Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Early Kindergarten entry

Hey folks,

Forgive me for this one. I went back about 10 pages and couldn't see a topic, and the search function doesn't let me search for posts older than a year.

I'm guessing there must be multiple threads on this somewhere. Somewhere further back than 10 pages.

My question is less about intelligence/emotional maturity and more about the benefits of an extra year of play.

DD4 is the oldest in her class, and smart to boot. She would have no issues fitting in with the year above her. She's very social and really great at fitting in. In the playground she'll always search out older kids first, but if there are none around she'll still enjoy playing with kids her own age. So, socially I think she'd be fine in either class.

If she stays in her current class she'll have another year of play-based curriculum next school year, and won't start anything academic until the following school year (i.e. September 2019, when she'll be 6.5). Whereas if we advocate for her to be skipped up at the beginning of the next school year she would start academic stuff next year (i.e. September 2018, aged 5.5).

I don't think she'd necessarily get bored/frustrated if we waited until she was 6.5 to start academics at school, because she likes playing with her friends, and they do sports, music, etc., but ... geeez, 6.5 seems a loooong way off.

So, what I'm trying to say is, is this a case of if it ain't broke don't fix it? Or should I talk to the school? Or something else?

Thanks in advance

If older kids are her preference, that's an indication that she'd be better placed socially through acceleration, particularly if she's already the oldest in her class. And if she's demonstrated that she's ready for academics, then she's also better off for acceleration from a cognitive standpoint.

As long as she gets sufficient play opportunities outside of school hours, where is the downside of acceleration?

5.5 is young for K where you are? It seems quite a reasonable age. I suspect I must not be understanding something about her school situation.

If she'd be starting K at 5.5., no I would not hold an advanced kid back to play more. She's still going to be learning at home, I assume and the gap will grow to an even more difficult-to-manage extent.

Try this: Advanced search -
Newer than 2 years
Older than 1 years
or
Newer than 3 years
Older than 2 years
etc

The first three posts linked in this old acceleration roundup may be of interest, as they touch on the topic of kindergarten.

If your child is happy, that may be the benefit of keeping with the play-based program.

Thanks Indigo! I knew you'd know

ConnectingDots, where we are kids have 3 years of Infants school, starting in the calendar year they turn 3. If your kid's birthday is in January, they will be 3.5 when they start Infants, if your kid's birthday is in December, they will be 2.5 when they start. Very slowly through Infants they learn the alphabet, phonics, numbers up to 20, basic colours, shapes, etc., so that they're ready for primary school. Then primary school (when the they start doing academic stuff) starts in the year that the kids turn 6, so January kids will be 6.5, and December kids will be 5.5.

It's not a bad system I think. There are extra curricular classes too, if you want them, so we have DD enrolled in an elective science class where they do fun experiments once a week. And extra sports. Plus she does drama outside of school. She's happy, life's interesting. She's having fun being a kid. This is where my dilemma is.

Dude, I don't think there's really a downside to acceleration, except that she might miss out on an extra year of play (on top of the year she's just started). But at this point I'm wondering if she really needs 2 more years of play-based stuff, if one would be enough. I don't want to rush her to grow up, and play is great for kids, but 6.5 is late for starting 'proper' school.

Portia, I'll chat with the school and find out our options. Hopefully we have some!

So, spaghetti, how old was your DD when she started first grade? I get a bit confused by all the different school systems

We also skipped kindergarten, directly into first grade, retaining the normal amount of time in preschool. It worked well for ours, who was very social, age-appropriate in organization and EF (but compliant), and still ahead of the 1st grade curriculum after the skip. It worked out to be about the right amount of challenge, even with academics a bit on the easy side, because working on developing study/school skills offset the potential for academic underchallenge. And socially, there were no concerns out of the typical developmental range for first grade.