Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Decision re Kindergarten

I wonder if anyone can help. We have just received a letter from the school my DD is enrolled in for kindergarten (grade 0) for next year (Jan-Dec schooling where I live) She turns 5 in September this year.

I am worried about a number of things. My DD showed her nursery school teacher she could read when she was 2.5 years old. At 3.5 we took her out of the nursery school because I went on maternity leave and she has not been back since then. She is now reading at a 3rd/4th grade level (although her stamina is still quite low) and her math is at a 1st grade level and will probably have reached 2nd grade level by the time she starts K.

I did ask the school what they do for advanced children - they said they had psychologists who would give the children extra work though they must still follow the curriculum with the rest of the children. They did mention acceleration however with the asychronicity she shows I am not sure this would be wise. I do not really believe my DD would do well with extra work - I find she gets through things and learns so quickly that extra work would seem unfair - why shouldn't she just play more and have more challenging work when she must work.

The other thing I am worried about is that already in the nursery school there was talk about ADHD because my DD sleeps so little (they left her playing with the 5 year olds when she was 2 as she would not nap) and is so active. I told them she can concentrate and engage herself and surely this means she cannot have ADHD and they did agree half heartedly with this. I know my child does not have ADHD and do not want some school deciding she does because she will be so bored.

Our other option is to homeschool however I would still have to work two mornings a week minimum which would lead to year round homeschooling and homeschooling in the afternoons on the days I worked (which does not seem to suit my DD as well as mornings) I am concerned about the social aspects of this as I have yet to find a homeschool group I can join - though I do believe they are out there.

What do you think is best for this child and what other factors do you think I need to take into account before making this decision. The school is a private school (no PS around here is worth sending ANY child to let alone a gifted one - I live in South Africa) so financially it will be very expensive to send her there which naturally means it must be the best decision for her so that we are not wasting money that could be better spent.

If you don't know already it would be good for you to find out if the school is allowed, legally, to diagnose a child with something like ADHD. It's not really appropriate to suggest it, though it does happen alot.

Just because a child is active doesn't mean they have ADHD. Gifted children are often very alert and need less sleep, my DD was like that. We did have her tested for ADHD before entering kindergarten because people would make comments to that effect, but the data wasn't there to support it. She's just very active when she's awake and learning.

The asynchrony is very hard but the gap slowly closes year to year.

It sounds like you could either try it and see how it works. What is their long-term plan with giving her extra work...is it just more worksheets of the same level that she'll have to do over and over? That would be very unfair. Is it more indepth things, or more advanced things? It sounds confusing for them to say they'll give her extra work but she has to stay with the curriculum, I'd make sure you understand the details!

If they suggested acceleration, what about subject acceleration where she goes to a different grade for that subject, if they can schedule it?

If you can afford it you could try to get her tested before she goes to school to have some data that will help you understand and advocate, or send her and see what they do and if she's fine just leave it alone for now.

It's not an easy decision!

This is similar to my son. He reads at a 3-4th grade level and math skills are grade 1-2. We accelerated him from prek to k about a month ago and it has been great. The work is still easy for him but he is learning new things and the other kids in the class can at least read. He will start 1st grade next school year at age 5. We decided we wanted to try public school first and see if it worked. Our public school would also only give "extra" work which is why we decide to try acceleration. I still have homeschooling as a backup in my mind but I think this might work out for us. He's very happy in kindergarten right now. I guess my opinion is try things and see what works for your family. Otherwise you will never really know. You can always change the plan =]. Good luck!!

I would homeschool. Your school seems to want to do the same that my dd who just got out of kindergarten did. It was not a pretty time. She wasnt as advanced as you dd, but she is a fast learner, was already reading and was ready for 1st grade math. It took us gettin out of a public school to get her bad behavior, which was a result of bordem, to end. I pulled her because we were moving, but kept her out because she hadnt been learning anything. With homeschool you can teach when ever you want. If you want to skip those two days that you work mornings you can. You can count going to the zoo, or the park as science if you bring her attention to something, we would go to the park and discuss plant life and ducks. The zoo is great for teaching her about different animals and thier habitats. Though you can do that at the park too. Take her to a history museum or talking to her grandparents about when they were children can bring her history. I am not saying not to try public school, but it was a disaster for us. There are usually homeschool groups, but she can join a girl scout troop for social interaction as well.

If your district does not have any policy on early entrance then I would find out your state's policy on gifted children. Our last school told us acceleration was the only option but I found out later that our state requires all schools to identify talented and gifted children and provide them with an academic plan. Our new school did it right away and have offered us a lot of great things other than acceleration. Some things they have done is bringing in a college student to tutor my children for part of the day and also letting my son sit in the 5th grade classroom for math (he's in the 2nd grade). I would find out all policies both district wide and state wide and then examine your options. We have opted for early entrance for 3 of our 4 children and for our younger two I had to place them in a charter school out of town but later they will move to our local grade school. I also researched and found that our district was under a larger district that covers multiple counties and offers them diagnosticians and special education teachers, I called them and they were the ones who told me to contact the local charter schools in my county. Also maybe speak with a behavioral therapist, they can help you with gifted identification and placement options.

You mean in order to give her enough school hours? Homeschooling is way more efficient than group schooling. Kids in classrooms only spend about 1-2 hours per day on-task. The rest is spent on crowd-control, basically. And if your kid finishes work early, or already knows the material, the figure drops further.

Because homeschooling is individual, targeted instruction, you can do the school-y parts (math, for example) very efficiently, and then spend the rest of the day on enrichment, exploration, and fun.

Ditto MegMeg... most homeschool kids I know only do schoolwork maybe 3 hours a day.. (slightly more as they get close to h.s. graduation). The rest of the time they do volunteer work, help around the house or with family ranches, or just play.