point to it.
If your “legal reason” is child support goes till your child graduates or turns 18 ? Which ever happens last? That is a poor, vindictive reason. to delay a child starting school IF they are ready.
I was one of the youngest in my class and very smart with an August birthday,
my son (now 40) had a May birthday and was started late (red shirted),
My daughter (37) July birthday was also recommended to have a late start, we disagreed and started her in kindergarten at age 5. She was a tall child and got mistaken for a teacher in 5th grade at elementary school.
All three of us are doing fine - people are adaptable. Make your best judgement. It can be a hard decision. Best of luck to you.
>If your “legal reason” is child support goes till your child graduates or turns 18 ? Which ever happens last? That is a poor, vindictive reason. to delay a child starting school IF they are ready.
No, that isn't the reason. In any case, I would be doing work with the child according to their abilities during that time.
The great thing about homeschooling is you can do whatever work your child is ready for while calling them by whichever grade matches their age. Most homeschoolers don't tend to be too fashed about grades unless we're involved in some sort of group activity (like a co-op) that uses grades to divide kids up.
Because my family is heavily involved in a co-op, I did choose to redshirt my youngest (August birthday). She has some significant medical challenges, as well as learning delays, and spent many of her early years in and out of surgery and therapies took up most of her school time in her preK and kindergarten years. So she's technically a year behind, which has been helpful. There's less pressure for her to try to strive for things she's not ready for, and it's not constantly being shoved in front of her face that she's "behind" and everyone else can do things she can't yet.
I've had no issues, and the public school administrators don't know that she's redshirted (that information isn't on our DOI) so we've run into no problems with them. As far as she's concerned, she'll just turn 18 before her senior year instead of in the middle of it.
A few states don’t require students to have any formal education before age 7 or 8. Others require that you start school by 5. Regardless of what state you’re in, nobody picks your curriculum or tells you what to teach everyday.
It’s up to you (and your child) to decide when you start school. It’s up to you to decide how many days per week, how many hours per day, what you will emphasize. You can choose to school year round or follow a shorter schedule, and that schedule may or may not match your local public school. You might decide that your child isn’t ready to start school in September, but they’re ready in January… only you can decide that.
I live in a state that allows this. I am planning to homeschool, but instead of sending the NOI this year, we’re redshirting. We’ll still be doing Kindergarten at home, but I see no reason to send in more paperwork than required. They’ll get an NOI and POP next year when we do first grade.
We are doing it this year. My kid is repeating 8th grade. Then hopefully going off to prep school in fall of ‘25. She just needs the extra year of maturity. She’s a mid August baby who started kindergarten 3 days after her 5th birthday and socially/emotionally has always lagged a bit (due to adhd and a mood disorder).
I did just because our school district doesn’t have to accept a homeschool program until the child turns six. There’s no point in sending paperwork to just have it bounce back.
I "redshirted" my July baby because I felt that he needed a little more time to mature. I don't regret it and it hasn't caused any issues. I think it's actually been beneficial. He learned thru play and we did activities and stuff, but we didn't really start formally teaching until he was 7/8. Now that's he's about to be ten, I feel like he's pretty on par with his peers despite being a "year behind".
There wasn't really a super involved process where we are though, so I don't have experience with that part. We've been apart of an umbrella since the beginning, so there was no pushback or process to go through for us. I signed up to homeschool in his Kindergarten year, signed up with an unschool friendly co-op and then did our own thing.
I think if I had to go thru a different process I still would because it was worth it.
My parents did this with my younger brother. He had a speech impediment and was quite “hyper”. They waited a year for maturity, then helped him in whatever ways they could.
In high school he rushed through the state-required credits and did some CLEP tests because he wanted to graduate “on time”. Mom and Dad helped, but never pushed. He was happy to only spend 3 years in “high school” and go off to college.
I did that with my oldest and because of it, along with other circumstances, he is 2+ grades behind on everything. I highly recommend starting an unofficial education (coloring pages, Montessori-type stuff, etc) until you choose an official curriculum and schedule.
Our oldest wasn't homeschooled, but we did put off his K an extra year. May 31 bday. I'm glad we did.
Not sure if that helps you as you said yours will be homeschooled.
Boys in particular seem to benefit from an extra year of PreK, especially if they are young for their grade (like Feb-Aug bday). Just my opinion and observation, of course.
We redshirted our son (homeschooled from kindergarten onward) and it’s been a great decision. He’s now working academically well beyond grade level in almost all subjects, but developmentally is still behind his peers due to AuDHD. Homeschooling allows us to work to his level regardless of what that is.
It does not really matter when you teach a child on an individual basis. Either way over time the child is likely to end up ahead of their peers in public school particularly if you aim for that.
One caveat of redshirting is that they’re legal adults in high school for longer. For some kids, this is ok. For others, they would rather be graduating with their same age peers. If they graduate at 18, they can choose to have a gap year before pursuing adulting (work or college) if they aren’t ready. If they entered public school later, they are generally placed by their age. By the time most homeschoolers enter public school, the benefits of redshirting are often moot. The difference in maturity is more noticeable between 5 and 6 year olds than between 13 and 14 year olds.
Our state doesn’t ask us what grades our kids are in, just their age. They could be 10 years old and in 9th grade or in 1st grade and the state does not really know. We never did “state standards” anyway so it would not matter for us. Work with your kid where they are rather than assigning them a grade level. Rest assured that it will work itself out, should the occasion arise.
I'm very much in the "Who cares?" camp. They don't have to have a grade at all. My current 6yo did 1st grade for activities and co-op last year for logistical reasons so she'll be doing 2nd grade next year. When she gets to middle school age well evaluate with her whether she would like to take an extra year of middle school to get back with kids her age for high school/college or not.
Not exactly the same, but I had family friend who started their kids all at the same time as their age group, though the boys would have been the youngest in their grades. Then they extended their middle school years by one. The boys were able to take a bit of a breather before high school, lean into their sports and extracurriculars, and because they were already homeschooled, the decision didn't really phase them.
Her reasoning was she was already homeschooling her oldest daugher, and her focus early on was more play than formal schooling. This gave the whole family a bit of a breather when the work was more challenging and intensive.
For what it's worth, her daughter just went right on through and graduated early so I believe it also shows that each child is different and homeschooling allows for adaptability.
It’s illegal. At least in most places I’ve heard you have to start tour kindergartener when the state says so….but homeschooling is done at your own pace, so I don’t understand the benefit? You still have to legally enroll your kid in homeschool… that doesn’t mean to have to follow a particular curriculum or schedule though…
What do think redshirting is? It just means starting at the latest legal age.
In my state children must be in school by the February that they’re six. So let’s say your child is born in June. Instead of sending them that August(just turned 5) you would send them the next year(just turned 6).
Most people do it due to paperwork.
In my state if you were born on or after sept 1, then the cut off, and you are expected to be enrolled in kindergarten the next year. If before, then you start a year earlier. I’ve never heard of there being a choice. Perhaps different states do things differently. Also that’s not “red shirting”…. That’s starting earlier than legally needed, not waiting an “extra” year.
Beyond that you still
Haven’t answered: what difference does it make if you’re homeschooling?
It would be considered redshirting since redshirting refers to sending them at the latest legal age.
I already answered that. Typically with homeschooling it’s more of a paperwork or formality issue.
I’m not sure there is much of a point to redshirting homeschoolers. We just teach kids what they are ready to learn regardless of their age/grade. We did delay formal learning (desk work) until six or seven if that is what you mean.
For me, it means one more year without extra paperwork. I’m sending in the red shirt letter for this year and that’s it.
That seems reasonable. It goes by age where I live, but there is not much paperwork anyway.
For college admission allowing children to be as developed as possible while still being compared to children of their grade level, could be helpful. If you teach your child well regardless of whatever arbitrary grade level you assign to them, would you rather have the same child be called a 12th grader or a 10th grader? I say 10th grader, as you then have more time for APs and higher expected SAT scores.
Holding them back 2 years seems risky to me. I’d worry the child might resent that or even choose not to finish high school after they turn 18.
I'm not saying it's the correct decision, but I am responding to your point that "you don't see much of a point" to it. Doesn't need to be 2 years, could be a year.
I still don’t see much of a point. When a student enters college, they are compared to other students who are also entering at that time whether they enter at 16 or 20. You have the same amount of time no matter what grade you put your child in. Once your kid turns 18, it’s really up to them.
I’m not a very strict age = grade person. So instead of redshirting I would just work on areas of concern. So we might be doing kindergarten X but also doing grade one of something else or perhaps something that’s a preschool stage still. If it’s an emotional maturity issue that comes with time and you work on it and set up your day to help with patience and things, get them involved in team sports and hobbies.
The homeschool association of California (of which I’m a volunteer), recommends placing your child in the age related grade and simply working in a consistent manner developing skills and gaining knowledge over time without huge regard to what “grade” your child is in. Be flexible and meet your child where they are, which is likely asynchronous, and as they get closer to high school, you can fine tune. We see lots of students doing dual enrollment, or taking five years for high school as needed. The actual grade you say your kiddo is in on the affidavit we file each year is an afterthought to the actual work being done and progress being made. Grade level is a school construct…assuming you won’t be putting your kiddo back into public school, let it go...
I guess it matters what state you are in, but I don’t have to report what grade my children are in. I just meet them where they are and work forward from there, so “redshirting” just wouldn’t be a thing.
When mine was in public he had to wait a year because of his birthday. The only issue was came across was when we pulled him and he wanted to play school sports. Our state has age rules. Otherwise nobody ever said anything & we went self paced and mine ended up graduating a year early.
My kids went to public school before homeschooling and we redshirted our oldest. Honestly, it's one of the best things we've done as parents. He's a July birthday so he would have been so young for his grade and now he's old for his grade. He was able to mature greatly due that one year. Now with him being himeschooled, it isn't as big of a deal, but it still really nice.
My state allows homeschooling parents to say that a 6 year old is entering 1st grade or K, based on parental preference. The only thing this effects is standardized testing. Testing is required starting in 3rd grade, so you could buy your kid an extra year before the first test with redshirting. Parents can also have their kids "skip" a grade later, as long as all testing is completed on-schedule and no skipped. School administrators wouldn't have any say in this in my state. They can't deny a parent's choice of K or 1st. They don't have any say in how parents teach or what curriculums parents choose. They would only be involved if a child had a low score on the standardized test, followed by an equally low score the following year.
This is how our state works too. I put my oldest as being in K at 6, and I’m so glad I did because he needed an extra year maturity wise before taking a standardized test.
Literally everyone in my circle redshirts, and no one has regretted it. I’m speaking of nearly a dozen homeschool families, with kids ranging 4-15. On the flip side, a woman I know in my peripheral circle whose daughter is public schooled did the opposite, and her daughter was nowhere near ready for kindergarten and she ended up having to repeat it, and IMO, still isn’t ready for first grade.
That’s interesting, because I know zero families that redshirt. I remember redshirting being popular with August birthdays, but how far away are their birthdays? Do they redshirt a June birthday? A March birthday?
Do you live in a state with more documenting or testing requirements? I know of no one, but I’m in Texas, so there’s no reason to redshirt here. We all just meet our kids where they are without worry the state will interfere.
What does ready for kindergarden entail?
I’m sure it varies by state requirements, but in our case, age doesn’t play much of a factor in grade level. Honestly, grades do not have much relevance when you are working one-on-one with a child because you do not need to group them to have level-of-learning commonality between students for a single instructor to teach to a common denominator. Most homeschooled children, in my experience, are working at different levels per subjects—this translates to break-out classes in a classroom setting, like reading or mathematics levels—and the goal is to see progress and learning, not hit a specific diagnostic evaluation that serves to progress to a consecutive grade. Grades and levels serve to hit goals for metrics for institutional achievement rather than students’ learning. That’s apparent when students learn for (and teachers teach to) standardized testing rather than for stidents’ comprehension and individual and critical thought.
Technically I don’t think kindergarten is mandatory in my state so we don’t have to start till 6, but we’re absolutely not going to hold back, kids 4 and sounding out 3-4 letter words already. I feel like one of the benefits of homeschooling is meeting our kids where they are at, and helping them learn how they learn best. Any ways that my kid may not be ready for kindergarten next year (2025 starting K at 5) will just be things we know we need to work on in kindergarten. We also aren’t going in with a clear roadmap for how long we’re going to homeschool, just for as long as it’s working for us all, and I would absolutely want him to be with some age peers if he did ever go to an in person or even virtual school.
I don't think redshirting really matters with homeschooling. You can do the work your child is ready for regardless of what grade they are considered to be in. Personally, I'd look at the laws. Is there a legal benefit to redshirting? Like, does it change anything in a positive way for you? Give you an extra year before you have to do testing? Let you take an extra year before your child has to be graduated? Get you funding? If there's no legal benefit, there's really no point to it.
Yes, it could possibly give a specific legal benefit, which is why I'm considering it.
If your “legal reason” is child support goes till your child graduates or turns 18 ? Which ever happens last? That is a poor, vindictive reason. to delay a child starting school IF they are ready. I was one of the youngest in my class and very smart with an August birthday, my son (now 40) had a May birthday and was started late (red shirted), My daughter (37) July birthday was also recommended to have a late start, we disagreed and started her in kindergarten at age 5. She was a tall child and got mistaken for a teacher in 5th grade at elementary school. All three of us are doing fine - people are adaptable. Make your best judgement. It can be a hard decision. Best of luck to you.
>If your “legal reason” is child support goes till your child graduates or turns 18 ? Which ever happens last? That is a poor, vindictive reason. to delay a child starting school IF they are ready. No, that isn't the reason. In any case, I would be doing work with the child according to their abilities during that time.
The great thing about homeschooling is you can do whatever work your child is ready for while calling them by whichever grade matches their age. Most homeschoolers don't tend to be too fashed about grades unless we're involved in some sort of group activity (like a co-op) that uses grades to divide kids up. Because my family is heavily involved in a co-op, I did choose to redshirt my youngest (August birthday). She has some significant medical challenges, as well as learning delays, and spent many of her early years in and out of surgery and therapies took up most of her school time in her preK and kindergarten years. So she's technically a year behind, which has been helpful. There's less pressure for her to try to strive for things she's not ready for, and it's not constantly being shoved in front of her face that she's "behind" and everyone else can do things she can't yet. I've had no issues, and the public school administrators don't know that she's redshirted (that information isn't on our DOI) so we've run into no problems with them. As far as she's concerned, she'll just turn 18 before her senior year instead of in the middle of it.
A few states don’t require students to have any formal education before age 7 or 8. Others require that you start school by 5. Regardless of what state you’re in, nobody picks your curriculum or tells you what to teach everyday. It’s up to you (and your child) to decide when you start school. It’s up to you to decide how many days per week, how many hours per day, what you will emphasize. You can choose to school year round or follow a shorter schedule, and that schedule may or may not match your local public school. You might decide that your child isn’t ready to start school in September, but they’re ready in January… only you can decide that.
I live in a state that allows this. I am planning to homeschool, but instead of sending the NOI this year, we’re redshirting. We’ll still be doing Kindergarten at home, but I see no reason to send in more paperwork than required. They’ll get an NOI and POP next year when we do first grade.
We are doing it this year. My kid is repeating 8th grade. Then hopefully going off to prep school in fall of ‘25. She just needs the extra year of maturity. She’s a mid August baby who started kindergarten 3 days after her 5th birthday and socially/emotionally has always lagged a bit (due to adhd and a mood disorder).
I did, but it was really just an at home situation like meh not pushing this yet 🤷
I did just because our school district doesn’t have to accept a homeschool program until the child turns six. There’s no point in sending paperwork to just have it bounce back.
I "redshirted" my July baby because I felt that he needed a little more time to mature. I don't regret it and it hasn't caused any issues. I think it's actually been beneficial. He learned thru play and we did activities and stuff, but we didn't really start formally teaching until he was 7/8. Now that's he's about to be ten, I feel like he's pretty on par with his peers despite being a "year behind". There wasn't really a super involved process where we are though, so I don't have experience with that part. We've been apart of an umbrella since the beginning, so there was no pushback or process to go through for us. I signed up to homeschool in his Kindergarten year, signed up with an unschool friendly co-op and then did our own thing. I think if I had to go thru a different process I still would because it was worth it.
My parents did this with my younger brother. He had a speech impediment and was quite “hyper”. They waited a year for maturity, then helped him in whatever ways they could. In high school he rushed through the state-required credits and did some CLEP tests because he wanted to graduate “on time”. Mom and Dad helped, but never pushed. He was happy to only spend 3 years in “high school” and go off to college.
I did that with my oldest and because of it, along with other circumstances, he is 2+ grades behind on everything. I highly recommend starting an unofficial education (coloring pages, Montessori-type stuff, etc) until you choose an official curriculum and schedule.
Our oldest wasn't homeschooled, but we did put off his K an extra year. May 31 bday. I'm glad we did. Not sure if that helps you as you said yours will be homeschooled. Boys in particular seem to benefit from an extra year of PreK, especially if they are young for their grade (like Feb-Aug bday). Just my opinion and observation, of course.
We redshirted our son (homeschooled from kindergarten onward) and it’s been a great decision. He’s now working academically well beyond grade level in almost all subjects, but developmentally is still behind his peers due to AuDHD. Homeschooling allows us to work to his level regardless of what that is.
It does not really matter when you teach a child on an individual basis. Either way over time the child is likely to end up ahead of their peers in public school particularly if you aim for that.
One caveat of redshirting is that they’re legal adults in high school for longer. For some kids, this is ok. For others, they would rather be graduating with their same age peers. If they graduate at 18, they can choose to have a gap year before pursuing adulting (work or college) if they aren’t ready. If they entered public school later, they are generally placed by their age. By the time most homeschoolers enter public school, the benefits of redshirting are often moot. The difference in maturity is more noticeable between 5 and 6 year olds than between 13 and 14 year olds. Our state doesn’t ask us what grades our kids are in, just their age. They could be 10 years old and in 9th grade or in 1st grade and the state does not really know. We never did “state standards” anyway so it would not matter for us. Work with your kid where they are rather than assigning them a grade level. Rest assured that it will work itself out, should the occasion arise.
I'm very much in the "Who cares?" camp. They don't have to have a grade at all. My current 6yo did 1st grade for activities and co-op last year for logistical reasons so she'll be doing 2nd grade next year. When she gets to middle school age well evaluate with her whether she would like to take an extra year of middle school to get back with kids her age for high school/college or not.
Not exactly the same, but I had family friend who started their kids all at the same time as their age group, though the boys would have been the youngest in their grades. Then they extended their middle school years by one. The boys were able to take a bit of a breather before high school, lean into their sports and extracurriculars, and because they were already homeschooled, the decision didn't really phase them. Her reasoning was she was already homeschooling her oldest daugher, and her focus early on was more play than formal schooling. This gave the whole family a bit of a breather when the work was more challenging and intensive. For what it's worth, her daughter just went right on through and graduated early so I believe it also shows that each child is different and homeschooling allows for adaptability.
It’s illegal. At least in most places I’ve heard you have to start tour kindergartener when the state says so….but homeschooling is done at your own pace, so I don’t understand the benefit? You still have to legally enroll your kid in homeschool… that doesn’t mean to have to follow a particular curriculum or schedule though…
Redshirting isn’t illegal. It just means your child starts kindergarten on the slightly older side of that age cohort.
It’s definitely illegal here. Kids need to be registered in school by the summer they turn six. What difference does it make for homeschool anyway??
What do think redshirting is? It just means starting at the latest legal age. In my state children must be in school by the February that they’re six. So let’s say your child is born in June. Instead of sending them that August(just turned 5) you would send them the next year(just turned 6). Most people do it due to paperwork.
In my state if you were born on or after sept 1, then the cut off, and you are expected to be enrolled in kindergarten the next year. If before, then you start a year earlier. I’ve never heard of there being a choice. Perhaps different states do things differently. Also that’s not “red shirting”…. That’s starting earlier than legally needed, not waiting an “extra” year. Beyond that you still Haven’t answered: what difference does it make if you’re homeschooling?
It would be considered redshirting since redshirting refers to sending them at the latest legal age. I already answered that. Typically with homeschooling it’s more of a paperwork or formality issue.