Why not with math? Why do we (collectively, as a culture, not neccessarily parents on this board) withhold it until the day the kid is deemed ready, and then say, "Here are exponents, understand them now or else"?
I think with language and literacy education, people get the holistic nature of it whereas with math, we tend to think of it in term of scope and sequence. A K teacher isn't going to discourage her students from attempting beginning readers if she reads Charlotte's Web to her class but I think there is an unfounded fear that if she tries to expose them to higher math, it could lead to confusion or even worse, a math phobia.
