Should I ask the preschool to move my kid to a more advanced class?
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Anonymous
She is actually very, very happy in school. She loves it. I will check out Montessori. |
Anonymous
| My daughter was the same. And the school did push her ahead. So she finished pre-k and we had nowhere to go. We had to then send her to two years of private school before she was eligible for public. Fast forward a few more years and she's fine but only a little more than average and she would be fine in if she were on grade level for her age. Just passing this along because once you start pushing ahead, you can't go back and it's both difficult to find a school that is going to take someone so young and it's expensive. |
Anonymous
You have a 2.5 year old who is very, very happy in school and who loves it. Why in the universe would you consider moving her? Who the heck cares if she already knows her numbers? She's a TODDLER! Can she zip and button and tie? Can she wipe her own butt? Can she get a snack independently and clean up when she spills? Can she jump high and run fast and tumble safely? Can she sing silly songs and rhymes crazy words and dance to the beat of her own rhythm? These are the things she should be learning and focusing on right now. My kids went to Montessori schools and we were thrilled with it for lots of reasons, but when they learned to recite and recognize their numbers was absolutely not part of our focus. |
Anonymous
| My child was reading in preschool. I taught him myself. Preschool is for socialization and getting used to being in school. If your child is advanced, don't expect them to tailor the curriculum to meet your child's academic needs. Keep in mind why your child is there. |
Anonymous
| I was in your boat, except DS was 3 and was acting out. Since our pre-school strictly followed the county guidelines on what age belongs in what group, DS was not moved up to the next level until his birthday. One of the teachers in his school did recognize that he wasn't being challenged enough and was acting out as a result. That teacher did provide more challenging work when the teachers had the time to do it and room to do it. Some private schools focus more on the capability of the child vs. what the county dictates. |
Anonymous
| Does she listen well? Can she sit still when distracted? Can she share easily and take turns? Can she follow multistep directions without reminders? Let all kinds of preschool skills develop - social and academic. I promise she'll be fine. |
Anonymous
| No! Preschool is for play, learning to function in a classroom, social development... It is not for academics. Hold off until kindergarten for this. |
Anonymous
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My kid could read at that age. In first grade she read at at tenth grade level, comprehension 8th grade. She stayed with her peers and formed ionderufl bonds. We would have had to advance her several years for the academic piece to fit.
Whole child approach is a good one. Introduce her to music lessons, art, very complex puzzles. There is no shorage of easy simple way to engage her intellectually. |
Anonymous
| *shortage |
Anonymous
+1 The best advice anyone can give is to find the best social and emotional fit for your child. It is -very- easy to add-in challenging academic activities to satisfy the brain. It is almost impossible to find a good social and emotional fit for your child once you start playing with grade levels since your child's body size and body chemistry will always be out of sync with the other children in the grade/class. We have one like the PP's who is several years above grade level and who tests at a +160 IQ. He is not an anomaly in our family - he has two uncles and a great-uncle who have similar IQs. We purposefully have kept our son at grade level for the social and emotional benefits. We have filled his afternoons with rigorous play, competitive sports, challenging game-type activities and enrichment academics. Our son has thrived. He needs time to be a kid and to be with kids his own age. Back in August/September we all read about a kid his age (13) heading off to any Ivy and he looked at me and said, 'that could be me, couldn't it?'. I told him 'yes'. He looked very thoughtful and after a long moment his eyes welled up and he said, 'I'm glad it's not. There is a lot of time for me to ... later. I need time to be the kid me first. I'm happiest here with ...'. At that moment I knew we have been doing it right for this kid all along. He is happy and he is well-adjusted. We can't ask for anything more. He can save the world or cure cancer or build a rocket ship to Mars when he is 21. But for right now he is 13 and we are going to continue to treat him according to his social and emotional age so that when he finally flies he doesn't crash and burn. Our family has seen too much of that and this is where it ends. Just one perspective. |
Anonymous
| Great post, 13:40--good, common sense approach. A kid that smart will be the smartest in the class no matter what grade. A great way to ensure that your child will be an outsider is to place them with kids way out of their age range, ensuring that it will be very difficult to fit in. |
Anonymous
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another one here for leaving her at that grade level (and check out montesorri or whatever)....
Mom of teens here; have watched our kids and some of their classmates for years now. I'm going to give you one concrete story that might drive it home for you: Your story reminds me of a girl I know--smart and well-behaved, so was put ahead (she's even more than a year ahead). She can keep up with the academics, but she was always a follower with her classmates--because in reality, they are not her peers--all are old enough to be an older sibling, and some of the older ones are 2+ years older than her! So in pretend play, she was always given the role of the baby, etc. Oh, and sports...yikes. No real opportunity to develop any skill there; she's so much younger/smaller so she's at such a disadvantage....here is the issue, OP, her "peers" see her as not that good at sports, and she now sees HERSELF as not that good. When they get older, they get their own minds about things and you have to deal with THAT aspect; that it's just not you enrolling them in some course/sport...they have input, and that input is based on their experiences. |
Anonymous
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Our 2.5 year old speaks 3 languages, know all his letters in those languages and tries to read. Loves to tell stories based on what he sees on the pictures.
Gets along with other well- careful with the little ones and trying to keep pace with the older ones. Never crossed my mind to move him to more advanced class at such a nearly age. Why not reconsider when she is older and is bored with academic offered and can handle a little more. Maybe the particular school is not a good fit, but didn't you say she loves it? |
Anonymous
Oh, wow, poor kid. That is a great point about sports. Especially now since many rec leagues and travel teams use the grade level not age of the kid to determine team placement. Even just one grade level is a huge difference. |
Anonymous
| Ha ha. No. If you can't figure out how to challenge a child who is 2.5, I weep for you. |