Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Another early K question

How big would the kindergarten be? Has your daughter visited it?

DS started private school at 4.5 (which means we applied and he visited the school at age 3.5) and it was a tremendous success, but his kindergarten had only 9 kids and his school is very individualized, so there was no risk of him getting lost in the crowd.

I agree with the comments that you shouldn't assume your child will do worse on high school entry tests if she starts school early. DS started early, skipped another grade later and is still at the top of his class and performs well enough on end-of-grade tests to earn merit scholarships at his private school every year. I can't prove it, but I do believe that his good academic record and enduring love of school is a direct result of the skips.

I do not think you can not depend on daycare providers to assess giftedness. 0-3 years are years of major changes, and it is expected that children are learning and developing so rapidly at their pace so unless your child is so obvious about their giftedness, it is easy for me to see how it can be missed at daycare. I have seen it with DS who tends to blend in so well that people usually see an average boy.

Most daycares that I have seen tends to be very loosely structured with play centers that the children can wander through themselves, and I can easily see how a range of gifted children are overlooked with their "quirks" seen through the lenses of early child development. Daycare teachers my children have had are amazing but their focus is not assessing a child's academic strengths and long term academic education. They are more focused on fostering non-academic skills, independence and physical skill development.

And we started DS at 4 in a GT program because he was acting out at 3.5 - he told us school was not fun anymore and he could not talk to his classmates. We accelerated him into pre-k at 3.7, and he became best friends with a group of kindergarten kids (pre-k and K mixed a lot especially during summer) but we knew when they left since they were already over 5, he would be miserable again even if we moved him into the new K class (which he did one week of, and hated it since it was basically his pre-k room moved up).

but every child is different. My mother was 2 years accelerated as a child, and felt that age difference through high school even though academics were no issue, and my younger sister was the youngest in her class and it was similar for her - some social struggles in early years (my parents sent her to private school during middle school years because she needed a change of social scene). But she went back to our town high school, which was really large, and in high school, she excelled and she enjoyed college.

This was certainly true in our case. DS was tested as reading at a 4th grade level when he entered kindergarten at 4 1/2, and yet his preschool pooh-poohed me when I let them know we were pursuing early kindergarten enrollment. DS loved preschool, so his preschool teachers saw no need to rush things, but in my mind, it was a matter of prevention, not remediation. DS was enjoying school and I wanted to keep it that way, not wait for things to go sour.

I totally agree with this. The intellectual growth can hit in sudden furious spurts - it's good to have a school environment with the "headroom" to support this.

Every child is different, and I am a big believer in parents being the most qualified to assess what will be the best, or most appropriate environment for their child. I also know it isn't always an easy assessment to make, and other people's experiences can be informative, so for what it's worth, we started our DD in K at 3.8 (she has a January birthday and wouldn't have been traditionally eligible for another 2 years).

For her, it was definitely the right thing to do. She had started preschool at 2.8 (at the encouragement of her toddler care provider), and her preschool director was the one who urged us to have her tested at 3. According to her preschool director, she had already mastered all of the multi-year curriculum there, and she felt strongly DD was ready for K. The psychologist who tested her agreed.

We considered giving her one more year of preschool, but given where she was and her pace of learning, we felt fairly certain she would be past a K curriculum after another year. A jump from preschool to K seemed like a better transition then a jump from preschool to 1st grade. Most importantly, we talked to DD and told her we, and her teachers, felt she was ready for K but it was her choice whether to go to preschool or K. She wanted to go to Kindergarten, so off we went. I can't say it was smooth sailing. It was for DD - she loved it and thrived. It was a good fit for her academically and socially. It was rough for us because many of the other parents in the class were absolutely awful about it initially. The teachers were super supportive, but they did struggle some, not having a lot of training or experience in gifted education. At some points they seemed to expect her to achieve perfection in everything. Ultimately the school brought in a consultant for them and that was incredibly helpful.

She moved on to first grade this year when she was 4.8, and this year has been even better. She is comfortable and confident, and has made great progress without being frustrated. Now we're faced with what do do next year, however, because another acceleration at some point seems likely. That's a whole different issue, though.

Trust your gut. If you feel like she's ready, she probably is. Also, if you don't feel like you're seeing what her scores indicate, it could be because she isn't being asked to perform to that level. Our DD's teachers have learned that often they just need to put something in front of her even if they aren't certain she's ready, and most of the time she rises to the challenge without any trouble. Finally, I do think early K entrance is a good transition point. If you think you'll need to accelerate her, this is a great time to do it.

K would be in class of around 20 students I'd imagine. And depending on the school, it could be around 200-500 kids in total. It is a lot for a young child to handle and at the moment, I don't think she is ready for that.

It is a good point about keeping her having a good time and not waiting for things to go sour.

I have watched her at daycare sit down at a table next to a girl who was scribbling. So DD scribbled too. The other week I saw her sit down with a child who was writing letters and drawing flowers. So DD wrote letters and drew flowers. I guess she just mirrors what she sees around her and maybe she would rise to the challenge if she was asked to perform.

I am going to meet with a principal of another school on Friday to discuss. They have a preschool on site and may be able to evaluate DDs social readiness against the other preschool students.

I think in all, I am leaning against early entry at this stage. But yes, January is a long way away and it is a good idea to keep our options open.