This is an option that has been offered to us for DS. He's 4.5 and the school wants him to start now, going into a year 2 class then onto year 3 by the end of the year. Here he'd start school at the end of this year as a 5 year old in year '0' and next year he'd be year 1. So they're talking about starting him right in at 2 - 3 years ahead of where he would normally be. Socially he's about right with 6 and 7 year olds and the year 2 class is mostly 7 so that should be ok, but academically the year 2 class is still way below where he is achievement wise - year 3 would be a closer fit, but he'd still need to be moved up for maths, or do something different for that.
Can this work? The year 2 class would give him time to learn about how school works while still being in the junior part of the school, but would offer little in the way of academic challenge. He'd be doing a lot of social learning I imagine, and just general sorting out how it all works. I'm struggling a bit to imagine how they'll keep pace with his learning because he learns so fast he's not going to need anything like the repetition that is usual at school.
I'm really not sure what to do - I'd prefer that he had at least some sort of school experience, but I'm not sure what.

I should mention that at the moment it'd only be part time (I doubt he'd manage full days yet).

Any ideas?

Trina, how awesome that the school is so co-operative, acceleration plus part time! Hoping, based on how co-operative they seem to be, that the school will carefully support his unusual start date, start point and age, and given your son's scores and achievement data I would cautiously give it a go (not speaking from personal experience here!).

Personally I would not underestimate the amount of learning that needs to happen that is NOT academic. He may take longer than you think to settle into school life, or he may power through. You may find that there are some unexpected road blocks, such as handwriting, ability to focus on boring stuff, ability to keep himself organised enough to function in higher grades. You may find that what you need is this jump start plus some subject acceleration whenever he shows that he is ready.

Have you read any articles about Terrance Tao's schooling in Australia? If not you may find them interesting and helpful both he and his parents have talked very openly how he progressed, how they made decisions, what worked and what didn't.

Sounds like your school gets gifted kids. That's great! I would probably jump at the opportunity. My DS6 started full-day kindergarten at age 4 with subject acceleration 2-3 years higher still, and it has worked beautifully for us. However, he was also in a very small class (9 kids total), so the teacher could give him the extra attention a four year old needs, like help zipping his jacket, tying his shoes, etc. You might want to consider class size.

Our son had a similar start to school, though not as extreme. You need to consider the teachers that your son would have and whether they can differentiate appropriately, otherwise the school experience is not going to be a positive one. You also need to make contact with whoever takes the classes when the regular teacher is on release time.

Also consider the timing of his move. It would be frustrating to move from the Year 2 to 3 if he had just made friends. From experience, the 'sorting out how things work' takes no time at all. The social takes longer.

You also have to accept that he is going to be bored at times and that primary schools here do vast amounts of busy work that he would be expected to put up with.

wow it's so brilliant that they are willing to allow this... And if your son wants the acceleration too then I would say go for it!

It's great that they are willing to work with you and him on this. (may I ask where you are from?) we are about to start advocating for a jump now mid-year to grade 0 and then next year to grade 1, but even though it's a gifted school I doubt we will come right thanks to education department etc.

Bit of envy and happiness for your son all rolled into one here

Will watch with interest to see how things go for you. I have been wondering the best way for DS (3.5) to fit into school, knowing that he will need radical accelation but whether such a jump early on will be tricky with handwriting etc.

He's going tomorrow. <gulp>

He is insanely excited. And wants to know if they'll do science, maths, reading, spelling AND write a story tomorrow. Gosh I hope he's not too disappointed.

How was the first day? Any highlights?

It was pretty good. He spent most of the time looking around and trying to read everything on the walls and around the room. He commented that there was so much waiting which he didn't like. I found there was SO much busy work too which was a bit frustrating for him and me. Little things he needs to learn like working with a small group of children and using a glue stick should keep him busy for another week or two. He really surprised me by writing a three page story though - the first time he has ever been willing to write without nagging me for every word he isn't positive he can spell and the first time he's written more than two or three sentences. He was very disappointed with the reading material - he was just slotted in with their highest group which is still 2 - 3 years below where he's reading and understanding comfortably, so I'm glad they didn't do maths, I hate to think what he'd be offered there.
We'll see how it goes I think.

Sounds like an interesting exercise for now anyway and exciting that he wrote a long story. Can he go to a different class for reading? Yes, the busy work in this country is shocking. I don't know how they justify it. It can't be doing anybody in the class any favours.

It's not just USA - it happens here in South Africa too

What are some samples of busy work? My son was in k last year and didn't do too much busy work. They did some art project every day almost if art center was open. And they might color a themed picture of a topic they were studying, but most of the time as far as I can see he didn't do too much busy work. Some work was too easy for him. But once she realized just how far ahead he was in reading, I stopped seeing that he was even doing phonics papers by them millions...more like an odd one here or there.

For some reason my son's class made lots of paper planes last year. Another thing was colouring on themes that had nothing to do with the topics they were studying. There were also wordfinds related to nothing in particular and lots of watching clips from You Tube, which isn't even work, just entertainment. This year, I'm glad to say, there is less of all of that. However, I notice that the 'extension activity' in his most recent reading topic is to design a magazine cover. No discussion of what constitutes an effective cover or anything like that, so I think that's just busy work too.

So far we're pretty underwhelmed. He's happy enough socially - fits well with the girls and not so well with the boys (he likes playing tag and using the play equipment, not pretending to shoot each other or duelling beyblades). Academically he's still a mile ahead of his classmates in most areas, so there's really been no challenge yet, and the things he's met that he's never learnt before (what an adjective is, for example) he's learnt, mastered, applied, and moved on with while the other kids are still reviewing it.
The only real 'benefit' I've seen so far is that he's decided it's ok to write, and has been doing so on a daily basis - stories, non-fiction, all sorts. It's like he looked around and said, hey, I can do that too, and off he went.
I'm not sure where to next with it really, I know they'll suggest more hours soon (it's end of term this week, so I expect they'll want him another day next term) but if this is all they can do for him, I can't see it working. On the other hand, if he's there more they might spend some more time meeting needs instead of slotting him in to what's already happening.
The busy work and the waiting around is driving both of us a little mad though.

Well I'm not going to be able to share any ideas about making this sort of thing a success. We had come up with some ideas to make changes (including asking if he could attend at different times to try the topic/ inquiry type stuff instead of the basic skills work next term) but I never got a chance to ask. It seems someone from the school has read what I've posted on here and they've taken offense and asked us to leave when we arrived yesterday morning, no discussion - trial terminated, thanks for coming, don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way out.

It would have been nice if they'd given us a call instead of us driving for an hour, arriving ready for the school day and having to leave again.

Aside from the shock at the suddenness of it all we're feeling like we've had a near miss if this is the usual management style, so we're glad it's ended before DS was emotionally invested in any friendships.

Now we need to come up with another plan!

Wow! Did they actually say that is why they were asking you to leave? Or did they give no reason at all? I feel terrible for you. Though I agree better to know now than later, a near miss indeed.

It also makes me want to go and delete every post I have ever made mentioning anything about my kids ever, just in case, despite having been reasonably careful not to share too much.

Yep, they specified they were upset about what I had posted.

Goodness. You haven't said anything that remotely identifies the school and while obviously you aren't dancing around with joy you have hardly been harsh - simply talking about the difficult realities of starting school for a child that is a fast and voracious learner and out of sync with their peers.

yeah, I'm a bit confused and wondering if there's more at play than I know about, I certainly haven't said anything I wasn't prepared to say to them, so <shrug> pass. I guess if you know our situation IRL then it'd be easy to connect it to this here, but, as I said, I don't think I've said anything I wasn't preparing to discuss with them, so it all seems a little OTT to me. Still, it's saved us spending the next little while worrying and wondering and trying to work out further options, and DS is not upset by it, so at the end of the day, while I'm somewhat surprised and disappointed at how they've dealt with it, it's best that we move on.

Good grief. And they specified that this thing that offended them was posted here, Davidson Gifted, and by your userid, Trina? I can't see anything that could possibly have offended a reasonable teacher, and cling to the possibility that they've misidentified something else entirely as being by you... You really would think, though, that they'd have a conversation with you about it rather than simply throwing you out. Regardless of whether they've actually been offended by something you really said, or whether they're taking offence at something that wasn't even you, I agree with you that you've had a narrow escape if that's behaviour they think is reasonable.

If it were me, I'd write a calm letter expressing extreme disappointment at how they've chosen to handle this, and bewilderment at what can have offended them [with the URL of the page that gives links to all your posts], and see whether they came back saying that it's all a giant misunderstanding and they are terribly sorry. If they did, I'd consider cautiously whether or not to give them another chance. If they did not, I'd post the name of the school on this thread, to give future parents (whether of gifted or ND children) who are googling the school a shot at finding out what they're getting into while they still have a chance of deciding not to.

What a shockingly unprofessional thing for the school to do. I agree with ColinsMum that you should post the name of the school if you don't get a satisfactory explanation from them.

I don't think you said anything that was offensive. You just outlined the things that were frustrating to you. Hardly unreasonable on a forum such as this. If somebody from the school is using it too they would do better to take parents' concerns on board and do something constructive about them, rather than what they've done to you. Appalling.

Yes, I'd have thought a conversation would be the first point of call, but what's past is past. I've sent them an email, particularly requesting his writing book which he is disappointed to have lost, and summarising our feelings about the situation. I also emailed his teacher because I felt strongly that she needed to know that we had no issue with her at all, in fact I have great respect for her as a professional, but she's working within a flawed system.

Trina, did you ever get any kind of proper explanation from the school or teacher about what had happened?

Nope, no further contact from the school. I haven't bothered chasing them.

Trina,

What was the name of the school and who in the school told you this? They should not be able to hide.

Wow. I can't believe you are not even able to post on this site without someone lurking and dragging you down. What a shame as it looks like they are only looking out for themselves instead of educating your child. I have read through this whole thread, and nowhere do I see any reason for a school to get riled up.

If it were me, I would not post the name of the school on here for fear of them saying you are dragging them through the mud (which you aren't by the way).

Just my two cents, having been through a somewhat similar situation (in the sense of invited to not come back) - if they don't want your child there, then you don't want your child there.

Mary

I'm not willing to put the name out there, it's not worth it.

We're done with them and they with us - and I think it's best that way.

Wow, I missed all this when it was happening.

I would say that you are lucky to have had this happen now, instead of later when you were more invested in this school. If they can manage to take a resource such as this board and turn it into a negative the way they did, instead of the jewel of information that it is, they are clearly idiots and are not suited to the education of your child or any other. And I'm sure you won't have to tell them that I said so.