I was talking to my mom about the possible grade-skip for dd and she said something along the lines of "What's important right now is that she's in a place that loves her," and today I got the IAS (thank you, interlibrary loans!) and this one sentence gave me pause: "It might be best for a talented child to repain in the warm, supportive atmosphere of a good preschool, where the teacher is willing and able to offer the child individualized activities designed to challenge him or her intellectually, rather than be places in a kindergarten environment where everyone has the same curriculum..."
I haven't talked to the Kinder yet, so I'm not sure how well they can accomodate dd, but I did find a half-time PreK that said they'd differentiate reading and math (No, they don't realize what dd can do, but that's okay. I don't really care if she doesn't learn during PreK hours, just that she has a positive experience). Overall, the PreK seems very nice, with lots of projects, and lots of parent participation. Oh, and they don't have an attendance requirement -- which behooves my family situation.
But, despite what my mom and IAS said, I have two nagging concerns @ PreK--
1 -- I want dd to get lots of opportunity to write @ school. This seems like it would be way better served at the Kinder level.
2 -- DD is such a happy kid, and so comfortable in her skin. I realize eventually she will find out what an odd-ball she is (I mean that in the most loving way, but, hey, an outlier is an outlier), but I don't want that to happen NOW. Sometimes she'll say something that gives people (even me) pause, and she NOTICES the reaction; I imagine she will notice she is different than the other kids -- as far as vocabulary, the type of pretend play, reading and math ability, etc. I imagine she would seem less different at the Kinder level.
JJsMom -- Could you expound on "We suffered through pre-K during the 08-09 school year..."? How did your ds suffer?
Anyone else -- What have your experiences been regarding these two issues, and any other factors?
