BTW, when I said that skipping ahead in Montessori wasn't a great solution, I was speaking in ideal terms (since we are "thinking Big" here
). Given the existing options, having a gifted child fast-track through Montessori school isn't such a bad thing. It's certainly preferable to boredom and stagnation.
My caveat was simply that because of the way the curriculum is set up, children who don't go through the early stages are going to miss out on some of the benefits of the method. It's possible that this could be remedied with some extra effort and understanding on the part of the teacher.
Another approach would be to start children in the program early, say at early toddler age. This hardly seems feasible for most families, though Maria Montessori would have loved the idea. (She had a great desire to make the method available to all infants and toddlers, in the form of daycare for families who needed it, and drop-in playgroups and parent groups for everyone else.)
