Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Early entrancing K

Hi. I could really use some insight! DS3.11 has been enrolled in the first year of a 2 year pre k program since September (he attended preschool at same place). I've been generally happy with the level of support and accommodation they've been able to provide - here's the kicker/ the latest accommodation. Instead of continuing to pull out/ up for an hour in the morning, DS was recently transitioned fulltime to group 2. This is great. He has friends in both groups and seems to be doing really well and is enjoying it. The surprise came when we were told he's expected to graduate with the rest of the class in the spring. I've been casually looking at other programs for comparison and planning for a while, but I wasn't planning on the rush. We're looking at a private jr k program tomorrow. DS interviewed at a private K earlier in the year and would be accepted for Sept K entrance. The public school won't even screen him because of his age. Either way he'll either do extra time in pre k or a double year in K (1 private then 1 public). I think either route would be fine as long as there's enough thoughtfully prepared activities, space for exploration and potential friendships to be made. I guess I'm looking for others' experiences with early entrancing to help we weigh my thoughts on pre k and k (e.g. Re adjustment, positives and challenges, and especially eventual transition to the public schools). I'm not sure I'll be able to sustain a private primary education for DS because of cost and would love to take advantage of the public options if they are a decent fit for him later on. Thanks!

In many places, K is optional and the district is not required to offer it (though almost all do offer K). If that is your case, your son needs to finish a "real" grade at an accredited school.

I would consider his maturity and what he would like (if one route means staying with friends, how it affects sports, etc.). I know folks will rip me for the sports comment, but when my very small 2nd grade kid was a grade ahead and in with kids - some almost two years older - in rec basketball, it wasn't pretty. She repeated 2nd when she switched schools (private to public, different birthday cutoff).

I think that most kids around here could skip K without missing any "academics". In this area, kids stay in their "correct" grade more for social reasons than for academic ones. Consider the types of kids in your district and if he would have some intellectual equals (or near equals) in his grade.

I'm with Master of None. My DD was able to enter first grade early at our public school after completing full-day private K. Private school wanted her to repeat K because of her age, but the public school offered early entrance. They agreed with me that she would be bored out of her mind repeating K. Although she is not always as challenged as she should be, I offer as many supplementary opportunities as I can, especially in math and science, her two strongest areas, to keep her engaged.

We had to make some adjustments recently. She and two other early entrants are in 6th grade gifted cluster and all three skipped 6th grade math and are in 7th grade advanced math in the middle school. This has worked well for us. The school's faculty and staff are very supportive though the district administration and county paperwork and testing were a bureaucratic chore. Check out your State Board of Education policies on early entrance to first grade and see what the public schools can offer in terms of meeting your DS's needs before you make a decision to repeat K.

I am in a somewhat similar position as you. Since DS7 has been in public school for 2.5 years - a school that has been kind of nightmare to deal with - my general opinion supports keeping my kids out of public school as much as I can. Right now, DD3 would easily be ready for K next year. But I would rather keep her in a (great) local preschool part time next year and have her enter K at the regular time for her, when she turns 5. I will then work to accelerate her out of K when she gets to school.

For my DD3, repeating K would be a nightmare - I can see it already (she is working on addition, subtraction now and playing with the idea of multiplication). I don't know what your preK is like, but the preK that DD will go to will happily accommodate her academic needs as they did with DS7.

Thanks all. I'd checked into the state regulations on entrancing prior to all this so I wasn't surprised to find when this week rolled around to receive a response consistent with strict adherence. While fairly standard, K is optional so 1st grade entrance is based on an age reached of 6 years rather than completion of a kindergarten program. I've found this to be the case everywhere except one school. I'm cautious about a plan that relies on repeating k too, though as each of the programs we're considering are located outside of our hometown, I'm less concerned about some retention aspects than others i.e. he'll be with different children each year most likely; so far he's been moved to different groups at off-cycle times so he doesn't necessarily appreciate that there is a more usual order for grade movement. It's the lack of appropriate intellectually stimulating exploration opportunities I'm more concerned about moving forward, but hopefully the public school will demonstrate more flexibility towards accommodation once he's in the system. DS exhibits emotional maturity, and is physically tall with appropriate fine and gross motor capabilities for a year ahead. He has some sensory sensitivities and gets the "wiggles" sometimes in group. His teachers say they're fairly easily accommodated for by a quick break with a shake and return, but it's one of my considerations for what we're looking for out of next year. I feel like if he goes in early, I won't be able to ask for any accommodation for him without getting a lecture on development and parenting from administration. 'Guess it's time to get on the ball! It's touring morning. Thanks again.

When my son was 3.5, I approached our public school to explore kindergarten entrance the following year, when DS would have been 4.5, and they literally laughed in my face. So I instead enrolled DS, a year early, in a small, flexible, private school that has been a perfect fit. The private kindergarten had less than 10 kids, so I knew DS wouldn't get lost in the crowd, and he was tall, mature and very social in addition to being ready academically.

In our case, getting that early start went a long way toward ensuring that the lower grades were challenging and enjoyable for DS. It also meant that when DS was later skipped from 4th to 5th, it felt and appeared like he'd only been skipped one grade, even though he was two years older than his classmates. So, my advice is, if you think your child will need to be skipped more than once, getting one "skip" in early can make for less disruption later on.

This is exactly the advice my son's pediatrician gave for his early years.

My DD missed the hard cutoff date for K by a month, so we kept her at a private preschool(3 mornings a week) for a third year, then had her assessed for grade acceleration at our public school. (They were very accomodating.) She started 1st grade this past fall, skipping K. It has worked out great for us with a very smooth transition. We enjoyed our "extra" time together before starting all-day, every-day school.

I'm getting nervous about this. DD, now 4, is heading to Monty-K, full day in the fall. Edit to add: I should note that in Montessori it is a 3 yr cycle, and she will have completed her first 2 years.

She has a Sept. b-day so misses the cutoff in my town of 1 Sept. But the Monty-K is in the next town (which also happens to be in another state) and thus has different entrance criteria. But by this time next year, I will have to decide whether to keep her in the private school, or head to public. I guess I'd be immediately be asking for an acceleration then, if I believe she's ready for 1st (which I think is more likely than not).

I am doing the local equivalent with ds4 if I can. We start school whenever in the year our birthday falls but there are cutoffs for whether you go straight into year 1 (K) or finish the year in year 0 (a bit like preK though they do exactly the same stuff just have more time).

Ds6 made the local cut off by 2 days which was fine but ds4 misses by just over a month. So far they are willing to put him in the year one class (there are usually a couple who just missed the cut off in the class to make up numbers anyway but he was supposed to go in an entirely year 0 class) and assess at the end of the year. Ds4 unlike ds6 is little but i think it would probably be easier to get him put ina lower level for sports than to get his academic needs met in a lower class.