Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Acceleration or not

I want in! Kindergarten's format just seemed to lend itself better to kids at many places. And our K teacher was fantastic. He really looked at each kid individually and tried to take them from there. And he was male! Not everyone gets a male kindergarten teacher.

Tommorow we are going to a local GT homeschool/afterschool resource fair which should be quite interesting!

OOOOOOOOOOOH! My eyes are always bigger than my calendar at those things!

And of course you're in the support group! You're a charter member, dear!

I am actually trying to advocate for my son to skip K and go right to 1st. He is a December birthday though. I also work full time and need a full day solution (including after-school care which starts in most programs for children in 1st grade).

I need the support group too, even though we are trying to do it a little differently.

It all depends on the K and the kid. My DS loves to be focused on a task and finish it. His K is very chaotic (K-otic?) and they switch tasks every 10 mins. or so. The other kids cannot stay on task and are always bugging DS. Going to first grade would a huge improvement in this situation for him! I really hope it works out.

My son skipped K and went right into 1st grade. He had began removing himself from circle time in pre-school a couple of years earlier, so he would not have liked K.

LOL! Maybe you guys should form your own group and we can all get together for team thumb-wrestling competitions.

That's the part I'm still wrestling with... So I mean I get it that skipping k made sense since 1st is still smooth sailing... but if #2 comes in the high 140s too... does that mean entering K at 4.5 is right (I know you aren't a crystal ball but my parents have passed away and I lack anyone without vested/self-motivatations to ask). I know I sound like look at me... but really is it that uncommon... I wish I could look at someone else a few years up and go - oh that's possible... but most stuff I've seen (which is not exhaustive yet) is geared at 125-135 or 160+ and since she wasn't reading at 2 the later doesn't give me a clear picture. Sorry, I'm moving into obsession mode. Know that it is because for long-term education I'm debating selling a house we built (ok the builder people did the actual building :-) to get into a school district that is self contained gifted - then I wonder... am I overreacting is she really so different.

Have you read Deborah Ruf's book "Losing Our Minds"? It's what put it all in perspective for me. It isn't everyone's favorite book, but it was absolutely indispensible for helping me get over my "GT denial" and understand just what was up with my DS6.

She deals with all levels of GT, from "vanilla" GT to PG, so it might be a good place to start...

Be careful though---the more I read that book and saw the characteristics of my son and his corresponding level the more worried I became.