Skipping OM Kindergarten and starting with 1st grade?

[MJ13]

I have looked at both the Oak Meadow Kindergarten and 1st Grade syllabus and I'm trying to decide which to start with.

My daughter is 4 (will turn 5 in August) she has known all of her letters and sounds for over a year and is starting to sound out words. I'm feeling like the Kindergarten would just be too easy/boring for her. She *loves* school time and I'm scared if she's bored she's going to lose interest quickly. On the other hand I want her to enjoy it and not push her.

I'm just wondering if anyone has been in this situation and which direction they chose - and would they make the same choice again?

I know I can go the route of the Kindergarten year and just add in materials, and I am strongly considering that. But I also don't want to hold her back if she can do the 1st grade work and enjoy it.

Thanks for any thoughts

[onyxravnos]

we are in the same boat. we just finished OM K this year but DS1 is 4 and although he can understand the concepts of OM 1st grade I just don't want to push too far ahead... or hold him back. 

 In the end I've decided to go ahead and re-do kindy this year. skip the stuff that's totally mastered (as in we don't need to go through what the letter A looks like... we know that) BUT we can make A's in more artistic ways, or sound out A words, or such things.. and then just add in materials here and there to make ti challenging.

I've decided better to be light and hold back just a bit in kindy then to rush forward until we hit a brick wall and end up redoing say 3rd grade. right now he doesn't know the difference. and next year I will do 1st (still a year ahead of PS peers)

[moominmamma]

Just wanted to suggest the possibility that OM might not end up being the best choice for your particular kid. You may not be able to say one way or the other at this point, but if your dd continues along this trajectory in literacy skills, and particularly if this precocity is accompanied by advanced academic abilities in other areas, OM might not end up fitting her terribly well. I loved the idea of the program, but by the time my dds seemed ready for the structure of a homeschooling program (around their 5th birthdays) they had just vaulted from being emergent reading readers to complete fluency, with math skills at a 2nd to 3rd grade level. No matter what level of OM I looked at there was a mis-match, either with their age/maturity, or their academic level, or both. We ended up doing other stuff, even though I liked OM's approach: it didn't fit my kids well.

Miranda

[Naturallove]

We are planning on using OM for our base curriculum next year for Kindy and 2nd grade, but I am suplimenting with another phonics curriulum and math curriculum. We like some of the Waldorf principles, but my chilren are far ahead in both phonics and math from where OM would place them.