Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Any advice on what to ask about early K?

This isn't what you asked, but I'll throw out something else to think about. Our kiddo's test scores were beyond what was necessary for early k, but we took the tester's advice and had him go to K with agemates, then skip 1st. The rationale is that K is more fun, more learn to do school, rather than 1st, which is sit more in your chair all day and learn the basics of how to read and do basic math. Also, our son had refused to learn how to write before K, so we figured he would at least learn something there. (He was reading at least a few years ahead by age 4, and could do basic math already.) We let him "play" another year at home, which included a lot of learning.

We did meet with the teacher, principal, and GT coordinator before K and let them know his scores. They did their own testing for achievement, and were going to differentiate. This actually took a lot longer to happen. We finally got the school to agree to test our kiddo on the MAP with the second graders (they didn't have testing earlier at the time). Then they really saw how advanced he was. If you find that differentiation isn't happening, I highly recommend asking for above-level testing to show them what level your DS is working on, using tests the teachers are familiar with. The achievement testing the school psych gave DS before school started was the WJ -- I don't think that means much to teachers. Likewise the IQ test scores were ignored by the teacher - she wanted to get to know him herself. Which didn't work so well for my kid who didn't want to stand out.

And I second the IAS. It's a wonderful objective survey to determine if your kiddo is a good candidate for whole grade or subject acceleration.

Forgot to mention handwriting. Even when my son when to kindy with agemates, his handwriting was among the worst, and skipping first made it noticeably the worst. This restricted his ability to get some needed differentiation since the school refused to let him go to a math class at his level because they claimed he couldn't handle the writing. This was cured by finding a school that said handwriting didn't matter as long as he could make it known to the teacher he understood the concepts and could get him the answer some way. Guess what, DS is now 10 and his handwriting is still rotten -- the grade skip had nothing to do with it... Just mentioning it because handwriting is a big issue with grade skippers, esp. boys.

Excellent suggestion on IAS. I've not been able to find a copy (the elementary school didn't seem to have one, and the local library doesn't either), but I did find this .pdf: http://iu19giftednetwork.wikispaces.com/file/view/IOWA.pdf/163401557/IOWA.pdf

If the .pdf is accurate, then I get a total of 65 points, which puts him in the "excellent candidate for acceleration" category. So I'm feeling pretty good about deciding to go for it.

I should have included this in my reply to indigo! I'm still new here so sorting out how this works.

Anyway, I was wondering if you could elaborate on why the tester suggested skipping 1st was easier than going to kindergarten early? It seems a little counter intuitive to me. But like I said, I'm new to all of this...

The IAS is available here.

The pdf you found online is an old 2nd edition Form. Some may say the pdf ought not to exist as the materials are protected by copyright. The 3rd edition has been in use for several years. There are three components: the Form, the Manual, and the Planning Record.

1) How does your child feel about early entrance to kindergarten?
2) For additional confidence, see quote regarding research results in this post

In our area, first grade is focused on learning the basics of reading and math, with a lot of seat time. Contrast kindergarten, which has more playing time. Since a very advanced kid would find both kindergarten and first academically unchallenging, let them stay home another year where they are able to learn at their own pace just as they have been, then go to kindy for the "learn to do school" stuff (being with 20+ other kids all day, getting boots and snowpants on, etc.), and play with all the toys/stations/fun stuff. Skip first because it will be especially mind-numbing to sit still and pay attention when you already know the academics. This worked well for us, especially since our kid didn't ever want to go to school and didn't want to learn how to write at home. And we were lucky to swing a bit of differentiation in kinder as well, which improved things (he was pulled out by the GT coordinator in the spring to do second grade math). I'm not saying this is the way to go for every kid, but it worked great for our kiddo. (ETA: well, worked great compared to alternatives... kinder was still pretty dull and the skip to second wasn't enough either... but all in all, a great success).

I'd like to throw in another vote for skipping 1st, not K. For all the reasons St Pauli girl mentioned, it was our plan too. 1st is just drudgery, and if they're already reading well they are already beyond 1st. If they have normal fine motor skills the writing requirements for K will be more appropriate, too.

I will definitely keep this in mind in case skipping first becomes a possibility. I should clarify, though, that the question isn't whether to skip K, it's whether to start K a year early (so basically whether to skip a year of pre-K). DH and I both work so if we don't start DS in kindergarten this fall, he will be sitting through another year of pre-K at his day care. We've met with his day care multiple times and they just don't have the bandwidth or training to really do any differentiation, so he'd be stuck counting to 50 and doing "letter of the week" for another year.

Early K sounds like a good option: still play-based, with lots of time with friends, some writing, and reading/math that can be differentiated to any level (according to the district AIG coordinator, at least).

In that case I would find a play based preschool, do K on time and skip 1st. I just really worry about the ability of such a young boy to meet the behavioural expectations of a K classroom.

The advantage of a play based daycare or preschool is that everyone needs to work on their motor and social skills, and free play can be very mentally engaging where filling out a worksheet about the letter T is not unless you're only just learning about the letter T.

In terms of acceleration at school, it's much easier for a teacher to accommodate advanced reading than advanced math. It's also more common to be advanced in reading than in math so there will likely be other kids starting K who can read.

FWIW, although I didn't regret the way we did K with agemates and then skipping first, but I did regret sending my kiddo to a second year of part-time pre-k, which he hated very, very much. I was lucky to be able to stay at home until DS went to kindy, so we didn't need to find anyplace for him to go, but I went with the flow of everyone else sending their kids to pre-k. In retrospect, I would have skipped that second year of pre-k. So I can understand your dilemma. Kinder is better than pre-k, if those are your options, I would say.

ETA: Or very play-based preschool, as Tallulah mentions. My kiddo did not like pre-k for many reasons, though it was no academic. He just wanted to be home with me and doing his own thing.

Yes, this is my kid exactly. He has been at his current preschool for almost two years and I don't think he's ever been excited about it. But his face lights up when he knows he gets to stay home on weekends. I really want him to find something to like about school, so I'm hoping that K will give him some pieces of what he needs (even if it's not the perfect solution).