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I've been trying to find this one post i saw, and i can't seem to find it. It was someone who's child is 4 and in montessori preschool, and she found a school that might move her child to 1st grade.
Anyway i guess i could just get answers to my questions with my own post...I just hope you're all not tired of my incessant questions!lol

My concern is that My 3 year old will be 4 in July, and I was going to possibly try for early entrance to kindergarden. But he is already past everything he would learn in kindergarden, i feel he would be quite board. Only his writing is not quite there, but we still have 8 months until next school year, and at his growth rate...I'm quite sure it will be by then. Anyway I'M not sure what I'll try for, I might just keep him at home next year and try to teach him myself, and then the next year see what the schools can do. Mostly because my son is so imaginative and just wants to play. He will sit and learn for small periods 10-20 min (some days less). He will listen to a book for 45 min or so though. Just maybe not long enough for school. But he is able to learn so much in that short time,and even when i think he is not paying any attention, he seems later to have picked up everything he was taught.
He seems to only need a few months or less to learn what it seems to take other kids a year or more to learn.
my biggest question is how possible is skipping 2 grades or more at some point. Have any of your children been allowed to do that? Any in California? Anyhow i don't know if thats whats best for him either.
Any suggestions for what to do or can be done for a child 2 or more grades ahead, any advice would be wonderful.

I know there will be others with much more experience than me to answer this but I'll give my 2cents. too!

My dd entered K at 4yrs old. She was beyond kindergarten academically. She was tested when we moved to a new state and I was told that she was at a 2nd grade level. The school suggested accelerating her work within the class rather than skip because they weren't sure she had the maturity yet to handle an older classroom. I agreed. I think that plays a huge role in deciding wether or not to skip your child. If your son may not be able to handle more than 45min at a time of instruction then he may not be ready for school yet as far as that maturity goes. BUT because he's so young and so far ahead I would be researching (as you are!) what the best course of action would be for him. Hopefully others can have some suggestions or ideas.

Oh, and how the school handles him is also a huge factor. Some schools are great about adjusting the work for high kids, others are not. I would try talking with his potential school and find out what they would do with him. Would they suggest skipping, adjust work etc?

GL!

Jenafur-

Early entrance is one option that seems to work out very well for gifted kids. They don't have the stress/stigma of a grade skip that peers are liable to be asking about, and a mature four year old can blend easily with a group of 5 year olds. I think it is definitely worth pursuing, though the reception you get will vary wildly depending upon your state policy and the particular school you approach.

For kids who are HG+, many times two grade advancement is desirable. This may be achieved by combining early entrance with a later skip, two single year skips in different years, or a more "radical" two year skip. I encourage you to read the Templeton report (A Nation Deceived) for details on acceleration studies.

http://www.nationdeceived.org/

Homeschooling is another way to accommodate gifted learners who are more than a bit ahead. It's been a great blessing for my family, where the kids are all profoundly gifted but also have 2e challenges. I'm pretty sure that my one undiagnosed kid is also going to meet the criteria for ADHD. She is very active, and I can see a lot of parallels to her sister who is ADHD. She's unmedicated so far, which we'd probably not be able to do if she enrolled in school. Not many teachers want their pupils bouncing around while they do their lessons.

Good luck!

Hey, Jenafur!

That was me! I'm the mom with the 4 yr. old at Montessori who may be allowed to skip kindergarten.

I've posted some lengthy posts about our experience over the last week under the "Underserved Populations" forum in the "Where Do I Even Begin" subject.

I spoke with the counselor at our local school system and explained our situation. At first she suggested he could start Kindergarten, and after 4 to 6 weeks they would evaluate the situation. After we spoke some more, she agreed to consider a complete skip to first grade if I present IQ and achievement testing. (Once I told her he was reading and writing at age 2 she perked up a bit.)I also told her I did not feel it would be in his best interest to change to a new class in the middle of the semester. She agreed that would be difficult for any child, and was open to further communication about it. Her comment was,"We want to serve EVERY child in this system." (Or something very similar if I'm not quoting verbatum.)

We will wait and see what the future holds. If we feel that he is mature enough to handle first grade we will definitely pursue it. But I certainly don't want it to be stressful for him. I want him to continue to be a joyful child. One of the difficulties we are currently having is that he seems to prefer to play with older children, anyway. Socially, he is very appropriate to be placed with a group a year or two older. However, I can't say for certain that his maturity level is where it needs to be. I just don't know how to ascertain that quite yet. I will rely on the psychologist to give me some direction in that department.

Either way, I would think that your system might want to see some test scores. I am very new at this, but that seems to be the first thing my system wants to see.

Good luck to you. It's exciting and a bit scary, too, isn't it?

Warm regards,
Allison

Based on our experience, I would probably recommend an early entrance to K over skipping directly into first. For us K was a half day; there were lots of fun activities and the teacher had a fair amount of flexibility.

In first, the teachers felt so much pressure to get every kid reading by the end of the year (because of the nature of our demographic, most weren't reading coming out of K), there really wasn't much time to try to adapt the curriculum to a more advanced kid. It was all about remediation for the kids who were having trouble, with very little flexibility because the teacher was stretched too thin trying to meet strict state guidelines for reading. I just think with the right teacher, K can provide a child with a smooth transition into school life. I think, at least at our district, to have dumped DS directly into first would have really turned him off to school.

Obviously, so much depends on the teacher, the kid, the school, the district etc. This is just my feeling based on my one kid.

I, too, agree with acs that since 1st grade seems to be the year for the big "learn to read" push, and K (at least around here) is a half day and is much more about being social and having fun, I'd say early-entrance to K is better.

Going early to K and then skipping 1st grade altogether isn't a bad plan, I think, if our experiences with public school are any indication!

Best wishes!

K-

I also agree with the "take what's offered" plan, although I would fight for what makes the most sense. Our local Kindy spent oodles of time on reading and language arts, so there was less of a push in first grade. Again, spend the day in a few classrooms, the teachers make all the difference, and you will get a great education in what normal is. Eye-opening for most of us.

BTW - I was early enteranced, and folks were so worried about the whole thing that they went out of their way to lie to me about the reasons. It did take me until just a few years ago to "get a clearer picture" of why I was always the youngest one.

((shrug))
Trinity

Thanks everyone.
I am glad to see that so many of you have children who have skipped grades. Good to know you did it etc. I'm so nervous about approaching the schools about this. I just hate it when people look at you like you're a ding dong when you say something about how advanced your child is.
So should I start talking to schools now? and when I do should I go alone or take DS with me?
I do think now after hearing what you all had to say that early kindergarden would be best. I hope it's half day here, i think that would be perfect for him.
Allison, I'm so glad you found this forum, Your posts are very helpful to me. (i'm glad you found it for you too, lol)
My son like yours, also gets along so much better with older kids. He loves his four year old cousin though, but they just don't play together good, his cousin just doesn't understand his games, and usually ignores him when they "play together". He gets along with his 6 and 8 year old cousins much better. Like yesterday we were having a dinner and campfire outside with my husbands parents, his sisters family, and his brothers family.
DS3 was telling his cousins "we're astronauts, our coats are space suits . Lets go to mars." he decided a log was mars, then his eight year old cousin went to the next log, and said
"I"M on Jupiter!"
TH\hen my son found another log a said
"Now lets go to Venus" etc.
his eight year old cousin was having a great time with him, but his four year old cousin just left to do something else.
At preschool he doesn't really play with the kids. Last pre-school day, I was excited he was making a friend. He was making this boy go around the playground with him, to "Rescue people in trouble" some were imaginary people, etc. The kid liked my son but would just stand there beside him watching a little bewildered. They started jumping in leaves together, and they got along great doing that. It was so comforting to see him actually playing WITH someone there. The boy was at least a year older than my son though. His home based preschool has 3-5 year olds combined on their "at school" days twice a month.
I hope he'll be able to find friends in kindergarden.
thanks again
-Jenafur

Good Luck Jenafur!
Seems like now is the time to put on your "Ding dong look" proof shield and venture out into your local school district. Start with just you, and you can bring your son in later. Keep asking for information, help, and stress that you have your son's emotional growth at heart. Check out the private schools as well. Talk to everyone who might know anything about this. When you get the "Ding dong look" smile patiently and look for a way to find the next person to talk to. Practice in front of the mirror a kind, understanding and slightly smug "I used to be ignorant also" look. ((Did I just say that?))

Lots of folks need to talk for a while before any new ideas get into their heads, so try to expect this. If you wait long enough, you can usually find something to agree with, and agree heartily. Then you can introduce your point, starting from where they are.

Activate Shields and go forward!
Trinity