Over two years ago we had to pull Mr W(2y9mos) out of his daycare when he was 4 mos old.

We found a nanny and a great one at that in less than a week - She was a retired pharmacist and her husband was a surgeon. And though Mr W has moved on to Pre-K, Mrs E is still a major part of his life. They have a special bond. She is major reason he is bilingual. She comes by once a week and he is learning to read in her language.

I'd go with the MIL to buy you more time to look at alternatives.

When Mr W moved on from his nanny, we looked at a lot of schools. The so-called "best" places were not suitable at all for a kid like him. He knew his alphabet at 18 mos and was starting to read. When we walked into the toddler rooms, there were no letters, no books, few toys, etc. It was essentially a prison.

We put ourselves in his shoes and ignored the hype.

We kept looking and found a great Montessori with a flexible staff and director who mixed kids by ability not age and most of the kids are pretty bright anyway.

We did not specifically state Mr W's abilities, or our needs, but asked questions to test whether the staff were rigid thinkers or open and flexible and really looked at the kids. We figured we could reason with the latter.

Within two days of Mr W attending, they knew he was very advanced and asked is if we knew. Today I caught the director watching Mr W reading.

She told me they have added a new set of elementary classes and have two five year olds in with the Grades 1-3 and it was working out fine. I know what she was thinking - moving Mr W up. I've seen the classrooms for these new classes. ( I think Mr W would be fine in there come Spring once he matures a bit more.)

You need fertile ground to plant the seed. The more fertile the better. Find that fertile ground by looking for it!!

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You need to visit the school.

As for "gifted," I'd go visit the classrooms your child would be in as well as the classrooms one and two steps beyond. And watch the kids. For us, it was an eye opener. The kids Mr W's age looked drugged in comparison.

And when we took Mr W and let him visit each classroom, it was fun to watch the staff's reactions. When Mr W was 18 mos old, we were getting the guided tour of the school and he was in the 4-5 year olds' class putting a 40 piece puzzle











Last edited by Austin; 11/01/10 08:49 PM.