entering kindergarten early

Engram wrote:

On the other hand, if you wait a year, make sure that your child is well
socialised through contact with kids his own age at a good preschool and if
he does turn out to be gifted, whatever school he eventually ends up in may
have a programme for gifted children and within a year or two he may be able
to skip a grade *as if he had gone to school early* anyway.

Or better yet, if they have an appropriate gifted program,
he won't *need* to skip a grade because he can be challenged and
have his educational needs met while continuing with his age peers.
Frankly, *any* school has an obligation to meet your child's
educational needs, regardless of whether they have a special
program to do so. It is possible to do that most of the time,
if the teachers have the skill and the desire to do so.

Best wishes,
Ericka

In article . com,
Beliavsky wrote:

My son will be four in August and already knows many of the things
taught in kindergarten, according to book and web sites I have read.
He can read simple books, recognizing common words by sight.

We live in Massachusetts. Officially, he is not old enough to enter
kindergarten, but I think waiting another full year to start
kindergarten would retard his progress. My wife and I teach him at
home, but we both work full time. How we can we convince the school
district to let him enroll early? Should we get him tested by an
educational psychologist, and if so, where do we find one?

I'm an Aussie, and our school systems are different, but there are a few
things to consider.

1. Is your child reading because you have taught him, or did he pretty much
teach himself? I did not teach DS1 to read, but he would have been at the
standard of your DS at the same age. (DS1 is probably highly gifted, not
exceptionally or profoundly gifted.) How far can he count? Can he hold a
pencil reasonably well? How is his drawing/writing? Speech? Can he catch
and throw a ball? Start listing what he can do so that you have a list to
refer to. If you have a baby book that lists first words, phrases etc, note
down when his speech milestones were. If you want to present a case for early
entry, you will have to have this information prepared. As other posters say,
there is a lot more going on in school than just reading. The fine-motor
skill requirements are quite important.

2. What do your son's carers say about him, and advise? Do they find him
unusual compared to other children of the same age? Do strangers mistake his
age, or look slightly stunned when he talks to them, and ask you how old he
is? Do people ask you how you got him to do things, like reading out the
names and prices of things at the supermarket (I used to answer, "Genetics")?
Do you think that he is noticeably different to other children his age?

3. There are other options beside early school entry. Some places have
school entry each term, or part-time Kinder available. Your Department of
Education or equivalent should be able to advise you.

4. If you believe you have a gifted child, you should read
www.hoagiesgifted.org to find out more about ways to handle it. I must say
that I don't think that a 4yo who can read a few words is necessarily going to
need special measures like early entry, but it is a good idea to educate
yourself just in case.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

This is a decision that really effects a child in the long term
(unless you are going to keep him in kindergarten for two years).
Imagine ten years from now when all of your child's peers are starting
to prepare to get their licenses and your DS still has two years to
go. Or when his peers turn eighteen or twenty-one. My birthday is in
June, so most of my classmates were older and it was hard watching
them do all of these things before I could. This was especially true
when I was in college and my friends started going off to the bar and
I had to stay in the dorm.
My Dad also insists that one of the most scarring things in his life
was being sent to kindergarten a year early. He was picked on because
he was smaller. No one ever wanted to play with etc, etc. Now, my
dad is a bit of a drama queen (or do you refer to a man as a drama
king?) but I think there is some truth to what he says.
In my opinion a good preschool would be the best way to go. Your son
is already going to be younger than his peers if you send him when
he's five.
Of course, you have to do what you believe is best.
Sarah

Beliavsky wrote:
My son will be four in August and already knows many of the things
taught in kindergarten, according to book and web sites I have read.
He can read simple books, recognizing common words by sight.

We live in Massachusetts. Officially, he is not old enough to enter
kindergarten, but I think waiting another full year to start
kindergarten would retard his progress. My wife and I teach him at
home, but we both work full time. How we can we convince the school
district to let him enroll early? Should we get him tested by an
educational psychologist, and if so, where do we find one?


You have had quite a few replies so I will be brief.

My wife is a primary school teacher her opinion is that children started
early tend to struggle in social interaction.

I was started early and while I did OK academically I think I would have
had a better time at school if I had been the same age as the other
children.

wrote:
This is a decision that really effects a child in the long term
(unless you are going to keep him in kindergarten for two years).
Imagine ten years from now when all of your child's peers are starting
to prepare to get their licenses and your DS still has two years to
go. Or when his peers turn eighteen or twenty-one. My birthday is in
June, so most of my classmates were older and it was hard watching
them do all of these things before I could. This was especially true
when I was in college and my friends started going off to the bar and
I had to stay in the dorm.

I never had this issue, even though I was the youngest in my class. I
remember in 5th grade, the teacher asked kids to raise their hands if
they were 11 or older. I didn't. Then 10. I didn't. He didn't get down
to 9 (I turned 10 a few weeks later). There might have been some kids in
my class who were younger, but I never really cared. Nor was it ever an
issue.

My Dad also insists that one of the most scarring things in his life
was being sent to kindergarten a year early. He was picked on because
he was smaller.

I was lucky. I was taller than most of the kids. And my sexual maturity
started earlier than many of the kids in my class.

No one ever wanted to play with etc, etc.

Well, that happened to me, sort of. Not because I was younger. But
because I stink at sports. If I were 2 years older in school, it still
would have happened.

Now, my
dad is a bit of a drama queen (or do you refer to a man as a drama
king?) but I think there is some truth to what he says.
In my opinion a good preschool would be the best way to go. Your son
is already going to be younger than his peers if you send him when
he's five.
Of course, you have to do what you believe is best.

One advantage of going early, besides the intellectual stimulation is
that you get to go to college one year earlier, then grad school or
work. Of course, that assumes that work is a positive thing. For many
researchers, teachers, computer programmers, that's good thing. For
others, the fact that you get to retire earlier is a good thing.

Anyway, I don't necessarily think that being in an older class is
necessarily a bad thing.

But for me, it could have worked out totally different.

Jeff


Sarah

On 24 May 2007 01:29:48 -0700, stasya wrote:

I have to throw in my two cents here. There's a boy in my dd's
kindergarten class who was in her playschool class last year. He is
almost a full year older than dd, and in my opinion, quite ready for
kindergarten last year. He is quite obviously older, more mature, the
leader of the class, etc etc, which might be marvelous for some
parents. However, I would be thinking personally as his parent that
the class he's in is beneath him. He can obviously do the work, it's
simply boring, repetitious, and not worth doing. Therefore, he doesn't
excel because he knows he can do it and doesn't feel the need to prove
it. Not to mention, if you want to meet a kid who's going to lead the
others astray out of sheer boredom, there he is.

Stasya

Redshirting is a whole different issue, IMO. We have plenty of that here.

On 23 May 2007 07:43:25 -0700, Beliavsky wrote:

My son will be four in August and already knows many of the things
taught in kindergarten, according to book and web sites I have read.
He can read simple books, recognizing common words by sight.

We live in Massachusetts. Officially, he is not old enough to enter
kindergarten, but I think waiting another full year to start
kindergarten would retard his progress. My wife and I teach him at
home, but we both work full time. How we can we convince the school
district to let him enroll early? Should we get him tested by an
educational psychologist, and if so, where do we find one?

Has he been in nursery school or preschool? How did he do there?

Kindergarten is really mostly about social skills, gross and fine
motor skills, etc. and not so much about academic curricula. It may
be that he would do fine going early, but it might also be that even
if his academics are fantastic, he will not have the maturity needed.

Take a look at the school first of all. Are many of the children
coming in at the same level that he is? Does the teacher
differentiate the curriculum for advanced students? Do they ever
cross team children into higher groups for academics? Do they have
enrichment for advanced students? Are any of the teachers certified
in gifted and talented education? What grades do they teach? Does
the gifted program begin in K or later on? Is there a gifted and
talented magnet school in the district? What does he have to do to
qualify for that if there is one? Is private school an option? Are
there any good Montessori schools available that you could send him to
for his early elementary?

More questions than answers, but I certainly would not test a child
this age. Most people suggest testing after a child turns 6 or 7 if
you test at all. Also note that testing can be quite expensive. If
he is advanced primarily because you work with him, then I would not
worry about school problems at this point.

Now another option is to look at the Davidson Institute *if* you
believe he is profoundly gifted.
http://www.ditd.org/?gclid=CPjBmLv5zYkCFUpMGgodh01RjA


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

On Thu, 24 May 2007 08:49:06 -0400, Ericka Kammerer
wrote:

Or better yet, if they have an appropriate gifted program,
he won't *need* to skip a grade because he can be challenged and
have his educational needs met while continuing with his age peers.

That really depends on how gifted and whether or not there are more
age peers who are also gifted to interact with.

One of the problems is that profoundly gifted kids think very
differently than even highly gifted and advanced students. However,
the profoundly gifted make up only about 1% of the population and the
highly gifted are about another 5%. Many academically talented
students are advanced, but not in those classifications and they can
be served by teachers who differentiate curricula. The truly
profoundly gifted are much harder to accomodate without grade skips or
at the very least special classes.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

On Thu, 24 May 2007 14:06:23 GMT, Rob wrote:

I was started early and while I did OK academically I think I would have
had a better time at school if I had been the same age as the other
children.

I started early and did not have any social problems until I was in
5th grade. That was when the girls started being really interested in
boys and I wasn't. Junior High was the pits. High school less so,
but still not a lot of fun. Still I would not have met my husband if
I had not gone to college early, so I won't complain (he was a senior
when I was a freshman).


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

On Thu, 24 May 2007 17:23:59 GMT, toto wrote:


Kindergarten is really mostly about social skills, gross and fine
motor skills, etc. and not so much about academic curricula. It may
be that he would do fine going early, but it might also be that even
if his academics are fantastic, he will not have the maturity needed.

It depends on the area. Around here, they need to have the fine motor
skills going in or they won't be able to do all the homework. It is very
academic and there is not much time for learning social skills. Very sad
but that's just how it is.