Here's a brief summary of my DS5 and his journey to this point. Hopefully your DH can get something out of our struggles.
6 months old-4.5 years old: I worked full time and my son was at a daycare/preschool. He moved to the preschool class at 3.5 years old. When he entered that room he was a very happy, popular boy. The teachers all loved him, the other kids loved him and he never got in trouble. After about 8 months in that room the teacher told me that he was very advanced and he has already mastered everything she hoped to teach him for K. He was teaching himself to read and he loved puzzles and math problems. On the other hand he was also becoming a huge behavior problem. He was quickly losing friends and he would talk back and throw fits whenever they tried to give him a time out. IMO, they overused timeouts and it got to the point where he was spending at least an hour a morning outside the director's office and we were sending a communication book back and forth each day to discuss his behavior. My son was miserable. At home he was angry and the only thing that seem to make him happy and when we allowed him to learn in the evening. He begged for workbooks and math problems. We had him tested the following fall at 4.5 years old and he remained in the same preschool class (no K early entry in our district). His testing shocked us.
4.5-present: After the testing we decided to move him to a Montessori school for 3-6 year olds. It took a few months for him to settle in and my son is much happier. Is he working at his full academic potential right now? No, but he is a much happier child and barely has the same angry outburst and behavior issues we saw last year. This fall at age 5.5 he will stay at the school for the Extended Day program. I really hope that I can work with his teachers to keep him engaged as he is quickly going through the school's materials.
I have no idea what will be do for the fall of 2009. I get a little panicky thinking about it. There are no gifted or even private schools that accommodate gifted children near me.
