Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion School placement for asynchronous 4 year old

Hi Aquinas,
I have not been on these boards for ages, but thought I would check in. My son is almost exactly a year older than yours. In the past year, his learning has become remarkably more independent. I have to say age 5.5 is really a pleasure. I wish I could hit the pause button for a while...

We chose to homeschool and it has worked for us so far. In your shoes, I would hire a private tutor (or nanny) whose main roles are to play and shuttle to extra curricular activities. These kids learn so fast, you can cover material when you are home from work.

My second choice would be the play based kindergarten. I think a lot of damage can be done by a bad academic fit and PG kids have long memories...

I would be hesitant to put a 5 year old boy with 8+ year old boys regularly without significant scaffolding, because you can run into some pretty negative bullying situations (or at least power plays). You need a very special group of kids to avoid that kind of dynamic -- particularly if the 5 year old boy is viewed as smarter than the 8 year olds.

The description of your child sounds exactly like my boy at the same age a year ago! Extrovert, weak fine motor, off the charts academics, easily overwhelmed.

I'll agree with PPs about the play-based K. My boy's private school this past year was primarily play, and it was a perfect fit for him.

We were also anxious for him about how school would handle his mix of things, but maturity has helped so much. He's no longer overwhelmed or especially anxious. His fine motor skills are dramatically better, even so much that he enjoys drawing (truely shocking). With his level of reading, he can pick up so much independently from books, and now with good writing, he's able to do math work with minimal help.

I'll agree with SAHM that 5.5 is much different from 4.5 (and so much better). My extrovert would miss school too much for homeschooling, but a good school with lots of play is a great compromise.