My DS will turn 4 in December. He is very bright, although we have not had him tested. We've had a really hard time figuring out the right preschool.
We began looking two years ago for a school for when he was two going on three. We found a preschool we liked for gifted kids, but they raised their tuition to $800+ a month for 4 mornings a week. Not in our budget! He ended up last year (age 2-3) in a co-op preschool where I was in the class every other day. He had a good time, but school was little more than a play date. I think this was fine for last year. He says that he "didn't learn anything" - his words - but I know he learned a few things. Potty training, how to stand in line, how to listen quietly.
This year, we moved to a new preschool that is part of a private school. When we enrolled last January, we went ahead and put him in the 3 year old class. I thought that the 4 year old class would be a better fit, but I didn't push it. We had our first day at school last week and he was underwhelmed. The classroom was full of toddler toys. The curriculum doesn't go past introducing letters and numbers. I have a kid who wants and is starting to learn to read and write, knows letters and numbers, does addition and subtraction in his head. Plus he wants to learn about things in depth - he doesn't want to just learn his colors, he wants to understand why red is red, and blue is blue...
We brought up the idea of moving him to the 4 year old class and the teacher and preschool director were seriously skeptical. They had several objections (we've had bright kids before who've done well in their age groups, we've accelerated kids before and it's gone badly, socially, physically...) but were somewhat open to talking about it again in a few weeks.
Help? How do we talk to the teachers?
Or what should we fight for in a preschool class?
What would help prepare him if we are going to try for early entrance to K next year?
