I too agree that half-day K is much easier than a full-day program and not only for gifted students. I don't even agree with the length of the day for the rest of the elementary classes in US. Where I am originally from the school day lasts from 8 to 12 in the 1st grade, in the 2nd grade you may go two days till 1 p.m., in the 3rd you may add another day till 1. The number of hours spent at school slowly builds up. You never see 1st grader spending as much time at school as a high school student.

Kids need to play and have free time, lots of it. They even need to get bored here and there. Spending more time at school doesn't guarantee better education. I would go as far as saying that more is less in this case.

One of the reasons our older one went to a private Montessori was that they offered half-day K. Unfortunately even that wasn't a solution for us. After a month he started acting out at home big time. By November he was asking to be homeschooled. I don't even want to think what a full day program with no accommodations would do to him.


LMom