Pre School for a Gifted Toddler?

[sarahusesthis]

Hi! I believe that my 28 month old may be gifted- has known all colors and shapes since 15 months, letters since 18 months, amazing memory (memorized songs after hearing them a couple of times) and can count (choppily) to 20 and does 48 piece puzzles by himself. We are thinking about what to do about school for him. I want to home school, and my husband does not.Is my son going to have issues when he gets to pre school or first grade? Will he even out, maybe, by then? He just learns so incredibly fast that I can't imagine where he will be by the time he is 7! And even though he already knows all of the preschool academics, would he still benefit from going?

Thank you for your response!

-Sarah

[whatsnextmom]

It's really impossible to predict. Personally, both my kids thrived in play-based preschools that did nothing with numbers or letters at all. Instead, they did a lot of pretend play, nature walks, messy projects, cooking, playground time, singing, ect. My DD only went for 1 year and only 4 hours a week. DS went 2 years for 6 hours a week but he was also extremely social and thrived with outside family connections. They loved it. Have fond memories of it. The fact that they were reading novels and multiplying in their head didn't interfere with the fun of play-based preschool at all.

[Bokonon]

Most preschools are more about learning the social and school norms and getting used to a structured environment away from parents than they are about academics.

My daughter is likely gifted (not profoundly, but she is definitely more than advanced for her age), and she loves her preschool class.  She enjoys playing with kids her age and singing and dancing, and when they work on numbers and shapes, even though those things are old hat for her, she likes practicing what she already knows.  All of the kids in her class already know basic concepts anyway.

The most important thing for me with DD's schooling right now is that she has the chance to be a 3 year old with other 3 year olds.  Anything she learns there is icing on the cake.  We work on reading, writing, and math at home when she wants to, which ends up being more hours a week than she's actually at school.

[Tigerle]

I highly suggest looking for a preschool with mixed-age classes (like Montessori preschools, though it does not have to be Montessori) as being surrounded exclusively by barely verbal 2 or 3 year olds can be incredibly frustrating for a very verbal toddler. It is the biggest social mismatch in a gifted kid's life I think, later on it appears to get better by the year. But at this age, they may be simply unable to do things together because one child wants to talk about what's happening, but cannot understand why the other is either overwhelmed or simply not interested, and does not react.

The age mix also helps with finding appropriate toys (sometimes they want to play with the more advanced stuff, sometimes they gravitate to baby things, all part of the internal asynchrony), with having flexible routines, adjusted to the differing needs according to the child (your child may want to take part in structured activities geared to the older kids, but need naptimes and diapering like the little ones), and, most importantly, may help with finding the one essential ingredient: flexible teachers!

[tuesdaymom]

My DD is in a mixed age preschool 3-5's. She is 3 1/2. She loves it! I think as a parent you always be worrying about something. The only thing is socially alot of times she does not want to be bothered. She said to me in September these kids just dont understand her. Her teachers were very aware of were she was academicaly and maturity wise by a month in. They have her help with puzzles since that is her thing! It is helping her open up . I dont know how gifted since she is 3. Most likely she is around a first grade level. She is an only child so I think she really needs the interaction with kids her age. We still do stuff at home as well. Following her lead

[KCMichigan]

I agree with PP. 

Both my DDs were early readers and they loved preschool. We found play-based preschools that focused more on fine motor skills, gross motor skills, finger plays, and play centers. They both had some mild special needs and preschool was excellent for social growth.

The interaction with other kids, exposure to new concepts, group play, and listening to another adult were huge.

Both were very very verbal and we were lucky that all the preschools they did that there were other verbal kids.

[sarahusesthis]

Thank you for your responses! I am currently looking into a montessori preschool.
 

[Aufilia]

Whatever you do, I would certainly look for a mixed-ages preschool environment.  Montessoris are almost always mixed ages.  My DD did Montessori starting at 2.5 and pretty much completed the Kindergarten-level reading and math curriculum there by age 4, which was not a big deal at all thanks to the way Montessori is structured.  She was one of those driven-to-learn kids who really WANT to know her ABCs and got a kick out of being able to count to 100 in 3 languages. She even found a gifted friend to hang out with, even at our very small, local Montessori. The only real "problem" is that she hasn't learned a darned thing in school since leaving preschool!  But I feel like she got a really good foundation for her reading and math skills there which continue to benefit her as an independent learner. 

My son is just over 3 and has spent the last 9 months in a play-based preschool environment.  He is a "stealth learner" who will learn stuff if it's there, but doesn't go out of his way to learn. He is highly social and wants to go to school 'cause it's fun and he likes the other kids.  I'm actually hesitant to enroll him in a straight Montessori program because I'm not sure the academic focus will really suit his personality.  On the other hand, he's socially picking up all kinds of junk in play school that I would prefer he not know, so he might need a less freewheeling environment soon for MY sanity. 

[KCMichigan]

I would check out a wide variety of schools and see what fits your DD nature/personality.

We found a play-based, non-academic same age peers to be the best suited for our DDs. We tried an excellent Montessori, but it did not fit well with one DD and her temperment (the sheer # of kids and multitude of simultaneous activities overwhelmed her). It is a fantastic little school- but 28 kids in one classroom (regardless of age) was just too much for her to process; even thought the environment was calm and nurturing. My only 'overall' complaint was the lack of creative works- the 'works' were meant to be done a certain way and the students had to master before moving on. With cognitive level at one point and fine motor at another- that created a frustrating situation.  She did much better in a small setting of  7 kids one year and then 14 kids and then 16 kids. Her 1st grade class was the first experience over 20 kids and they only had 21! That said- both my DDs had/have mild special needs in addition to being academically advanced (not tested, so GT unknown).

You are likely to find that all sorts of preschools worked for different kiddos on this board-- Montessori, Play Based, Emilia-Reggio, Waldorf, etc. The exception being a strict lock-step academic preschool rarely working for kiddos that are ahead academically.

Keep an open mind and the actual day by day interaction with the teacher is a high priority on a good match (instead of basic philosophy- since it can be interpreted/presented so different by by different teachers).