Hi Lisa,
Your grand-daughter is so lucky to have you, not to mention how lucky your son and daughter-in-law are. I think one of the hardest things about having highly gifted kids is the loneliness as adults. I see their high intelligence almost as a disability (in NM gifted is under special education) because the kids don't entirely fit in with their age-mates, have more complex interests, require so much more from parents, and are basically more intense. I wouldn't trade it for anything, but there is often no one to talk to (except you all on bulletin boards) after my mom passed away. Everyone else thinks you're bragging, or "neurotic"/pushy uber-mom, or saying your kids are better than theirs. They resent you and your kids' achievements. The only people I have found very supportive are school district professionals. I have taken to not talking to anyone other than professionals and my husband about them. What I'm trying to say is that being available as a caring advocate for your grand-daughter to your son/d-i-l is invaluable.
Also what I suggest to help your grand-daughter is to help provide enriching experiences to nurture her gifts (museums, library trips, art classes, board games, puzzles, read lots and lots of interesting stories to her including non-fiction, fables, folk tales, poetry, etc.) Talk to her about everything that is going on, to help her develop a rich vocabulary. If she has her ABCs down, start talking to her about phonics and playing games to get her to learn the sounds of letters, then what letters certain words start and end with. I think schools progress too slowly for "precocious" children. Capitalize on her enthusiasm at such a young age. I bought magnetic letters for the refrigerator and my son spells simple words with sounds while I'm cooking. I also recommend workbooks, though some people don't like them, but doing them with her during down-time to introduce topics. My son has fun adding/subtracting numbers and even multiplying, measuring with a ruler, telling time, etc. (he's just 4) mostly because they are new topics and he can quickly master them. If I waited for school, it'd be another couple years before he'd even heard of these things.
Good Luck,
Cym
