We had our DS5 in a Montessori program from age 2-5 (because I worked as a teacher)...the older he got, the more miserable he became - they were not challenging him at all and he kept telling me that he was bored, bored, bored. His teacher was very intimated and even told me and him several times that he needed to slow down because he was so far ahead of everyone else and that she was afraid she would run out of material to teach him when he was enrolled for Kindergarten. His self-esteem started to drop, his whole demeanor changed, he was miserable, he told me he felt like he was all by himself. We knew that a public K with 24-26 in a class would not work (I taught K in my county for over 15 years) so we pulled him from school and dove head first into homeschooling. It meant me leaving my career, but after just a handful of months, we have our happy child back, his self-esteem is returning, his sense of adventure and love of exploration is back. Homeschooling him was the best thing we could have done given the circumstances. It was a tough decision and no, not every day is butterflies and roses - some days are difficult, but just seeing his old self back is worth everything! :-) We have joined 2 large homeschooling groups in our county and he is spending more time socializing then he ever did when he was in preschool.
