My son was in full-day, play-based preschool/daycare four days a week before we pulled him out for early enrollment in a full-day, private, academic kindergarten that is geared for gifted kids. I was nervous about the move at the time and received some flack for it from my son's preschool teacher, but it was without any doubt the right thing for my son. Although I agree that no academics is better than wrong academics, if you can find a school that offers the right academics, I would go for it. When my son was in preschool, it seemed like every day he brought home some kind of glittery paper-plate and pipe-cleaner craft that immediately went in the trash. Now, he brings home 4th grade reading comprehension quizzes and first grade math worksheets and is crushed if he catches me throwing them away. When he was in preschool, he would whine and mope about having to go to "school" in the morning. During the first few weeks of kindergarten, he cried several times when I picked him up, because he wanted to stay. And although he's the youngest kid in his k-12 school, he's thriving not just academically but socially. It kills me to think that if I had kept him with his preschool classmates, he'd still be gluing glitter on paper plates!
