Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school early kindergarten?

My DD3 is already doing much of first grade level "work" (though we don't work on anything here at home, she can just do it if someone asked her to, which I don't!) so I am wondering what to do about kindergarten. She will turn 4 in May of this year, then would be expected to do another year of preschool (she goes twice a week for a few hours), then after turning 5 in May 2011, start kindergarten. Any advice? She started reading at two, knew letter sounds at one and a half, complex puzzles early, knew complex shapes at one, uses complicated vocbulary in a very casual way with four syllable words sprinkled throughout etc. School is helping her with her social skills (Lord knows they are doing nothing academic for her there since the things she is learning there her one year old sister knows) and she isn't the most mature child on the block (she is also one of the shortest since many in her three year old class are actually 4 now) but I see huge improvments. She is confident, outgoing, separates fine from me at school, and makes friends. She is able to sit very quietly at storytimes and actively participates in singing activites, follows directions well during craft projects and has good fine motor control, but there are times her behavior can be seen as hyperactive. She already had some testing done, and verbal composite was 99.6% and performance was more like 97%, but I would assume she would need another test since they are not that valid at 3. Maybe she does need another year of preschool, but am just looking at all the options. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

I totally agree with a lot being dependent on the teachers. The peers and environment of the classroom can make a big difference too. Look carefully at all your options and see if you can speak directly with the teachers you might have.

Another preschool option that worked well for both my kids is a completely play based preschool. For 6-10 hours a week they would play and get used to group dynamics, working out problems, and did little to nothing in terms of academics. They both really enjoyed it, and were able to pursue what they wanted the rest of the day.

I think it does depend on the kindergarten. Our PS has only full day highly academic kindergarten. It's really tough for some of the younger kids in the group to adjust. It felt like 1st grade to me in terms of content and expectations. We pulled out after 1st to homeschool, but for my DS (who is old for grade) it would have definitely been better to do kindergarten and skip first if we were going to have a longer successful PS run (1st was a year long disaster where he learned nothing). Our kindergarten was much more flexible in terms of being able to meet kids that were at different places.

Do you have the option of putting her in K early? I know a lot of places won't even consider it.

I enrolled DS4-almost 5 in a small private kindergarten with a December 31 cut off this year (circumventing the public school's August cut off), and it has been an unmitigated success, but you might have a hard time finding a school willing to go all the way out to a May birthday. Remember, most kindergartens are going to have a lot of 6 year olds in them, and the difference between a young 4 year old and a 6 year old is huge. The school my son is at is able to make it work only because there are less than 10 kids in the class and everyone receives a lot of individualized attention (including things like help in the bathroom if they occasionally need it). If my only choices had been another year of preschool vs. early enrollment in our overcrowded public school, I would have kept DS in preschool.

I would go to the schools you're considering, observe the kindergarten classes and try to imagine your child fitting in there.

I would do early K for DD if we could here...unfortunatly we can't, and because of how her b-day falls she will be 5.5 before she could enter. She has already mastered almost all K level work without us really doing anything. So as of right now we are not planning on enrolling DD in school and will be homeschooling. If you could enroll her early I would. Good luck.

DS did early K. At his private school, he was switched from PreK to K midyear, just after he turned 4. He finished out that year in K and we enrolled him in K again at the public school (he has a November b-day so he was still 4 when he started.) After he turned 5, he was again accelerated midyear to 1st. There have been a few rough patches, but overall, I think the early entrance/grade skipping was our best option.

I am glad it is working out for you to some extent and hope you continue to find ways to make it work for your son. Thanks for the idea to visit a kindergarten class. I am going to call the school right after winter break.

Wow, your daughter sounds so much like my own! I could have written that exact same post last year. It is a tough decision. I would agree with the other posters that you should take a look at the kindergarten you are thinking of. If she is already doing first grade level work, kindergarten may have little to offer her. We decided to keep our daughter for another year of pre-school - let her play there 2 or 3 mornings per week, and we are homeschooling her (a bit) for academics. It is working out well for us and I am happy we made that decision. The nice thing is that she still gets to "play" (arts and crafts etc.) with kids her own age and can also learn at home. I will say that this will make putting her in a regular kindergarten next year all but impossible, so we will either homeschool her or send her to a special school.

TT,
You've gotten some great advice.

Observing possible classrooms is a great way to go.

Half day seems to work better than full day.
Play based is definitly better than 'academic' at the wrong level.

As the grade level increases, the pressure for all kids to be in the same place developmentally increases - so doing K and skipping 1st can be good. Many Preschool teachers differentiate naturally, as do some Kindy teacher, and a few 1st grade teacher. Remember, at least to some extent, the unspoken agenda of a school is to get the little ducks to get in a line and stay there.

Girls tend to be more bothered by other kid's immature behavior than by not being able to live up to school standards - so early enterance is mighty appealing for those kinds of girls or very socially aware/able boys.

Grade skips can have a negative effect on sports competitiveness at the high school level. If that is on the radar at your family, you can try to keep the child at grade level 'on paper' by have them go to older groups for reading and math. Even with an early enterance or grade skip, the child is likely to need subject acceleration for some or many academics. Some schools do this naturally, and some will do it once they met your child.

It's always really interesting to watch folks at school say:
'Oh, we never X'
You: OK, but would you just meet my child and tell me your opinion?
(later)
Them: We think we should do X.
You: (innocent face) well....ok....we could try....

Smiles,
Grinity