Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Kindergarten, experiences with skipping?

Hi JBDad:
We did skip K. Here's my son's story in a not so small nutshell:

Jan 2006, son was eligible for K entry in Aug 2006. We realized his abilities had already passed K expectations. Had him privately tested, confirmed this and had a report that said "he's already mastered all K curriculum."

March, 06: I attended the K orientation/registration. Was made painfully aware that the K curriculum would be a repeat of preschool/daycare - I mean REPEAT. And we were already having behavioral issues at daycare which I finally connected to his level of boredom. DH and I decided that for our child skipping K would be best. We decided this based on his personality (at the time very routine oriented, rigid expectations, highly emotional and intense) and his past experiences (daycare/preschool setting) and his ability/achievement scores.

June 2006: we had him privately tested at U of Iowa because the school refused to test before he was attending K. We felt quite strongly that K attendance would be setting him up for behavior problems - again, based on my son's personality and needs. We felt that starting K and then transitioning to 1st would be harder for him than just skipping K.

August 2006, two weeks before school was to start: met with school and reviewed the private testing report. Son had also been briefly assessed by the school psychologist the day before (at my insistence because no one at the school had even *met* my son yet wanted to make placement decisions!). We were prepared for a fight, but the principal opened the meeting and then announced that the staff was in agreement with skipping K. Basically the private report stated that K attendance would require "significant differentiation of curriculum" and I believe that the K teacher couldn't/wouldn't do that.

Today, he is finishing up 2nd grade, but in 3rd for math this year. We are looking for further differentiation and compacting next year, but not more skipping right now. It has been a good placement for our son, at our rural school. We are glad he skipped K and wouldn't do it any differently if we had to do it over.

Hope our experience helps you to make the right choice, although Carolyn "Hoagie" will tell you that you really sometimes need to choose the "least worst educational option" and be happy with that. There often isn't a "best option" for these kids. Best of luck. I'm sure you'll find the best answer. Advocate assertively, gently, persistently. It pays off. And remember that no one knows your child as well as you do.

Wow, lots of different viewpoints and experiences. To me it seems I can sum up by saying I have to pay attention to what is going on and research any learning option I am considering very carefully.

Dazey, I'm sorry about the horrid K situation. I'm going to read that book as well.

Reading the success stories helps me believe that I will also have a success story for my girls, I just have to figure out the right plan for them.

Neato

Sorry... looked around but didn't see it... what's "DYS candidate"?

JB

The subject has come up. It's not out of our reach, but it would be a strain. We'll going to consider all of our options...

BTW, it's really nice hearing how other's have dealt with this. Thanks.

JB

Great post, thanks. Yes, during K-school orientation they said things like "we would like it if children can do 1-to-1 nummber correspondence counting and be able to recognized their letters", I said "ut-oh" to myself. That was the moment that I realized that there was a sizable gap between DS and agemates. DS wasn't a super early reader (although I suspect he was sight reading more than we realized at age 4) but he's just been an amazing sponge, particularly over the last month or so. Very astute with math and just fascinated with patterns and very large numbers. Funny story: during the K pre-screen they asked him to count to 20. So he goes -20, -19, -18, ..., 0, 1, 2, ... 20. Hey! They didn't say start at 1!

JB

Thanks for sharing!

JB

Sorry, JBDad. I didn't mean to be obscure there!

I just added "DYS" to the list of abbreviations sticky. I can't believe we forgot to add that one!

How can a school not believe in dinosaurs? Not accepting evolution, I get. (I don't agree, but I get.) Not accepting dinosaurs is just...well...

I'm stumped!

I think the idea is that dinosaurs were not mentioned in the bible, so they must be some sort of a hoax. I try to be open minded, but some things are quite hard for me to understand. I just have to be a little careful what I say in my small town, since I know some of the people whose kids go to this school. I was so excited when I first heard of the school. Our furnace guy noticed DS doing something amazing and told me of how advanced the curriculum was at his school, and how it would be great for my bright kid. It was so disappointing to later learn about the DD (dinosaur denial).

IIRC, this is one of the theories of strict creationism: the earth is exactly 5,000 years old and fossils we're "created" when the earth was created. Something like that.

JB