<p>I’m sure that’s true. I know that when my son tested at “5th grade” when he entered K, it was because: (a) “5th grade words” were the highest they had available in this K-5 school, (b) but basically, he could read phonetically, so there’s a good chance he didn’t know the meaning of many of the words on that list!</p>
<p>^exactly</p>
<p>My post was not to take away anything from those whose kids are able to perform so far out of the realm of the average. It was great having those high performers in class, as they were great role models, helpers AND were just fun to be around! Not to mention they made me a better teacher in that I had to find ways to challenge them in ways that helped them grow and develop. </p>
<p>What was really interesting about my youngest, even though she lacked phonetic awareness and didn’t really start reading till third grade was that when she would read her picture books out loud to me sitting next to her on the couch, she would substitute her own words for ones she didn’t recognize, they were always appropriate to the context and were usually of greater difficulty than the ones she skipped.</p>
<p>Her sister read at 3, but she could sound out words.
I first learned she could read when she looked down the street and said there was a car like her dads.
I looked, but I didnt see what she was talking about. She had to point out to me the Toyota truck with Toyota emblazoned across the tailgate.</p>
<p>Interesting question. My son’s kindergarten teacher (who we think walks on water) recommended that my son repeat kindergarten. In hindsight, we should have heeded her advice but, because he was (and is) so damned intelligent, we said no. [This is a kid who, as a 5-year-old piano student, described a musical phrase as “an island of right hand in a sea of left hand”.] What we failed to appreciate was that the teacher’s assessment was based on emotional/developmental readiness, not intelligence. ExpatSon is amongst the youngest of his cohort – 9 days younger, and he’d now be a high school junior, rather than a senior.</p>
<p>I now see kindergarten as a staging area for what this teacher described as the ‘a-ha’ phase of development. And it doesn’t need to be any more intellectually rigorous. Let the kids’ brains develop so that they can optimally absorb the curriculum that will follow in subsequent years.</p>
<p>Expat…we are in the same situation w/youngest, and I am (was, really) a Kdg teacher. I should have known better! We should have held him back a year for the purposes of allowing him to grow up a bit, and to catch up developmentally to his older classmates. It’s hard to do when, as you said, your kid is so damned intelligent! Our S has always done fine academically, but I do wonder how much better he would have done if his self perception had been such that he saw himself as being top of the heap, instead of always struggling to measure up to those kinds of kids. Too late for worry now, but incidentally we still see the differences every new school year. Especially from about sept-feb. usually by early spring he hits his stride, and seems to be confident and in sync with his peers. An odd phenomenon. </p>
<p>Shellz, that kind of decision is always hard to make, or to be certain about. With our son, it would have been possible to accelerate him slightly. With a January birthday he just missed the December 1 latest birthdate to begin school when he was age 4.7 (which it would have been). We decided not to press the case, just so that he would have more time to “grow up” before he entered Kindergarten. It was the correct decision, but he was still somewhat of an odd-boy-out much of the time.</p>
<p>Kindergarten is for learning non-academic skills and getting used to school, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Also to deal with separation anxiety, etc…</p>
<p>@Mackinaw…yes, it really was a tough call. At present he is kinda paying the price (cramming pre calculus into his brain, when I think he really would be better served by doing it next year…alas that is not how it is playing out for a variety of reasons). It is all going to work out, I’m sure. It just might have been better if we’d waited. Then again being 18 for all of high school (and being able to write his own excusals) would not have made me sleep well :). And being an adult on a campus of underage girls. Yikes, don’t even wanna go there. I retract my wishing and whining!!</p>
<p>I don’t know if it was brought up on this particular thread, but most discussions of the academic role of kindergarten usually involve someone bringing up the fact that the Finns have a well-regarded educational system, yet their kids don’t start kindergarten until age 7. So, it is said, clearly you don’t need academics in preschool or kindergarten to turn out some of the most successful students. </p>
<p>But according to this NPR report, <a href=“What The U.S. Can Learn From Finland, Where School Starts At Age 7 : NPR”>What The U.S. Can Learn From Finland, Where School Starts At Age 7 : NPR;
“Finnish children don’t start school until age 7. Despite the late start, the vast majority arrive with solid reading and math skills…Every child in Finland under age 7 has the right to child care and preschool by law, regardless of family income. Over 97 percent of 3- to 6-year-olds attend a program of one type or another…Day care teachers are having Bachelor degrees…Kids are almost all in some kind of day care, all of whom are working in the same curriculum that’s aligned with what they’re going to learn in school…” A universal preschool <em>curriculum</em> that is aligned with what they’re going to learn in school and teaches them “solid reading and math skills”? Sounds to me like the Finnnish are providing significant math and reading instruction to essentially all of their pre-K and kindergarten-aged kids.</p>
<p>Hey guys I know this is the parents forum and I’m a student but oh well.
I’m currently in the 9th grade by the way.
In early schooling I was one of those “gifted” kids who knew more than most of the other kids. In addition to just being “naturally gifted” I also learned a lot from my older sister who always liked to teach me all the stuff she knew. Even though I was smart, I had a huge problem. I didn’t talk. Well I did, but very rarely. I had social anxiety even back then, a certain type called selective mutism.
But anyways, some of you guys on here need a kids perspective because you guys are kinda being a little mean. You guys think your kids are these perfect little things and are geniuses that shouldn’t ever be close to those dirty little public school kids who don’t even know how to read in preschool! Oh my gosh! I for one would be very embarrassed if my parents acted like this. They don’t, because they realize that there’s one huge thing that’s wrong with me and that’s my social anxiety. And I sure am happy that I got to be in the same class as some of those kids who weren’t as bright as I was, because at least they were nice to me and invited me to sit at their lunch table when they saw me all alone.
Some of those not-as-bright kids that you are looking down upon might end up being great people when they grow up and I don’t appreciate the attitudes that some of you guys have about the “regular kids”.
Oh, and I only read this thread up to page 4 before posting this, so maybe someone has already said this, oh well.</p>
<p>Just by virtue of only being in 9th grade & you’ve found your way onto a site for college indicates that you are in the top percent of bright & motivated kids.</p>
<p>However, you seem to be suffering from " selective comprehension" :), because the over riding impression I get from this thread isn’t that kids should be reading in preschool or that public school kids are “dirty”. ? But that stages of development cannot be rushed and that different settings are appropriate for different kids.</p>
<p>@dsi411, the “regular kids” aren’t always welcoming kids who are different with open arms. Look at all the bullying and cliques. Is that usually coming from the nerdy kids or is it directed at them? And no one but you is calling anyone “dirty”.</p>
<p>Whoops. Just pretend I never said that. I just get mad sometimes and I can’t find out how to delete that post from my phone. I’ll delete it when I get home. This is why I shouldn’t read grown up stuff…I go crazy and write long posts like that. Ok bye.</p>