The private school where my DD4 (she turned four in May so she is a young four) did pre-K last year said they will not put her into K this year because she is "still a 4 year old and needs to play with kids her age." They acknowledge that she has "special" needs and is very bright, but kept saying their program is for the average kid. Now she has to do K next year after another year of pre-k when K was too easy last year :-( UGH Do public schools ever let kids skip K if they are five?

The Pre-K she is going to is just a few hours a few days a week and I am getting to the point where I cannot be home with her full time anymore. Her intensity, level of talking and singing, argumentativeness, emotional intensity, and energy level, alongside her two year old sister, is too much for 14 straight hours a day with one person esp. since I am dealing with a health issue that is sapping my energy. I was hoping the five day a week mornings at K might help direct her energy and help her mom catch her breath. My DH travels all the time and I have no help, and there isn't much available for daycare, so this was the easiest option for us even if K level work is still too easy for her. I'm disappointed.

Sorry about k.

i'm sorry it didn't work out....and i totally get needing a little more time for yourself to keep up with her energy level.

Sorry they won't work with you. ***hugs***

I had to quote this because I'm in the exact same boat as you. Every word you typed rings true with me as well (except my small girl is 20 months). At least you are not alone!!

I've been toying with the idea of putting my big girl in PreK but with such harsh winters we have, I'm not sure I want to make the commitment to lug her there.

DS6.5's did, but he was enrolled in K first according to the state's age requirements/birthday rules. Sorry you're having such a difficult time.

Our SD has a policy that allows kids to early-entrance K if they turn 5 by the end of November, and DS skipped K when he was 5.5, but all you can do is ask. I would think you'd want to be armed with quantifiable evidence that your DD does well on both achievement and ability measures, though, since it's usually a knee-jerk reaction to say no to a request like yours. But, if you can show that DD is really, truly, quanitifiably several years ahead and has the abilities to remain so, maybe you could convince them to break the rules. I'm so sorry the school is being so inflexible with you! It's so frustrating!


Is there, perhaps, a homeschooled preteen or teenager or maybe even a college student who might be willing to come "play" with DD several days a week? They could do all kinds of fun things that could take the place of preschool and give you a break. Also, surely it would cost less than a preschool that isn't meeting her needs anyway. Also, what about signing her up for classes that you don't have to be a part of yourself, like gymnastics, dance, martial arts, etc. just to expend her energy, give you a break, expose her to other kids and teachers, and maybe even give her a chance to work on something non-academic that she may not immediately excel at. Or maybe a foreign language class?

Hi, I am going through the same sort of wait right now; hoping for a better outcome, but we'll see.
Just wondering if the private preschool isn't working out so great if a home daycare situation would challenge her more, allow her to interface with some older kids, etc...?

This really depends on your state and sometimes your district. IE. Here in Texas they leave it up to districts and some do while others don't. Best thing you could do is call your district and ask them the protocol.

Also, through other posts of yours I have felt that you were not 100% happy with the school. Have you considered another option? Perhaps Montessori would allow her to interact with older kids (IF they implement it correctly) and give her a chance to learn at her own pace though chances are she already knows everything in that grouping but it would be more of a challenge than straight pre-k curriculum. I don't know your situation or where you live (metro/rural?) but have you searched out all the possibilities besides social preschool?

Chris,

You mean putting her in a home daycare? I think it could *potentially* be beneficial, but I've looked at that possibility here, and it seemed like most of the kids would be dd4s age or younger (b/c older kids would be in school), many of the postings were downright scary regarding their lack of written communication abilities, and NONE of the literally hundreds advertising in my area mentioned "gifted". I'm sure that there would be some people in there who would work out great, but I felt disinclined to sort through all those people (and I'm crossing my finger's that dd's half-time preK will be fun and accomodating). Now, if you found the right person, or if you advertised for a person/people yourself, then you might end up with an ideal home daycare situation. (Oh, one last caveat: if the person is sick or there's a family situation, you are SOL. That has happened to me in pretty significant ways with two out of two home daycare people I've used in the past).

I would ask them for their written policy on early entrance to K and provide them with sample policies from other schools both private and K. I would also ask them for their advancement policy and their hold-back policy.

I would also ask them to cite in the pedagogical literature what their rationale is for holding kids back and provide them with some literature to boost your case as well as your child's scores from the Iowa Acceleration Scale.

I would also hedge your bets by looking for other schools. Or think about in-home daycare with enrichment from a tutor.

Having that test and having a consultant on your side is also very powerful.

A number of private and public schools in North Texas have early entrance programs with objective standards. We are looking at early entrance or private daycare with a tutor for Mr W. All options are on the table and we may change from year to year as to what we do.

It's funny...I JUST had a convo five minutes ago w/someone at work where I was saying "People save up to pay for college, but I think it's better to suck it up and realize sometimes you have to pay out the wazoo for high quality care when the kids are little. It's more your responsibility to improve their environment when they are little than when they are 18." So I respectfully suggest that you think through your financial priorities. You may realize that the benefit of additional help/camps/a different preschool outweigh the financial cost. I've been in your shoes and I've managed to find wonderful people to help out and bring new perspectives to my kids.

I'm only throwing this out there because you mentioned that your husband travels alot. I ASSume this is for work, so I further ASSume that your financial situation is reasonably OK. If I'm wrong, please accept my sincere apologies.

DS's public school (California) did suggest skipping him past K when he was 5, so don't give up hope yet! We decided not to, though, and I'm glad he experienced the excitement of starting K with other kids his age before we pulled him. We just met another friend in our co-op debating whether to start her HG 5 year old in a regular K, and she's decided to for the same reasons as us. The kids will always remember the excitment of the first days/weeks of kindergarten! By the 2nd week, DS had had enough, but truthfully, he would have felt the same way about the 1st grade class, too, and it wouldn't have been nearly as fun.

IMO, we can do so much in terms of enrichment at home anyhow (either the other half of the day or by just pulling them and homeschooling) that I don't think it's a huge deal either way.
There's plenty of time to grade-skip, and you may find (like we did) that better options will come to you when it's time to tackle that issue.

Yes, I guess I'm thinking in terms of someone you already know/trust who is looking to make some extra money. I had good luck with a neighbor, and then my sister. They were well organized so rarely surprised me with a day they couldn't make it, but my schedule is really flexible too...

I am so sorry. I know you were really hoping for this. I am still unsure what we are going to do with DD. DH is currently job searching, and if we get an offer before school starts or near the beginning, she could enter pre-k, but I just can't imagine it as she is reading high 2nd grade level now....I really am not sure what we would do. I know the school district were we are seriously looking is very small asn has done multiple grade skips for some kids, but I am not sure how young they start....anxiety anxiety anxiety.
I know you were really hoping this would be the way into finding the right fit. You are doing a good job with here. Hang in there.

Oh Twinkles,
I'm sorry to hear that your health isn't good right now. Will the energy that your 2 put out you need every drop of health right now. ((Hugs))

1) Give a call to the local public school and see if they will take DD4 as a Kindergartener this year. Even if it's late and they let her start a few weeks after school starts, it would get her out of the house and on the right track. It's worth a try.

2) Figure out if the preschool money would cover hiring someone to come to your home and interact with both girls on a weekly basis.

3) Check out the local homeschooling community and see if there is a 12 year old who could come over and 'teach preschool' to your daughters in your home or hers (with supervision) a few hours M-F as part of a unit study on child development.

4) Find you if your local library and YMCA have activities for kids your daughter's age that she could attend (perhaps with someone besides you.)

5) Look at other private schools or in home daycare settings.

More Hugs,
Grinity

DC were in an inhome daycare for a year. DS was only 18mos when he started (DD was born when he was 22 mos), and he THRIVED. We hated having him go back to regular daycare!

Thanks, everyone. At the moment, I've moved into acceptance mode. The public school said they never allow early entry for K, and she just turned four in May so she is nowhere near their cut off date of 5 by Sept. and the head of the private pre-K we are attending says the new teacher is fabulous and they will be doing plenty of "fun" things this year and I am just going to let it be. My concerns are that she might begin to feel weird for talking and thinking and performing differently and / or learn to hide who she truly is more and more. Both of these things are already happening. We will continue to find things to do with libraries and other educational activities, perhaps with some home schooling families. I've heard first grade is more miserable for most gifted kids than a play based pre-K and K (both will only be a few hours a day) so maybe she will just skip first.

I found this to be a problem with my DS. His preschool teacher told me that he that he couldn't recognize his numbers from 1-10. I was like, "you know he can read, add, and subtract, right?" Of course she had no idea. I too wonder if he's hiding his abilities. DS also turned 4 in May and I though about early addmission as well but then I found a special school for gifted children in my area that is K-8. I think that if they are around other children with similar abilities that they will not be pressured to be "normal" and their abilities will become more evident to their teachers. Maybe there is a school like this in your area.

Could you find another private K program you could put her in for half day. In our School District, if your child has already completed K, they let them go on to first grade regardless of age - there may be an assessment however.

Hang in there�this is only the beginning of the school frustration factor. However, please realize that there are options for your child in Pre-K programs as well.

I sent my DD to a Montessori school at 3 and she was bumped the Intermediate class the first day. When I investigated sending her to Montessori Kindergarten, I found that she had already mastered most of their curriculum, so we changed to another private preschool/kindergarten at 4.

In the private preschool and kindergarten we chose, there was a computer class pullout every week where a teacher would come in with laptops with different educational software every week. The teacher was able to adjust levels in the software, so kids could be sitting side by side and not realize that they were working on something different. On the work sheets in class, we encouraged our child to label all the pictures instead of the first, middle, or last sounds. We had a unique preschool where the kids rotated every 30 minutes in Pre K and Kindergarten was the entire morning in one class and then they rotated classes in the afternoon. Classes included Spanish every day, art, phonics, math, life science, PE, and Chapel. It was a Christian based school, so there was a lot of singing and value reinforcement as well. DD learned the 50 states (in alphabetical order), the continents, etc. She knew parts of a bird, stages of a butterfly metamorphosis and learned all about foods and flowers. They would study a different country or continent every week and totally immerse the kids in the culture and environment (including food, customs, monuments, flags, languages, etc.) and the kids would put on performances including things they had learned. We have some truly amazing videos!

With the private school settings, there were many options that the public schools do not have. What we found is that once my DD was in the school (both public and private) and the teachers saw what she could already do, they would provide additional challenges, and in our DD�s case they had no problem moving her into Kindergarten in the private school setting. Our thought was that even if she had to do two years of Kindergarten she would at least be in a stronger learning environment. (After all, everything you need to know you learn in Kindergarten, right?)

When DD went to public school, she tested out of Kindergarten at 5 and went directly into 1st Grade, but this process was not easy. Grade skipping is not prevalent in the area and most schools do everything they can to keep it from happening. I can tell you that we were highly discouraged from trying to grade skip, but the school could not deny testing based on their school handbook procedures. My DD (then 5) went through 6 hours of testing in one day for language arts, math, science and social studies that required a 90% or above score in all subjects. Out of all kids that took the test last year in all grades, there was only one student who was accelerated. I can tell you that between 60 and 80 kids were tested, so the pass rate was slim and there were many parents and students who were disappointed.

You are not alone and I would encourage you to keep being proactive. You may be able to request a teacher conference after the first week of school and once your child�s ability is known, they may be more open to acceleration. Good luck!

Similar to Catalana, our school district has an age cutoff for kindergarten, but not first grade. I'm not sure about the rules. We also have a program for early entrance to K so we may be in a more progressive district.
I would call around and see if there are other preschools that are not as strict about age. It sounds like your school is not willing to meet your child's needs. Do they have other reasons for wanting to keep her with 4 year olds? Around here it is well known that the Catholic school takes kids early if they have the ability. Many people have used it as a way around the system.

thanks everyon, they have readily admitted she is way ahead: not only ahead of her classmates, but ahead of their kindergarteners at the END of their year, but have never skipped someone ahead. This is just a private pre-K and K program. We don't have a recent IQ score that I trust (she had one just after four and it was high, but she was so little that I don't really trust the score)and I think I still question the gifted designation.

For those who don't know her, she could read words and small sentences at two and a half, knew letter sounds by one and a half, has an amazing drawing talent, spelled out words in the bathtub wall with foam letters before three, and was similarly advanced with math, spatial reasoning, and has a frightening memory, outrageous vocabulary, vivid imagination and creativity, and advanced fine motor skills with coloring, drawing, and writing. She has been very impulsive, intense, argmentative, and demanding in school and home situations and altough no one is saying that is their issue for saying she she be around younger kids,it probably is.

I guess I have decided that maybe it is important enough to fight too hard yet since she is only going three days a week for a few hours. I am hoping her new teacher will find ways to accomodate her a little bit at least.