Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums What to do with 34 month old?

I've done a fair amount of research in Florida, since it's my state, too. My understanding is that the age cutoffs for entrance are written into state education regulations with no provisions for exemptions or variances. It's not something that the local districts have any choice about.

I believe that your DD is also going to be too old for the cut-off to delay entry. I don't remember the exact date, but I do recall being surprised at a school orientation that my Feb Bday DD would not have had the choice to redshirt, even if I'd wanted it. I also believe that mandatory education in Florida only starts in first grade, so that may allow you to postpone a little if you choose to go that direction.

I am aware of at least one preschool in my area that offers the state-supported VPK (voluntary pre-kindergarten) program in mixed-age classes of 3-5 year olds. They cannot get reimbursement from the state if the child does not meet the age requirement, but will charge the normal age rates for a 3yo to be in that mixed grouping. Since some children in the group are in the VPK program, the daily activities comply with the designated VPK curriculum. Not sure if there might be anything like that in your area or if that would even be a option.

Update on 34 month old now 42 months. She started a preschool 5 months ago that learns through play. She went T-Th 9-12 and will go M-W-F 9-12 this upcoming year. She loves it! They have numerous classes outside of their regular classroom and 2 teachers per 14 kids and 1 extra dedicated teacher when in extracurricular cooking class, music and dance, art, chapel and science. I have found out our school district does not allow early entry and haven't found anyone who can tell me about skipping kindergarten. She is now reading books and anything she asks for she will tell you the letter it starts with so we spend a lot of time playing guessing games. She is whizzing through work books, she would do them all night long if we let her. She is doing simple addition and subtraction. She is still working on her writing skills and gets very aggravated when her letters and numbers aren't perfect (which is usually as she is just 3). Wondering if anyone had their child enroll at kindergarten at 5 and get something out of it or had problems with kids who get aggravated when their doings are perfect.

My DS6 started K at 5. It very quickly became apparent that it was a waste of time. Luckily our school is terrific and differentiated him through all subjects. He went to K for lunch and recess. This year he will officially be a 4th grader (still gives me the willies). The one thing that I think he got out of K was early on when he learned "how to do school". Rules, rituals and routines, those things he hadn't had much of.

The other thing that you might consider for your DD is a site called Time4Learning which is interactive for grades K-8. My DS was on it when he was 3-4 and loved it.