When your young child is academically advanced?

[Anonymous]

DD is in Kindergarten and is ahead of her peers. Not exponentially so- she is by no means a genius. But since the beginning of the year she has basically been reviewing. The teachers differentiate when they can, and she has absolutely made progressions. The problem is that I think she could be progressing faster. Additionally, I wonder, when will this problem stop. At what age does this balance out? Finally, as a parent, what should I be doing. Let it all be and see how it shakes out. Or, provide my own enrichment that will only continue to contribute to the problem?

I am not trying to start "the my child is gifted" battle. She isn't gifted. She just happens to be on the older end of the spectrum age wise and she seems to have an interest in academic pursuits. She is completely normal socially and emotionally.

[Anonymous]

We read at home and play a lot of math games on the computer.

[Anonymous]

Supplement at home. Take her to museums, shows, etc. This isn't rocket science.

[Anonymous]

Supplement at home. We had our child the youngest for academic reasons. He was on target with the older group of kids,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At what age does this balance out?

Someone who learns quickly will keep learning quickly, so I wouldn't look at it this way. On the other hand, there are definitely kids who are not ready to read in kindergarten but will zoom ahead in the early years. So the groupings of kids will vary over the coming years.

We certainly enriched outside of the classroom, but we did so in the areas our kids were interested in, rather than trying to mirror the school curriculum or get a jump on it. If my kid was fascinated in butterflies but the school wasn't getting to that topic until the next year, we'd read a ton on butterflies regardless. But most of the time we were checking out books on whatever topics we wanted. If my kids were bored when the school got to that topic, so be it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is in Kindergarten and is ahead of her peers. Not exponentially so- she is by no means a genius. But since the beginning of the year she has basically been reviewing. The teachers differentiate when they can, and she has absolutely made progressions. The problem is that I think she could be progressing faster. Additionally, I wonder, when will this problem stop. At what age does this balance out? Finally, as a parent, what should I be doing. Let it all be and see how it shakes out. Or, provide my own enrichment that will only continue to contribute to the problem?

I am not trying to start "the my child is gifted" battle. She isn't gifted. She just happens to be on the older end of the spectrum age wise and she seems to have an interest in academic pursuits. She is completely normal socially and emotionally.

What month is her birthday? If she is within 6 weeks of the cut off I would apply for her to be bumped up a grade. Did this with my DD who is now in 3rd and she is thriving academically and socially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is in Kindergarten and is ahead of her peers. Not exponentially so- she is by no means a genius. But since the beginning of the year she has basically been reviewing. The teachers differentiate when they can, and she has absolutely made progressions. The problem is that I think she could be progressing faster. Additionally, I wonder, when will this problem stop. At what age does this balance out? Finally, as a parent, what should I be doing. Let it all be and see how it shakes out. Or, provide my own enrichment that will only continue to contribute to the problem?

I am not trying to start "the my child is gifted" battle. She isn't gifted. She just happens to be on the older end of the spectrum age wise and she seems to have an interest in academic pursuits. She is completely normal socially and emotionally.

Since you asked about what age this balances out...
I would say by the end of 1st grade.

There's a lot of variability with kids in kindergarten. Some can't read and write on day 1.
I saw the kids in my child's class and thought my kid was so incredibly ahead. (and she was also my first kid- so it felt to me that everything was going so fast).
She turned out to have ADHD.

My second kid was behind and I was actually a bit worried that he learned to read way later than the other kids. He's the one that ended up in the gifted program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is in Kindergarten and is ahead of her peers. Not exponentially so- she is by no means a genius. But since the beginning of the year she has basically been reviewing. The teachers differentiate when they can, and she has absolutely made progressions. The problem is that I think she could be progressing faster. Additionally, I wonder, when will this problem stop. At what age does this balance out? Finally, as a parent, what should I be doing. Let it all be and see how it shakes out. Or, provide my own enrichment that will only continue to contribute to the problem?

I am not trying to start "the my child is gifted" battle. She isn't gifted. She just happens to be on the older end of the spectrum age wise and she seems to have an interest in academic pursuits. She is completely normal socially and emotionally.

Since you asked about what age this balances out...
I would say by the end of 1st grade.

There's a lot of variability with kids in kindergarten. Some can't read and write on day 1.
I saw the kids in my child's class and thought my kid was so incredibly ahead. (and she was also my first kid- so it felt to me that everything was going so fast).
She turned out to have ADHD.

My second kid was behind and I was actually a bit worried that he learned to read way later than the other kids. He's the one that ended up in the gifted program.

I think actually a bit later. Maybe by the end of second.

[Anonymous]

My child is in 3rd grade and is 2+ years ahead. Reading at 9th grade level. DH is strongly against skipping as he was skipped and so we supplement with music, sport and second language. No genius either, but smart.

[Anonymous]

Are you in a school where she is the only one like this, or does she have many peers in the same or similar boat?

If the former, you're going to have increasing problems. If the later, 1st usually starts seeing more differentiation.

What school system are you in?

[Anonymous]

It mostly evens out around second grade. My kid was like yours - we played a lot of math games, we baked halving and doubling recipes, I had her compare prices per ounce at the supermarket, count change, etc. She loved playing Rummikub (still does, in 7th grade).

I had her read labels, find information in books and on Google and Wikipedia, etc. We started playing map games too - I got a puzzle of the US and I taught her N, E, S, W and then would say things like "Okay, what state is two states North of Florida?" "What state is one state south and two states east of Oregon?" I wrote out directions on how to get places we commonly went and had her read the directions, and lead me there.

Challenge at home. Think of school as teaching "how to be a student" and "how to socialize with all sorts of people."

[Anonymous]

Supplement at home. What you see now tells you nothing with certainty about later.

[Anonymous]

At that age, I would be patient for little while longer, OP - I know it's hard. Supplement by broadening her horizons, reading and going to museums, starting an instrument, doing math and word puzzles, building with Legos.

This is because developmentally it's MUCH better to have a very strong foundation for the basics. It is also practically never appropriate to skip ahead - I was skipped, and felt out of my depth, emotionally and socially.

Are you in a public school system that offers magnet schools or gifted centers? Could you start thinking about this - in FCPS the selection procedure starts in 2nd grade, I believe, and in MCPS it's in 3rd. These schools are NOT for gifted children, in spite of the name. They are for high-achieving and advanced students, like your daughter.

Enjoy your time with your little one!

[Anonymous]

Op, my DD needed more. She started piano lessons in K, excelled. For the early years it was her most ambitious activity and that included school. She took for 9years. Don't assume it's the job of formal education to fulfill all her needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is in 3rd grade and is 2+ years ahead. Reading at 9th grade level. DH is strongly against skipping as he was skipped and so we supplement with music, sport and second language. No genius either, but smart.

So your DC is 6 years ahead?