I wonder if anyone can help. We have just received a letter from the school my DD is enrolled in for kindergarten (grade 0) for next year (Jan-Dec schooling where I live) She turns 5 in September this year.
I am worried about a number of things. My DD showed her nursery school teacher she could read when she was 2.5 years old. At 3.5 we took her out of the nursery school because I went on maternity leave and she has not been back since then. She is now reading at a 3rd/4th grade level (although her stamina is still quite low) and her math is at a 1st grade level and will probably have reached 2nd grade level by the time she starts K.
I did ask the school what they do for advanced children - they said they had psychologists who would give the children extra work though they must still follow the curriculum with the rest of the children. They did mention acceleration however with the asychronicity she shows I am not sure this would be wise. I do not really believe my DD would do well with extra work - I find she gets through things and learns so quickly that extra work would seem unfair - why shouldn't she just play more and have more challenging work when she must work.
The other thing I am worried about is that already in the nursery school there was talk about ADHD because my DD sleeps so little (they left her playing with the 5 year olds when she was 2 as she would not nap) and is so active. I told them she can concentrate and engage herself and surely this means she cannot have ADHD and they did agree half heartedly with this. I know my child does not have ADHD and do not want some school deciding she does because she will be so bored.
Our other option is to homeschool however I would still have to work two mornings a week minimum which would lead to year round homeschooling and homeschooling in the afternoons on the days I worked (which does not seem to suit my DD as well as mornings) I am concerned about the social aspects of this as I have yet to find a homeschool group I can join - though I do believe they are out there.
What do you think is best for this child and what other factors do you think I need to take into account before making this decision. The school is a private school (no PS around here is worth sending ANY child to let alone a gifted one - I live in South Africa) so financially it will be very expensive to send her there which naturally means it must be the best decision for her so that we are not wasting money that could be better spent.
