I had to laugh jon's mom, your son sounds so much like mine! The obsession with letters/numbers, the skip counting before 3, etc. We've had my son in a daycare/preschool since he was 4 months old (half days until last summer, when I went back to work full time). They didn't really "accomodate" him in any other way than moving him up a little early to the next classroom (which, "academically" worked well, but his first months in the 4-5 class last winter, when he was barely 3.5 brought some social-interaction/behavior issues (including not being completely independent on the potty- argh! he knew how, but couldn't be bothered to stop what he was doing to go!) - esp because before the 5 year olds moved up to K, they dominated the room (especially the girls). Pretty much, you can't expect any academic accomodation in preschool - although a good teacher is a must. My son's teacher in the 2-3 class was fantastic, and really "got" my son. She went to a conference when the my son was about 3.5 and asked all the kids what little thing they wanted her to bring back from the conference for the room (new books, crayons, etc.). My son's response was "multiplication flash cards" (I've never had flash cards in the house!) - he'd learned about them because the preschool had color or shape flash cards. When she got back, she had a pile of stuff for the room, but gave my son the flash cards to keep. My husband thanked her, and then said something to the effect of "don't you want to keep them for the room?" She laughed and said, "Well, we, really aren't working on multiplication!". In the current room, there is still enforced "nap time" which is hard for my son, who hasn't napped since he was 2, but if he's good, after a short time, he's allowed to read, draw, etc. and the teachers have discovered that if they give him 1st and 2nd grade level math/reading worksheets and calendars to fill in, he's very happy and quiet.

There was a lot of switching of schools done in the transition from daycare to preschool by some of the other families that had been at the school since their kids were infants - for various reasons, some valid, some I think not so valid. In some ways it made us question our own feeling that we should keep him where he was, but he was so embedded in the community of the school and loved his teachers and seemed relatively happy, that we just decided to keep him there until he starts kindergarten in the fall.

So, advice, I suppose, is look for low turnover in a preschool, happy teachers who really care about the kids and are willing to see the kids as individuals. If your kid is really gifted, then the official classroom academics won't challenge him no matter what, but he can be engaged in a community and learn by asking the teachers all sorts of questions, and if they are good, they'll answer his questions about prime numbers and how to determine when Easter is each year.