Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A good teacher will assess and give appropriate work. My son is in public school and advanced / tracking for AG once they have it (starts in 3rd grade here). His teacher gives him harder books to read and more complex math problems. Has been this way since kindergarten. He is doing algebra in 2nd grade and reading at a 5th grade level. They offered to skip him a grade but we declined due to emotional maturity and not wanting to pressure him too much. I went into kindergarten reading chapter books and did fine. Don’t stress over it, see how it goes and reassess later.
This ^^^. Much will depend on the teacher your child will have but wait and see how he adjusts to kindergarten, both socially and academically. There is usually a parent- teacher conference early in the year so you can listen and receive feedback then. At that point you and the teacher can discuss enhancements if needed, both at school and home, to encourage talents.
OP, I don't know where you are located but the skills you are describing are very common in kinder students where I am. Most children have been to preschool for a couple of years and our kindergarten is much more like first grade used to be, including reading groups.
Do you have info about the kinder program in your school system? Did your child go to preschool with certified teachers and what suggestions do they have? Just don't overlook the importance of social skills at this age, also.
Man, people are so wacky and head in the clouds about their kids.
OP, the kid is way too young to be thinking about a gifted program. I'm sure you're very impressed with Jr. but be realistic...the kid is 4. If he's not writing music or solving equations, he doesn't need a gifted program right now. Here, I'll give you a syllabus for your 4 yr old genius:
Tie a pair of shoes
Play battleship
learn what sound a sloth makes
Understand how to use an abacus
memorize your address and phone number
build a castle out of Lego blocks
Seriously, the reason the school is pushing back on giving a separate set of work to one child in kindergarten is because that's crazy. You must be one of those people who has a "Baby on Board" sign on both sides of the car.
Don't worry about the school, I'm sure the kid is on MENSA's radar. Tell your kid I said "the dog of the night is in the path of the shadows moon", he'll know what that means. Hey...I have a great idea for the kid's birthday - one of those "I'm with Stupid" shirts. I say this as a friend - stop.
OP, I don't know where you are located but the skills you are describing are very common in kinder students where I am. Most children have been to preschool for a couple of years and our kindergarten is much more like first grade used to be, including reading groups. .
I would agree. I think this will depend largely on the local school systems. As we all know, they vary across the country.
Where I live, the sort of skills the OP describes is almost to be expected of a child entering K.
I had a gifted 4yr old! Guess what? She's a super typical 14yr old. Lovely and special to us but really average academically.
I also had a 4yr old who couldn't sit still and was known for climbing over the fence and escaping at recess during preschool. The principal had me on speed dial. Guess what? He's a "highly gifted" 11yr old in the same math and science classes as the above mentioned 14yr old.
Give it some time and let your 4yr old be a 4yr old.
I had a gifted 4yr old! Guess what? She's a super typical 14yr old. Lovely and special to us but really average academically.
I also had a 4yr old who couldn't sit still and was known for climbing over the fence and escaping at recess during preschool. The principal had me on speed dial. Guess what? He's a "highly gifted" 11yr old in the same math and science classes as the above mentioned 14yr old.
Give it some time and let your 4yr old be a 4yr old.
This.
Let your kid be a KID.
Save the hours and hours of dittoes and homework for when he's 15.
I had a gifted 4yr old! Guess what? She's a super typical 14yr old. Lovely and special to us but really average academically.
I also had a 4yr old who couldn't sit still and was known for climbing over the fence and escaping at recess during preschool. The principal had me on speed dial. Guess what? He's a "highly gifted" 11yr old in the same math and science classes as the above mentioned 14yr old.
Give it some time and let your 4yr old be a 4yr old.
I agree.
Back in the day I had to leave a couple of gifted kids message boards. My daughter's elementary school, with my husband and I, were trying to come out with a plan for her, and I thought they'd be a good resource with "been there done that" parents. But so many posts on those boards were by anxious young parents humble bragging about not knowing what to do with this amazingly highly gifted child, who turned out to be toddlers or preschoolers.
Don't borrow trouble from the future, as a wise person told me once. See how things play out for the little guy.
Save the hours and hours of dittoes and homework for when he's 15.
For the record, I don't even own a workbook or dittoes.
We learn by playing. His favorite game is Monopoly and he learned how to count money using that and the allowance game. We have a play clock that we set to tell time. He wanted to learn so I showed him (he's very schedule oriented and wanted to know when it was "lunchtime" etc). He learned to read because he loves to read. He would follow along with his finger and pretend to read so I asked if he wanted to learn, he said yes and so we worked on it together and he's gotten really good at it.
He is currently in a play based nursery school, so he has not learned any of that from there it is all from home. But he has lots of friends and loves to play and learn his social skills with other kids his age.
He love the solar system and so I bought a bunch of puzzles with the planets and that's how he learned them all by name and got so good at larger puzzles. He loves logic games with castles etc so we play a lot of those.
I'm not forcing him to do this and it is all based on what he enjoys. So I don't really appreciate the responses that are somewhat hostile. I was asking a simple question. Thanks to those of you who have provided helpful answers. I do try to let him be a kid, I just get concerned that he won't be interested in what they are doing if it's something he's done over and over. That's all. Also using the experience from my older two who were very similar, and struggled to find a balance with the school to allow them to have as much growth as any other student.
So I don't really appreciate the responses that are somewhat hostile.
I think the notion that you are absolutely convinced that your 4 year old is so advanced that he needs to be preemptively placed in a gifted program is what people are considering to be a bit naive. The reality is that there is no way to know that at that age. Your kid may really be a genius but you and the teachers will figure that out in due time. There is no rush to fall into the new parent "my kid is better than everyone else" trap.
I think the notion that you are absolutely convinced that your 4 year old is so advanced that he needs to be preemptively placed in a gifted program is what people are considering to be a bit naive. The reality is that there is no way to know that at that age. Your kid may really be a genius but you and the teachers will figure that out in due time. There is no rush to fall into the new parent "my kid is better than everyone else" trap.
I never asked for him to be in a gifted program, that couldn't happen anyway since there is no gifted program which I stated in my first postl. I also am not sure why it came across that I think he's better then everyone else. He's a good kid but I know lots of good smart kids. I'm simply looking for opinions on what others have had done to assure their kids continue to grow academically in school and not remain stagnant. That's all.
I'm not a new parent either. I have two children who are much older, and I'm just trying to get ahead in the game since my middle child had the same signs when she was younger and ended up testing gifted in 3rd grade. It was a struggle to get them to give her more advanced work until middle school of course.
The op has older kids so I'm kind of doubting that she's just posting to because she is a naïve parent who thinks her child is a genius.
I think that it's very true that a good teacher will make all the difference in the world and you may not know until he's actually in kindergarten as to how things will go.
If homeschooling is an option, it sounds like it would be an amazing fit as it sounds like you have a very self motivated child and you sound like you are good at responding to his needs and helping him take his interest to the next level.
Whatever you decide, good luck. It will work out one way or another.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
