Supplementing instruction at home?

[camprunner]

DD has just started K (ps). She loves to learn new things and she is very very intelligent. She is also very young for her grade. She was born five days before the cut off date. The concern I have is that she already knows over 3/4 of the stuff in the K curriculum. I mentioned this to the teacher, very gently. She informed me that when tested dd did test second in the class but she was in the "advanced" class and would be in an advanced reading group. In addition to what's in the curriculum she can also add and subtract, reads lots of words that aren't in the curriculum, ties her own shoes, etc. The teacher was giving us a lecture about having kids feed themselves : Anyway, if she is sitting in school learning her abc's and what sounds the letters make (she knows all this), should I be pushing her ahead at home? Will she be bored at school? Do you think she'll even be willing to learn more at home? There is not a public school in this area of our state that keeps up with national education standards (mostly by the time they get to older grades) and we can't afford private school. Home schooling would be our dream but it definately won't happen for a few years. Should I make sure she is up with the national standards? Reinforce what she knows so she won't forget it? Just supervise the standard homework and not supplement?

[Oriole]

I can't imagine stuffing more structured academics into a child's life if they already spending hours at school. Kids need some time to play.

At the same time, there is this "normal" parenting stuff that we do that brings our kids above the school curriculum. Reaidng stories before bedtime, going to the museums and parks, visiting the library on the weekend, going to a play, asking them to help count the change at the store. You must be doing something right at home if she is showing such great results.

Is it wrong to buy a fun workbook that shows how to write, and is full of coloring pages, and mazes, and puzzles, maybe counting things and whatnot? Of course not, but I would be VERY hesitant to require that my kid consistantly works in it. Get it for her only if she wants it, and if she decides she'd rather play with her dolls today than to write in her workbook - then so be it!

[carmel23]

My son is exactly like your little girl. Fortunately, there were several children in his class who were reading at the beginning of K, so it wasn't as if there was one child who was waaay ahead.

The review of the letters were good because it gave ds a chance to develop his writing skills (which were developmentally appropriate), and he liked the activities he did in his letter books.

We love the library--we have tons of books on things he likes, visit museums and the space center... We do a lot of stuff outside of school to keep the sparks lit.

I wouldn't get any more worksheets--there are probably enough of those in school, but puzzles, and books about stuff she likes... Have lots of paper and pencils on hand... magazines such as click or ladybug.

Will you have a chance to be in the classroom volunteering at all? This helped me observe my son and see what he needed at home.

A good place to visit on this board is the parenting the gifted child section. You will get a lot of support there

[Mary]

We were in a very similar position when my son entered Kindy (he was reading at ~2nd grade level before K started). We started in a school where the teacher was wonderful and really had the class doing activities that challeneged the children no matter what level they were at. My son loved it.

Then we moved. His next kindy was very big on phonics drills, reading early readers aloud, learning sight words, etc., which is horribly mind-numbing for an established reader. The teacher wasn't all that creative about it either. She recognized where my son was at, but he was the least of her troubles- she had 28 kids that she had to get up to scratch. His reading group had one other child in it and she said he would probably find that reading level pretty easy as well. If it weren't for the fact that it was 1/2 day kindy and he had friends that he enjoyed at school, we would have been out of there.

We are not back at that school and now at a small charter that teaches each child were they are at--- much better deal. But all of this to say, you just never know. She could have a fantastic teacher with a cirriculum that reaches all levels, or not.

As far as supplementing at home (which I forgot was the whole point of your question ) well, we have an enriched homelife, but I don't have my son sit down and do work. We read all of the time and always have reading materials available. I do encourage him to learn his math facts, but we do not sit down and do drills- it's more like how he picked up reading. He's very interested in ancient Rome, so we have checked out several books about that and he loves it. We just finished reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and he has started writing his own Harry Potter story. Most of all, he is a kid being a kid though. I don't want him to come home from school only to have more 'school', you know? I think there is a way to keep on learning without officially supplementing, if that makes sense.

I hope that helps.

[Lingmom]

My daughter is a fully reading kindergartener too and I don't worry about it at all. She doesn't have any concept of "gee... I already know the alphabet, this is too easy for me" She thinks "Ooh - today's letter is "H"... that's a great letter!" just like all the other kids. In fact, I'd guess the only way she'd get that idea that she knows more than other kids is if I told her.

So I'd let it go. Your child is clearly going to do great at school, and it's not a race to some endpoint of learning. Just let her do her thing at school and let her be the kid that she is at home. Take her to the library and let her read books that would satisfy her curiosity about life. If you like to teach her things, teach her to sew or knit or garden or cook or dance or swim or play the piano... But what would she really gain from going through textbooks or workbooks in her free time when there's real life out there for her to learn about?

[camprunner]

Gosh, I hadn't even thought of making her go through a workbook. We just emphasize things as we go through them. For example, one of the things that they go over in K that her teacher actually suggested that all parents work on was money. We had never thought to teach her about money. We were waiting for a table at a restaurant the other night and I pulled some coins out of my purse. I showed her what they were and how much they were worth and now she knows them. For the past few days she has asked to see the coins and we have asked her how much they are worth. She views it more as a game. We usually teach her things while we are riding in the car. It sounds awful but our trip to school is 45 minutes each way so I have plenty of time. It is entertainment for the car. I work at the school it feeds into and this District actually cares about kids as opposed to the district that we live in and dh teaches in. We play ABC on the sign and quiz each other on addition problems. Really all of this is reinforcing what her dad has taught her to fill various dull moments. I would imagine that anything we did would continue to follow this pattern.

I guess what I was asking...should we encourage her to read harder books, go ahead and work more on the addition and subtraction, make sure that we take her a few more education places on that weekends? She is already asking to visit the aquarium again (her grandparents took her this summer) and we live near several historical parks.

The school itself is big arts school. They have art or music 4 days a week. She is enrolled in dance class and on a soccer team. So we're covered there. I would also like to get one of those stools for the kitchen where she could help us cook. She has had a huge interest in the kitchen but we don't really have anything safe enough for her to stand on. I'm also not sure about other safety such as cutting things. We've talked with her a little about fractions when she is in the kitchen while we are cooking.

[Lingmom]

That's just great parenting - I certainly wouldn't stop doing those things! I just don't know that I'd bother to begin slogging through the national standards. Standards make sense when you're talking about educational policy, but on an individual level, I'd just take her lead in what she's interested in (which it sounds like you do) and enjoy her learning (which it also sounds like you do).

[camprunner]

Thank you lingmom. I know places where I can find the standards and I'd be most concerned with reading and math. I just know that when kids get to the school I teach at (and the ones that dh teaches at), they don't know nearly what they knew what I was the same age. But in the lower grades they are expected to know far more : it doesn't make sense to me. I've also heard many people my age in this area say that when they went to college and were exposed to people from other areas they felt like idiots . I just don't want that for my kids but otherwise I like this area. The people are nice and we have the opportunity here to have animals and land for them to learn on as well.