Starting Kindergarten early

[Guest ktarieh]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and homeschooling.  I'm looking forward to getting some advice here. 

I have a four-year-old who loves learning.  We are working through a phonics program and he is soaking it up like a sponge.  He can read CVC words easily and is eager to learn more and has memorized many.  He loves writing and numbers.  I often find him trying to use the phone as a keypad to spell out names and other words.  If he can get a hold of a pencil he can sit for an hour just trying to write any word he can think of.  He is nearly obsessed with numbers and could count to 100 by the time he was 3 1/2 and loves to "read" the phone book to look at the numbers.  I'm not trying to sound like a show-off parent.  I'm truly a little intimidated to homeschool this kid. (He corrected me yesterday when I skipped a word while I was reading to him.)  At the recommendation of our doctor, who we really trust, we are having him evaluated because of some of his "obsessions".  We just want to know how we can best help our son. 

All that to say, I have been noticing some more behavioral issues with him and I think he may be a little bored.  He asks for reading lessons almost every day.  I am concerned that if I don't provided a little more of structured academic scedule for him, we may be looking at some more issues with him.  I just don't know if starting a homeschool kindergarten program with him a year early is a wise choice.  We have chosen a curriculum that we want to try with our children.  Our plan right now is to start working through it slowly this fall and just take it a step at a time. 

Has anyone else started Kindergarten early?  What were some of the challenges, advantages, disadvantages?

Any thoughts would be appreciated! 

[JenneinCA]

I think you have a very exciting little boy on your hands there. He sounds like a lot of fun.

 

I would definitely teach him whatever you and he decide to learn about. But don't call it kindergarten. He can be a four year old doing math from a grade two book and reading from a grade four book. But that doesn't change his age and his grade. As long as you are homeschooling just teach him where he is and for official purposes call him whatever grade he would be in according to your local school district.

 

But most of all enjoy the ride.

[desertflower]

Welcome!

 

My oldest is only 5 1/2, so I don't have much advice. Based on the info above, I don’t think there is any disadvantages as long as he wants to learn. An advantage to starting early is that you will see what type of student he is. For example, I didn't realize that my son is a kinesthetic learner until a few months ago.

 

Mine loved to learn when he was that age, but now all he wants to do is play on the wii. I do not recommend starting that. My dh thinks that it promotes teamwork between him and his sister. :p He just wants to play too. Lol

 

For what it's worth that was my experience. HTH

[Arcadia]

Just follow your child's interest and ignore the grade level on the book. My older thrives on structure and he likes sit down school. So whatever works for your kid and ignore people who complain that you are hot housing.

[Dmmetler]

Since you're at home,teach him at his level, but don't officially register him or whatever you have to do in your state until he's the age of K kids, so you have that option open later.

 

My daughter started PS K early, and that I wouldn't recommend-it still didn't meet her academic needs (so we ended up homeschooling), and the result is that now that she's older and into academic competitions, she's often competing with kids who are 2 years older than she is, since almost all the kids who are high competitors in PS seem to be at the old end of the age range for grade. At age 4, it wasn't a big deal physically/socially, but I could see that it might be more of one now if she had to go back to PS. 

[boscopup]

My younger two kids started K level work before K age. My youngest is in K now (age 5). He's working through a first grade math program and a spelling/reading program designed for age 7+. He did K math at age 4 and occasionally had phonics lessons, though not very many. He's an independent reader now.

 

Follow the kid's lead, but still call him PreK this year. If you decide to graduate early later, you can handle it then. But I wouldn't label an earlier grade this young.

 

Get used to the work level not matching age based grade level. My oldest is 5th grade, and he's using curriculum for anywhere from 4th-7th grade. In fact, nothing he's doing now has a '5' on it.

[Crimson Wife]

Be forewarned that all-in-one boxed programs often aren't a good fit for gifted kids because of the asynchrony issue. Few gifted kids are at the same level across-the-board so you may well find that you need to "tweak" a boxed program so much that it isn't worth the $$$$ you spent on it. I actually find it easier to pick a different program for each component (spelling, penmanship, grammar, etc.) so that I can place the child appropriately.

[MotherOfBoys]

We started early too. I found that my son can handle advanced stuff but not in many subjects at once. So we picked reading and math. We went to second grade in both and then added in history and science. If I give him spelling, writing, grammar, math, history, and science all at once his eyes spin. He's was still five and I had to remember that. He could do second grade work but not all at once like a second grader, without fuss anyways. A couple skill subjects are good and then fill the boredom with content subjects.

 

There was a thread on here awhile ago telling an article about kindergarten ers who learned content before kindergartners who learned to read were ahead in the long run. Because of vocabulary and thinking skills if I remember correctly.

 

Welcome to the boards!

[Ad astra]

My son is also 4 years old and I am in a similar boat with you. We followed his lead and started early at 3.5yo from tracing, 123s and ABCs. If we were not busy with moving overseas and he was not going through a speech delay and language transition from my native language to English, he could have probably picked up things even faster. Still, he was soon singing number songs and trying to spell words out on the writing board all the time. And then he begged me to teach him how to read so I bought HOP K and started a lesson. After 3 months, he is now almost done with HOP 2nd grade and starting to read fluently. We're also doing 1st grade math and handwriting. There is no lesson plan or schedule. We just do a little bit a day at his pace.

 

I see that many parents are against early learning, even on this forum. I don't talk about what we are doing to anybody but my DH in real life. I have no desire to brag out or push my DS to be what he's not. What's most important to me is that this is what keeps him happy and satisfied, and he is getting so much out of it. He feels proud of himself and loves my full attention during my demanding 2yo's nap time. And I do not have the same kind of plan or expectation for my younger DD at all. I was gifted as a child but did not grow up in a happy home so I truly understand what matters most in childhood.

 

Your plan sounds awesome to me and I strongly recommend you give it a try. Don't worry about labeling; just focus on your son. This forum has been a great place for me to learn about lots of wonderful resources to keep mine challenged. Good luck! :)

 

 

[abacus2]

Parents on this forum are not generally against early learning. There is, however, a pretty strong consensus against early placement (i.e. don't place your child in the grade of the work they can do; place them in their age-based grade.)

[Ad astra]

Parents on this forum are not generally against early learning. There is, however, a pretty strong consensus against early placement (i.e. don't place your child in the grade of the work they can do; place them in their age-based grade.)

 

I meant early "structured" learning. Sorry if i was wrong. I haven't been on this forum for a long time. I just meant to say I don't discuss my son's academics with friends or family because I want to avoid any quick, judgmental reaction like "Let him be a kid!" I'm also glad I found this forum so that I can discuss these thing with other parents who understand.

[Jackie]

At my 4 year old daughter's request, we have started "kindergarten". I started ps kindy at age 4 and it was never an issue to be a year younger, so I honestly don't see the big deal.

 

I do agree with a pp that a boxed curric may not be a good fit. We tried it for preschool (twice) and it bombed completely. Work at her age was far too simplistic and work closer to her ability level required written output that wasn't possible. Plus, it expected even progress across all subjects and throughout the curric, which just wasn't going to fit - she spent a year learning to read up to a fluent first grade level and then four months going from first to fifth grade level books. It took some work finding her level in various subjects and then also finding work at each of those levels that didn't require written output. Especially fun when she insisted on being taught spelling and still couldn't form letters!

[Kerileanne99]

I have a dd4 so I just had to consider this. If by 'start Kindy' you mean begin teaching her using Kindy (or whatever appropriate level) materials, the answer is absolutely. As long as your child is enjoying the process, have fun and don't worry about what level it is. We started this way, just teaching 'the next thing.'

If you are considering teaching her Kindy officially early with the hope of enrolling her in school somewhere later a year younger than her age peers, there are many more things to consider.

 

I have chosen to keep my dd4 with her age group according to our local cutoffs, at least until there exists a reason to change that. She has a Dec bday so this year will be her 'official' pre-K year. Are we doing a traditional pre-K program? Lol, no! Much of what we do is listed in my signature, but suffice to say she is well beyond any Kindy curriculum. Today she made a math video for Fred...in which she taught her dolls three ways to do a 3 digit multiplication problem. She gleefully demonstrated Partial Products, Soroban, and checked it using "the standurd algorithm". Just for fun, during play time. Extremely cute:)

 

Which brings me to the why...as a pp mentioned, skipping a grade would have made no sense. Even in the school system it would still have not met her needs academically and would have put her at a disadvantage in other ways.

 

We will simply continue learning, trying new ways to adapt to her constantly changing and evolving needs. If at some point in the future it becomes necessary to grade skip we can consider it then.

 

I do understand the temptation to officially start Kindy early...for me, all of the fun coop classes and activities for the kids require them to be 'in Kindy.' It doesn't matter what level a child is when you are first joining, only that they are Kindy. Other than this board and a couple of online friends, I have no support to discuss homeschooling as dd is 'only preK.' And so on. Disappointing and very frustrating, but I do understand that they have been inundated with requests to start early only to have the parents enroll the children in public school the following year. The coops got tired of being a catch-all for pre-k only homeschoolers.

 

Whatever you decide, best of luck. I think teaching the early years is so much fun!

[PagesandFields]

I don't know enough and haven't been at this long enough to be helpful.... But I've had the same thoughts myself so I can relate.  My son's just now 5 (today) ! :)

 

Anyhoo... follow your instincts... but here's something I did that I think really helped us.  

 

When he was 3 1/2 to 4 we started having real real real real behavior problems.  I could tell he was bored, and his little brain was just ready to learn things... but he's a budding perfectionist, he has some obsessive traits, and I saw him at that age really needing some balance.  I started really looking at his strengths, and allowing some learning in language (his strength) but also looking at areas that he was out of balance.  For him, I realized that he had some sensory integration issues and needed some encouragement and work at physical stuff, kinesthetic learning, sports, and several other things... motor skills... things like that. 

 

 

So... I very gently did phonics with him (he then had a long period where he stalled on it... or was reluctant... it's like his little body realized there wasn't a need to hurry)....  

but... I also did tons of sensory stuff... we started going to gymnastics... I got him tons of tracing/cutting stuff...  I started getting much better about making time to go outside... and I started doing some fingerplays and songs with him  consistently

 

I don't know if that will help you at all... but when I was at a place where I both felt he needed a lot more academics and yet I was worried about adding it so early... this is where we went with it. You know your kid best and sometimes I think we just need other people (or WTM forumers) to help us think things over objectively. 

 

ETA:  I started doing some Peak with Books and Science is Simple activities within the past year.  They were perfect for learning, education, entertainment, but still lighthearted...  I've started K work just this past week or two with him (he's a young K age) and still do it gently.  Yesterday we did maybe 15 minutes of seat work... the rest was play, reading, activities... 

[Korrale]

We have considered this year from January to December as my sons unofficial Kinder year. Though technically he would be in Pre-K this fall. He loves number also. He cries to do math if we ever skip a day. And he suggested to a friend who has an unruly 4 year old that she should just makes her son do math when he is acting out.

 

And even though we are calling this Kinder year we are covering material from pre-k to 3rd or even 4th grade.

[serendipitous journey]

Hello to the OP!  Agreeing with everybody above that your child may benefit from structure, and it is a great idea to teach him if it seems to you that this is in his best interest.  I'm calling N. "K4" this year, because he's doing well with more structure and it helps me myself to label him as a Ker so I remember my goals even in the middle of hectic days. 

 

I don't know if you have read "Highly Sensitive Child" by Elaine Aron -- this may not be a resource that describes or is useful to your child, but if you haven't looked it over you may want to (it is the "obsessiveness" that made this come to mind --we've seen obsessive here, too).  There's a website that should have enough info. to make it clear whether this material suits. 

 

 

...

 

I see that many parents are against early learning, even on this forum. I don't talk about what we are doing to anybody but my DH in real life. ...

 

I've found this on the WTM forum but not on this particular board. 
 

[strange_girl]

We start early here.

 

My kids seem to like doing school at very young ages :ph34r:

 

However, one thing I learned here (and I think there's a lot of wisdom in it) is not to say they're in K until they're actually 5. I see no real advantage to early graduation (except in some very specific circumstances), and so having them finish '12th grade' at 14 years old only leaves them bored for the next 3 years. However, finishing 12th grade materials in 8th-9th grade leaves them open to take AP or CC classes in high school.

 

Absolutely, let them work where they thrive. We have done that and it has worked out nicely. It gives you space to be able to slow down if they need it, but it also lets them be challenged appropriately without watching the calendar, so to speak. :001_smile:

[KarenNC]

We started with phonics and math when my daughter was 4 because she was dying to learn to read. We did Explode the Code workbooks as she wanted, which meant some days 10 minutes, some days 2 hours (what else can you do when the kid is begging for just one more page?). I've kept her with her age mates in terms of how I list her grade, but even at that she's one of the youngest due to an August birthday. It has only been an issue so far in outside activities in 6th grade, because she did not turn 12 until just before the start of 7th and most of the library/rec center/nature center/museum programs here are age rather than grade based. Although she would have been in middle school even in public school, due to her age those other programs wanted to keep her with elementary. It seems most folks around here must redshirt summer birthdays as a general rule.

 

I took advantage of her reading well by 5 to use her traditional K year to do a year of American history and world cultures social studies type things before jumping into the SOTW 4 yr rotation, and it worked well. You can also go deeper or broader rather than faster with an academically strong kid, so I'd follow the child's lead.