At that age, I am a fan of staying home and going out and doing different things. You are by no means holding her back. DS6 is a PG kid and we tried prek at 3 and it didn't work out, we waited until 4yo and had 2 failed attempts before we found a good fit (one where he was finally challenged a bit) and he did much better. He didn't miss out an anything that year when he was 3 I am certain of it. He is now going into 2nd (with lots of subject acceleration) and doing well. This summer DD turned 3 and I realized that I hadn't even considered putting her in pre-k. She is home with me all summer but next week will be back at my grandma's when I go back to work in school. So she started asking me to go to school and I realized it may be good for her to go 4 hrs. a week and give my mom a break so I am going to try it for her. She is very excited about it because she wants to play and have fun and she is quite social (whereas when DS was her age he wanted to have a history book and a math book). I think DD is gifted but she is very different than DS. She could keep busy and have fun with a cardboard box probably for hours because she is so imaginative. I don't think she would get bored if she wasn't challenged and I am really not putting her there to challenge her or for her to learn things....I will do that at home. I guess we will see how it works out...she is excited about meeting new friends, and hopefully they are very verbal and can keep up with her. Sometimes I feel like I have neglected her since she is not as driven to do academic stuff. Her brother was reading before 2 and she likes to read with me, but is not even close to reading yet from what I can tell. She is content dressing up like princesses, putting on puppet shows, playing with polly pockets, playing out elaborate themes, and cooking her kitchen. Interesting how different they can be. Boy did I get off on a HUGE tangent. Anyhow, you do your best and it will all work out. I made a few mistakes along the way with schooling for DS and no harm done now.
good luck!
