My only reason to think it's nice to know early is so that you can have the right "stuff" around.
I had books up to 2nd grade in the house for DS back when he was in pre-K...only to find out that he was reading at a middle school level at age 5! Oops! No wonder he didn't read at home much!
But I thought having books 2-3 years ahead of him would be enough. It wasn't.
I think I also would have focused more on math when he was younger. He had an interest, but I really didn't. So I didn't do that much with him in math in those pre-K years. I now see that he would have really enjoyed it.
None of this is the end of the world or anything. He learned a lot anyway and he was a happy kid. But I do feel like he would have enjoyed more challenge when he was younger, as I see him enjoying now.
Of course, anyone who has found this forum is probably way ahead of the game anyway, so it's probably a moot point...
