Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school pre-K says no K this year :-(

It's funny...I JUST had a convo five minutes ago w/someone at work where I was saying "People save up to pay for college, but I think it's better to suck it up and realize sometimes you have to pay out the wazoo for high quality care when the kids are little. It's more your responsibility to improve their environment when they are little than when they are 18." So I respectfully suggest that you think through your financial priorities. You may realize that the benefit of additional help/camps/a different preschool outweigh the financial cost. I've been in your shoes and I've managed to find wonderful people to help out and bring new perspectives to my kids.

I'm only throwing this out there because you mentioned that your husband travels alot. I ASSume this is for work, so I further ASSume that your financial situation is reasonably OK. If I'm wrong, please accept my sincere apologies.

DS's public school (California) did suggest skipping him past K when he was 5, so don't give up hope yet! We decided not to, though, and I'm glad he experienced the excitement of starting K with other kids his age before we pulled him. We just met another friend in our co-op debating whether to start her HG 5 year old in a regular K, and she's decided to for the same reasons as us. The kids will always remember the excitment of the first days/weeks of kindergarten! By the 2nd week, DS had had enough, but truthfully, he would have felt the same way about the 1st grade class, too, and it wouldn't have been nearly as fun.

IMO, we can do so much in terms of enrichment at home anyhow (either the other half of the day or by just pulling them and homeschooling) that I don't think it's a huge deal either way.
There's plenty of time to grade-skip, and you may find (like we did) that better options will come to you when it's time to tackle that issue.

Yes, I guess I'm thinking in terms of someone you already know/trust who is looking to make some extra money. I had good luck with a neighbor, and then my sister. They were well organized so rarely surprised me with a day they couldn't make it, but my schedule is really flexible too...

I am so sorry. I know you were really hoping for this. I am still unsure what we are going to do with DD. DH is currently job searching, and if we get an offer before school starts or near the beginning, she could enter pre-k, but I just can't imagine it as she is reading high 2nd grade level now....I really am not sure what we would do. I know the school district were we are seriously looking is very small asn has done multiple grade skips for some kids, but I am not sure how young they start....anxiety anxiety anxiety.
I know you were really hoping this would be the way into finding the right fit. You are doing a good job with here. Hang in there.

Oh Twinkles,
I'm sorry to hear that your health isn't good right now. Will the energy that your 2 put out you need every drop of health right now. ((Hugs))

1) Give a call to the local public school and see if they will take DD4 as a Kindergartener this year. Even if it's late and they let her start a few weeks after school starts, it would get her out of the house and on the right track. It's worth a try.

2) Figure out if the preschool money would cover hiring someone to come to your home and interact with both girls on a weekly basis.

3) Check out the local homeschooling community and see if there is a 12 year old who could come over and 'teach preschool' to your daughters in your home or hers (with supervision) a few hours M-F as part of a unit study on child development.

4) Find you if your local library and YMCA have activities for kids your daughter's age that she could attend (perhaps with someone besides you.)

5) Look at other private schools or in home daycare settings.

More Hugs,
Grinity

DC were in an inhome daycare for a year. DS was only 18mos when he started (DD was born when he was 22 mos), and he THRIVED. We hated having him go back to regular daycare!

Thanks, everyone. At the moment, I've moved into acceptance mode. The public school said they never allow early entry for K, and she just turned four in May so she is nowhere near their cut off date of 5 by Sept. and the head of the private pre-K we are attending says the new teacher is fabulous and they will be doing plenty of "fun" things this year and I am just going to let it be. My concerns are that she might begin to feel weird for talking and thinking and performing differently and / or learn to hide who she truly is more and more. Both of these things are already happening. We will continue to find things to do with libraries and other educational activities, perhaps with some home schooling families. I've heard first grade is more miserable for most gifted kids than a play based pre-K and K (both will only be a few hours a day) so maybe she will just skip first.

I found this to be a problem with my DS. His preschool teacher told me that he that he couldn't recognize his numbers from 1-10. I was like, "you know he can read, add, and subtract, right?" Of course she had no idea. I too wonder if he's hiding his abilities. DS also turned 4 in May and I though about early addmission as well but then I found a special school for gifted children in my area that is K-8. I think that if they are around other children with similar abilities that they will not be pressured to be "normal" and their abilities will become more evident to their teachers. Maybe there is a school like this in your area.

Could you find another private K program you could put her in for half day. In our School District, if your child has already completed K, they let them go on to first grade regardless of age - there may be an assessment however.

Hang in there�this is only the beginning of the school frustration factor. However, please realize that there are options for your child in Pre-K programs as well.

I sent my DD to a Montessori school at 3 and she was bumped the Intermediate class the first day. When I investigated sending her to Montessori Kindergarten, I found that she had already mastered most of their curriculum, so we changed to another private preschool/kindergarten at 4.

In the private preschool and kindergarten we chose, there was a computer class pullout every week where a teacher would come in with laptops with different educational software every week. The teacher was able to adjust levels in the software, so kids could be sitting side by side and not realize that they were working on something different. On the work sheets in class, we encouraged our child to label all the pictures instead of the first, middle, or last sounds. We had a unique preschool where the kids rotated every 30 minutes in Pre K and Kindergarten was the entire morning in one class and then they rotated classes in the afternoon. Classes included Spanish every day, art, phonics, math, life science, PE, and Chapel. It was a Christian based school, so there was a lot of singing and value reinforcement as well. DD learned the 50 states (in alphabetical order), the continents, etc. She knew parts of a bird, stages of a butterfly metamorphosis and learned all about foods and flowers. They would study a different country or continent every week and totally immerse the kids in the culture and environment (including food, customs, monuments, flags, languages, etc.) and the kids would put on performances including things they had learned. We have some truly amazing videos!

With the private school settings, there were many options that the public schools do not have. What we found is that once my DD was in the school (both public and private) and the teachers saw what she could already do, they would provide additional challenges, and in our DD�s case they had no problem moving her into Kindergarten in the private school setting. Our thought was that even if she had to do two years of Kindergarten she would at least be in a stronger learning environment. (After all, everything you need to know you learn in Kindergarten, right?)

When DD went to public school, she tested out of Kindergarten at 5 and went directly into 1st Grade, but this process was not easy. Grade skipping is not prevalent in the area and most schools do everything they can to keep it from happening. I can tell you that we were highly discouraged from trying to grade skip, but the school could not deny testing based on their school handbook procedures. My DD (then 5) went through 6 hours of testing in one day for language arts, math, science and social studies that required a 90% or above score in all subjects. Out of all kids that took the test last year in all grades, there was only one student who was accelerated. I can tell you that between 60 and 80 kids were tested, so the pass rate was slim and there were many parents and students who were disappointed.

You are not alone and I would encourage you to keep being proactive. You may be able to request a teacher conference after the first week of school and once your child�s ability is known, they may be more open to acceleration. Good luck!