my 2 1/2 year old is at preschool/ kindergarten level already

Tiffany - posted on 09/28/2009

If you do not have the money for a private school, I have had great results with my local head start for my 3 year old. Like your daughter, she is very smart and loves to learn. I did let her attend the head start program and she really enjoys it. It is a place for her to interact with other kids and she help not only herself but other kids in their educational journey. I have been in there a couple times to help and just seeing how she interact with other and how they learn from her is a great thing! She is actually learning how to teach in a way and it helps her develop. I don't look at this as me rushing her into anything, I look at it as she going out into the world and seeing other kids and is learning social behavior and how to play, help and be around other kids. She enjoys it and I do see her benifiting from it. I would recommend it to anyone who has a young child.

Lauryan - posted on 09/24/2009

All excellent comments!

i would suggest looking for a pre school who understands and specifically caters for gifted children. As already mentioned, your child will then get to be a 3 year old in terms of social and emotional development, but will also be intellectually challenged and stimulated AT HER LEVEL!

This is the only option for us here in South Africa, and i am so excited for my little boy to start at his school in January.

Either way, it's really not an easy decision, and at the end of the day, you need to choose what makes the most sense to you as parents and as a family. We gave our son the choice - once i had narrowed it down to 2 pre schools, we took him to see them, explaining before hand that it would be his choice. He chose the gifted school over the Montessori one in a heartbeat.

Tresie - posted on 09/24/2009

My daughter was counting to 10 in French and English before she was 1 years old and saying half of her alphabet. By the time she was 2 she was counting to 20 in French and English, saying her alphabet, identifying numbers and letters too. I just kept her stimulated and teaching her more things. She did go to a private pre school when she was 3, but it was very affordable. We just made sure we kept her active and mind stimulated at home to keep feeding her that knowledge. She's now turning 6 years old and counts to 100 in French and in English, reads French and English, writes in French and in English, and continues to pick up on sooo much. You should see what schools you can find for gifted children in your area. Some call them Magnet Schools.... if you want your child to be bilingual look for Immersion schools or schools that have Immersion programs. Kids need school for socialization, especially when they are the only child....

Kara - posted on 09/15/2009

Though you my want your free time and help your child's advancement. It is more important to cement your bond to them than the school. I have a very gifted 11 yr old son. He didn't talk until he was three and doesn't do well in social environments. Which is the case for most gifted children. Most of his schooling has been at home and now being in middle school he is really branching out to people. He has the mind of a 12th grader, but has taken a lot longer to socially muture. She will learn more being at home with you than joining a pack of small children that could possibly change her over all out look on life and make her harder to deal with when she is in the teen years.

Deborah - posted on 09/10/2009

Great posts ladies! Every child is different and I think you will find every parent is different too, especially the way they approach education for their child. The only thing I wanted to add is don't completely eliminate the idea of accelerating. More and more evidence has come out to combat against the idea of harmful to the child. I believe the Denver test (I think that is the name of it) is a great source. It has a questionnaire that the parents go through and it helps establish if acceleration is a good choice for your child and if not, why. But as for a child so young ... I completely agree with the comments about not pushing it and using the time at home to supplement their education. My daughter just turned 3 and we opted to put her in a social base preschool where the curriculum meets the preschool criteria established by the state but is laughable for us considering our daughter mastered all of the criteria before she even turned 2. We felt socialization is extremely important for her and she will continue to learn through play at home. However, our choice might change because we will be looking to her for signs if the preschool is the right fit.

Rachel - posted on 09/09/2009

There are fun ways to supplement learning at home if you decide not to skip a grade.
I work for a company called Zoodles, and we've put together hundreds of fun, educational games online for every age from 2 - 8. We cover all the traditional subjects like math, language and literacy, science, and social science, but we also have awesome nontraditional subjects like memory skills, logic and reasoning, computer literacy, etc. A lot of parents use it for homeschooled children or gifted children, because your can tailor the pace to your child. For now, we do everything by age instead of grade, so you might have to set your 2 1/2 year old's age to something closer to 4 or 5 to get games at her level. Anyways, check it out at http://www.Zoodles.com, and let me know if it works for you!

Best,
Rachel
http://www.Zoodles.com

Paula - posted on 09/02/2009

My daugher, now 5, was ready for kinder academically at 3, but not socially. She went to a play-based and academically based preschool and is currently well beyond what she is learning in kindergarten. She is reading chapter books, doing her homework by herself, though I am there sharing the time with her, and has an amazing love for learning. I personally ask her what she is interested in and have my own learning time at home once or twice a week with her. We've learned about caves, what can fly, how chocolate is made, what ever peaks her interest. School these days tends to be two dimentional....I try to do more hand's on learning with her....go explore caves, make kites and fly them....taste different kind of chocolate and attend the annual chocolate festival....have apple tastings and make different things with apples, both savory and sweet. These hands-on experiences she will never get in school. Just continue to make learning fun in your home and she won't be bored.

Mojill - posted on 09/01/2009

Hi. My daughter who just turned three just had her psychological test and she scored with a gifted IQ. We will put her in a gifted preschool which I think is good because they have advance curriculum but still take into consideration that emotionally, these kids are still 3 & 4 yrs. old. Try to look for a gifted school in your area. I think this is a good school to place a gifted toddler as they provide a challenge for their learning but they still get to enjoy socializing with kids their age.

Alicia - posted on 08/31/2009

I would agree with the idea that preschool is for socializing. We never really looked at preschool as a place that would provide academic challenges to Josh - he was already ahead of the curve when we started him in preschool at 2 1/2.

But I am hoping that a new montessori environment will provide him with opportunities to socialize with kids who are a bit older than he is, since i notice that he is happier playing with older children.

Rene - posted on 08/30/2009

We did not move our daughter into a higher grade even though she taught herself to read at age 5 and started kindergarten reading at a 2nd grade level. Socially she was always just her age. We preferred to teach her more things, not faster. She's 19 now, on her second year of college. She has been fantastically successful and we are not sorry to have kept her in her grade. She could succeed easily at any academic subject, but social skills had to be learned. She was not gifted socially! :)

Julie - posted on 08/30/2009

I agree with Megan. My daughter is 23 years old now. Believe me when I say my husband and I pondered and deliberated over these questions just like you. Finally we decided to wait. It was the best decision we ever made. After Kindergarten, they wanted to place her in second grade and then possibly a higher grade. We both vehemently said "No." There was no way she was emotionally or physically ready for this. Just because a child is smart enough, they can still fail. Other kids may single them out and taunt them because they are "just 6 years old," and certainly they will act like 6. I mean it would be a bit awkward if she was 13 years old at her senior prom - no we let her progress normally and not only were we glad but so was she!

Megan - posted on 08/30/2009

DOn't rush it!! My son was grades above his age. It is easy to think they need to get out into school ASAP...but until between 3 and 4 years old..they need the COmfort and stability of a home during the day. You also have to remeber that school is about socializing too. Just becasue a child is much older academically..doesn't mean they will necessarily be comfortable in an older school environment. There are massive differences at young ages in how they play/ socialize with each other. I have made my home into a school to encourage further learning, but am just now sending him to part-time pre-school for the socializing aspect. I am aware that he will not learn anything new there...but beng around a group of kids his age nad getting used to the "class" structure is a god idea before formal school in my opinion. (Particualrly becuase K is full-time now!)

Kelly - posted on 08/26/2009

Faith is the same way. We bought the your baby can read. It is a 6 month course and she did it in 2 months. She can read as good as my friend's 10year old. I have looked at priv. schools, and they are to much money. I feel like she is going to be bored in reg. school. If you can give your kids a head start, I say do it. I am all about teaching. I could never read very good in school, so a jump start is important. I figure I would rather her be ahead than behind like I was. Keep up the good work.