Starting School early

Tui we are finding this with our little one, she has just turned 4 and is doing very well with reading, word recognition and some basics of maths.

You are right to be worried about sending to school early as I have found with my nephew who was very advanced for his age, he was put with children older than him but found it hard as emotionally and developmentally he wasn't at the same stage socailly etc as they were, which is just as important as knowledge as they tend to try and fit with their peers.   It's better to start schoola thte hnormal time as their little friends and the school will pick up on the level he is at and cater to him in what they do as they are used to catering for all abilities - I know some children start school having never even held a pencil, and others can do alot.

What we are finding is we are doing a few things to challenge Ayja's mind and she leads this. She goes to daycare in addition to this so she has things to do that keep her interested, with the reading, we have found our local library great for helping. They have a great range of books that we used for Paris and are now using for Ayja.. (dunno if you have seen Zip on tv in the afternoons but it is his range of books with about 5 different levels) she is progressing really quickly with these.

Maybe enrolling him in kindy if he doesn't already go... or another thought could be montessori, they do have extension classes there for children in some of the afternoon sessions, I remember a child i nannied would go and they would teach about the world, maps, maths, all sorts of really interesting stuff that would probably suit your wee man.. The only problem might be the cost wiht that one.

I have been wondering about this sort of thing, My husband is a little worried that by going with what ayja is doing now, (totally her lead, we don't push, just provide opportunities and she takes them..) that she will be bored at school,(when she gets bored she gets very naughty and mischievious) but again i have said what i said to you, they test them and find what level they are on and cater to that at school.

good luck.

Hi Tui,

I don't think legally kids can start school before 5 now? Well if they can, I never heard about it in my 3 years of training. All I know is that they legally have to be in before 6, and can go as early as 5. So it may not even be an option.

If you have a kindercare (I think that's the franchise anyway?) in your local area, they have a really structured approach (well more so than most DC and definitely more than most community kindy's) for 3 and 4 year olds.

But I have to agree with Janine - the social side of things is really what you have to look at. Also, we spend so much of our lives in school, work etc it's nice for kids just to be kids for as long as possible. The effects down the track are worth thinking about too - all his friends (if he starts early) will be able to do things earlier, like drive, drink, stay home alone etc. I noticed even being 6 months younger than most at school it drove me nuts

Honestly 3 year olds are too sweet to put into the school environment, I really noticed the difference between the mentality of a just 4 year old & the 5 year olds at Alia's birthday.

I was going to suggest Montessori as well. Once he gets to school, work in with the teachers to make sure he is at the appropriate levels. They will test him & they seem to do a lot of testing at our school so they should be on top of things.

Not sure where you are but maybe chose a smaller school so that he won't get lost in the "system" Really good community spirit & all the little kids know the big kids & vice versa. Kids switch classes based on their level of learning in certain subjects as well.

another thing you can do with children that are reading and writing well early, is little projects like expand there knowledge in depth. eg instead of reading say, 'the cat is playing with the ball' get her to do a project on cats, different sorts, sizes, colours you know not just yellow, but gold marmalade, lemon etc. This is wat we were advised to do with our children as our 3 older ones were reading writing, doin maths very early. We also let our daughters start piano and violin when they were 3 and they both chose to stop again when they were 6 and 7. Even so both our girls 10 & 7 have skipped either 1 or 2 years at school.

This is really interesting for me. I think I have a smart cookie on my hands and would love to hear what yours were doing at 2 (or nearly 2). Tom knows his alphabet (as in he can recite it and recognise letters). He counts to 12 and then randomly adds some of the teens in and has started counting things from one pile to the other (he did this himself). He knows the basic colours (ie that of a crayon set). Talks really well. Practices his words and sentances by swapping words around like "Mummy's making milo" "Mummy's making porridge"..all done to a sing song rhyme.   He has memorised most of his books and recites them as he turns the pages....at the right part! He also picked up a telecom bill the other day and said "telecom" DH and I thought WTF???? we opened a bill in the car the other day and must have discussed it amongst ourselves whilst little copycat was listening and watching in the back.

I am wanting to stimulate him and keep feeding his enthusiasm for learning but dont quite know what to do. At the moment I just talk to him heaps and explain things to him without dumbing it down too much.

Thanks Tui, that is really interesting to hear. What a smart cookie you have .   I notice Tom is very interested in things that we talk about. Yesterday he discovered dice so we have had lots of talks about dice and counting the dots etc. I am just waiting a few weeks to see what he comes up with following that.

In saying that, he is still being a typical 22 month old and not going to sleep as we speak....calling out for me and telling me EVERYTHING he is doing...its funny to listen to but I wish he would just GO TO SLEEP

Gosh it is so encouraging reading this. I read an article on "gifted" children and was suprised that gifted didnt mean little einsteins.....just brighter than average (which isnt too hard). I think we all have some pretty special wee ones dont we .....mind you..how advanced is wanting to watch Mamma Mia EVERY DAY!!!!!