Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy At a loss

I am new here and hoping for some help. My son will be 4 this month. He is currently going to Kensington School (Chicago suburbs) in the Transitional Kindergarten class. In this class the kids are working through the Jolly Phonics program, doing art projects, starting on basic math. He complains that he is bored in the class which is no surprise because he is writing complete sentences and reading first grade books. I went on a tour of a gifted school in the area and they are working through the same program at a faster pace and doing similar work as his current school. Here is the kicker - they have a cut off date of Sept 1; a student has to be 4 by September 1 to get into the gifted school's Pre-K class. That means that if we went to this "great school" that he would start working on his current projects next year, even though he is already ahead of the class now.

I was really hoping that the gifted school would be the answer but obviously not. What do I do? I am so frustrated because he needs/wants to be challenged and that is not happening until he comes home to us. I feel like he is going to hate school if we don't figure out something to do with him. I am open to any suggestions here. He could write by 2.5 and was reading before that. He knows all of the states and the capitals - can point them out on a map and can write them only given the state abbreviations. He has learned all of the major bones in the body. He can count to 100... I am at a loss. What do I do with him?

I am going to assume the school you are looking at is Avery Coonley. That is the only school we didn't look at as it was too far south for us.

That being said, I think they all follow the state guidelines for kindergarten entrance and that silly September 1st cut date. Our local district does have an early entrance to first grade but NOT to kindergarten. To be eligible, the child must complete a kindergarten program with a certified teacher and have attended that same school for preschool. The child must also score in the 90th percentile on spring MAP as if he were in kindergarten (ds just missed the reading at 87th percentile and was 99th percentile in math) so he didn't skip kinder!

Not sure if this helps.. the other schools in the burbs are DaVinci (Elgin), Einstein Academy (Elgin) and Quest (Palatine).

Have you consider a play-based preschool for now?

Did he get to see that other gifted school? I wonder if he actually was in that environment you may have a better idea of which is better for him. Also, those kids might be at that level, what did they say about your son's level and accomodating that?
I know what it feels like to walk in a room of same age peers for your child and to see the level they are working and walk out with a pit in your stomach. I am settling in to the sad reality that there is no perfect placement for every child. I have been obsessing over K placement for our DS.

I would run a mile from any preschool that taught academics at all - but that is my cultural bias.

Yes, sit down academics at four of the kind that appears to be happening there is not developmentally appropriate even for most gifties. He doesn't need the preparation or the boredom. Find something alternative. Not that play based options are a panacea as he the teachers, peers and toys still need to be a fit, but finding a fit academically at that age...forget it.

Of course we could try the all problems solution advertised here recently - some of our kids are in situations where I am sure only black magic would help!

I am not all that concerned about the academics that he is receiving in Pre-K. He is a little boy and I want him to play and have fun and work on interacting with others and making friends. He is bored during the lesson time but it isn't that long and I keep trying to give him ideas of things to do after he is done and others are still working.

I am concerned about what is going to happen once he gets to kindergarten and beyond because he is more advanced. Kensington does have kindergarten so hopefully they will allow him to start next year, which would technically be early since he would be starting when still 4. Then we could transfer to a public school as a 1st grader. I just don't want him to get screwed with having a fall birthday. I can't imagine him not being allowed to start kindergarten until almost 6 when his "peers" are learning things that he could do when he was 3. That is messed up.

It was Avery Coonley. Elgin and Palatine are too far out of the way for us. I guess we will stay where we are for now and see what happens. The hard cutoff is nuts to me. How can they not consider the capabilities of the children?