Wow, where do I start. First thank you for sharing your stories and I have to say eye opening as I read them.
Shellymos - I had a little sigh of relief that the school we signed up for is not exactly like what you described. She will be going to a church based play-based preschool where they do have curriculum under the Wee learn curriculum. Not that this means anything to DD since I looked at the curriculum and she is beyond all of their curriculum all the way through the pre-K classes. BUT (here is what I am hoping) the way in which they claim to teach is more projects which includes a lot of art projects and I think this will be right up DD's alley since she will sit for hours doing art projects at home. Even if they have criteria wrapped around it such as the letter of the week I am hoping the fact that they are doing it in a project DD will be excited about it. They also have structure built in and it isn't a free for all so I hope this is a benefit. I know for a fact that DD and timeouts only work when used sparingly. We hardly ever use them with her and instead talk about the issue and give her options. She might get a timeout once a month at this point. So I am sure if she is put into that situation it won't come out well for her. (BIG SIGH)
Then I read on to Crisc post and now I really start worrying because what you describe sounds more like what we signed up for but like I said, I have no illusions that everything would be perfect. I might have before really starting to understand gifted children but not anymore. So of course I doubt our choice but we will soon find out if it is a right choice. And in keeping with this thread of hindsight and knowing about gifted: The fact that I understand gifted it does empower me in that I wouldn't hesitate to pull her out if it looks like the program is not working out. Before knowing about gifted, who knows how I would have responded... probably thinking it falls under bad kid issues and not that it wasn't a good fit. If that makes sense.
And in regards to Montessori schools I have located one here that really interests me in that it is a French Immersion Montessori school. So if the preschool doesn't work out I will be looking into that one. I have also been looking into foreign language programs for summer time but around here they don't start until they are 3 yr old so something I will look into next summer.
And Shari ... The moving up to the older class issue is one I have heard repeatedly in our area and still scratch my head about. There are a lot of Montessori schools around here and not all do that but a number of my friends have had issues with this. So it sounds like you did the right thing for your son.
