Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments accepted for early entrance

DD4 has been accepted for early entrance. She would start kindergarten this fall at 4 and turn 5 in mid October. The school is a good well known school about 25 min from our house. We are in the process of moving to this area. They have two ways to go English and Spanish. DD4 flip flops between what she wants saying she wants to do Spanish one day and English the next. She has learned quite a bit of Spanish in the past 2 years just on TV and from society. My husband and I know a little but are not fluent.

So I have to make a decision! Do we send her to Kindergarten in the fall? Should she do it in English or should we ask if she can go in Spanish. The school I observed has no openings for English this fall but has Spanish. Another good school which I have not observed because summer came to quickly has accepted her for English in the fall. My husband went to this school as a child.

I don't know what to do. She is definitely capable of doing the academics, but I feel like she is getting big so fast and it is hard to let go. It makes me nervous to send her to a school I have not actually observed. Also if she wants to do Spanish immersion she has to start in kindergarten.

Help. I need advice, the pros and cons. I process things out loud and there are not many people I can talk to about this.

Some days while raising her I have felt cheated out of having a baby, toddler, preschooler because it is gone so fast. This feeling probably contributed to us having three so close together. I really can't imagine her waiting another year academically. That might be damaging and inappropriate, But she is still so little. What do you guys think?

I can't answer for your heart...but in CT she would go anyway. Here they just have to turn five by either Dec. 1 or Jan. 1, I forget which, so HALF the kids start at four. I held my first back (as in, waited for him to be five!) b/c it seemed crazy to me to send him at four (end of Nov. baby) - I came from a state with an August cut-off. Then, he was bored to death. My next, I'll probably send at 4, with all the other kindergartners here. So....I suppose it might be damaging and inappropriate, but NY and CT do it to all their kids, so she'd be in sizable company!

I can't answer for you, but if you feel she is ready for it and the school does then by all means go for it. I have to say that I am not gifted (as far as I can tell) and I started school at 4yo (october birthday as well) and I did well (socially and academically). Like Montana mentioned we live in NY and we have tons of kids start school that don't turn 5 until November. I don't think that's a big issue.

I know how hard it is to let go and them growing up so fast. DS is quite the young man and has never been much of a kid. My DS4 will be 5 next month and he is skipping K and going for first. I know it is a good fit, but I am still somewhat sad about it. I think that is only normal. I would go with your gut about what you think is best and if the school is recommending it they probably know what they are talking about as they don't typically recommend skipping or early entrance unless it is warranted.

About the language, I don't know but I think Spanish would be fun. And I know lots of gifted kids pick up languages easily. DS knows a decent amount of Spanish from life. I minored in Spanish in college so I tell DS words when he asks...and of course he remembers everything so now he speaks spanish, LOL.

I understand the having them leave too soon thing. My oldest is 10.5 and will be a 7th grader this August. It hit me the other day that she will be graduating hs and heading off to college in 6 yrs. I would have never thought 10 yrs ago that I'd be sending her off to college at 16, but, thus far, moving her ahead faster has been the right thing for her. It is just hard for her mom!

As far as the Spanish immersion vs. English school, I'd do the Spanish immersion unless their test scores are much lower than the English school. Being bilingual is a tremendous asset that will serve her well as an adult. I mention the test scores b/c our local Spanish immersion school has very low test scores compared to the other schools in the district. I imagine that it could be due to two things: 1) they have a number of kids coming in who were monoligual Spanish speakers prior to starting school, so testing in English may be tough for them for a while, and 2) with learning things in two languages, it might take longer for them to learn the material. I'm not sure, but it might give me a little pause if I thought that academics (math, reading, science, etc.) would be lost in order to learn the second language. In an ideal world, the kids would learn two languages and all of the core subjects just as well as if they were only learning in their native language.

Hi Skyward,

Just had to give my opinion about sending a child off to school at 4 years. I'm in NY and dd's b'day is end of November. So she started K at 4. It was REALLY hard putting my baby on the bus that first day of school! There were a couple of other kids in her class that were also 4, but there were also a few that turned 6 before she turned 5, because their parents waited to send them an extra year (mostly boys). She has done fine socially even with the age gap. There have definitely been a couple of minor social issues, but she's dealt with them well. She's always the shortest (age + genetics), the last to lose her baby teeth, had to take a different gym test one year than the other kids, but really, compared to the issues we might have faced if we'd held her back, I think it was the right decision. Next year, she's skipping a grade so she'll be 7 in 4th grade. Still, I'm not as worried about the social issues as I am about the academic ones.

I think for every kid it's different. Look at your daughter. Does she play well and communicate well with kids that are a little older? Has she already mastered a lot of the K curriculum. Is she reading? Does she separate well from you? For my dd, I answered yes to all these questions. Because of that, I just couldn't see NOT sending her.

On another note, I have no experience with this, but I think the Spanish sounds like a great opportunity!!

Ruby

Thanks everyone. We are going to send her. It really is the right thing to do. I can not imagine her waiting another year. The rest of the family thinks she should do English K and learn Spanish out side of school if she wants to. They have some good reasons.

Grandma also pointed out how she tends to act very silly and talk in a baby voice when she is around younger kids. Kids her age. She was moved up to the entering K group in camp and did much better with the older kids. I have also noticed this in her swimming class. When she is with older kids she is much more focased and herself.

So we will get ready for Kindergarden!

My DS has a November birthday, so he also started K at 4. Here in CA the cutoff date is December 2, so your DD would not be considered early entrance here. It's crazy that the dates are all different from state to state!

Where I am, kids have to be 5 by August 31st to enter kindergarten! My DS4 has a late December birthday, so when I went to the public school to explore early enrollment, they wouldn't even have the discussion. Fortunately, the cut off for the local private gifted school is December 31, so my son will be starting there, but he'll still be the youngest kid in the school.

What is Wings? I talked to the school about DD screening results. The screening showed that she was in the 99th percentile. It was not a full test just a sample of how she would do. The person I talked to said that she has already qualified for the gifted services and will be participating in a program called wings in K and 1st, as well as a reading group. She said that DD should definitely go to Kindergarden sooner than later. After 6 weeks we will have a meeting to see how things are going. After talking to her screening person Kindergarden is a good step but it might not be enough to keep her engaged.

The people I have talked to at the school and in the community have been very helpful. They seem to know about a lot of the current research. We are trying to move into this community in the near future. When I run errands there I don't get glares when my kids do something GT, and people are friendly and actually come up to us and say hello. We also have family in the area. Hopefully this will be a good fit for us, and the school will work for DD.