To push or not to push?

[momsquared]

So dd is 7 and is in a gifted program in her public school. She is a fine student. I don't know if gifted by my definition, but bright and certainly strong for her setting.

 

DS however, is a different story. He is 3. He sounds out words. Knows all letters and letter sounds. Writes words if dictated. Today he was asking for math problems to be set up where he adds two groups of dots together and writes the number.

 

I guess I am impressed. There are kids in my dd's first grade class who can't do some of these things. My question at a young age is....do you start to practice the reading or let it continue to develop naturally? I think he picked it up from Leap Frog and listening to me with his sister. Do you teach them math?

 

Obviously I am doing this in some aspect because he is picking it up and understands the concepts. My question is, at what point did it become intentional?

 

We after school. I would prefer he stays in the same district as his sister. I cannot homeschool as I have to work. I am already concerned what they will do with him in kindergarten!

 

Thoughts? Advice? Experience?

[lewelma]

Best thing I ever did with my preschool boys is get them to do lots of dot to dots and mazes to develop their small motor coordination. Bright kids (especially boys) can get really frustrated when their ability to write does not keep up with the rest of their learning. This is a very easy way to give your child the foundation to do well in school without getting them too far ahead.

 

Ruth in NZ

[acurtis75]

I would go ahead and start teaching phonics 10 or 15 minutes a day. SWB has a Q & A section on her youtube channel where she talks about children who teach themselves to read and the importance of phonics. I don't think it's pushing so spend some time together discussing letters and sounds. I did it with my daughter at that age & she saw it as mostly fun play time together.

[boscopup]

With my clearly gifted kid, I let him learn on his own at that age. In fact, if I tried to teach him, he resisted. He wasn't ready for formal teaching. He wanted to learn for himself. He was bored in K, but thankfully it's a party. Real boredom didn't hit until 1st when it was no longer a party. :tongue_smilie:

 

I did some intentional teaching with my middle son, but he's a different critter. He had a speech delay and was a little "behind" his peers, but then intentionally teaching a few things caused him to leap ahead and start making connections. I'm still figuring out how his brain works. He is not clearly gifted though. I'm still waiting to see what happens with him.

 

My third child is picking up letters and numbers and such. He's 2 and has already started to demonstrate one-to-one correspondence (though he still skips 4 and 7 when counting, and might throw in "Tuesday" somewhere in the teens :D). I suspect he will be like my oldest. He's following a similar path. I'm not intentionally teaching him, and don't have plans to do so until close to K age, but I do discuss topics as he brings them up, just like I did with my oldest.

 

I would suggest just reading, reading, reading... all that you can. That's the best thing I did with DS1, and I wish I'd done more with the younger ones (it was easy when there was just 1!). For math, just let him discover things and discuss them with you. We did most of our math discussions in the van. :D

[GingerPoppy]

Best thing I ever did with my preschool boys is get them to do lots of dot to dots and mazes to develop their small motor coordination. Bright kids (especially boys) can get really frustrated when their ability to write does not keep up with the rest of their learning. This is a very easy way to give your child the foundation to do well in school without getting them too far ahead.

 

Ruth in NZ

 

I think this is excellent advice!

[StartingOver]

I have a 3 year old that insists on doing school like her big brother. She is doing everything he is, except for writing ( I write for her if necessary ) she just doesn't have the fine motor skills yet but she is practicing. She is reading well, and doing math, working on spelling, LA, science, Latin and some history. I let her lead. Some days she does nothing at all, some days she wears me out. There are no requirements for under 5 in my house. Have fun !

[Crimson Wife]

If he's going to be enrolled in PS, I would focus on "enrichment" type stuff. He's going to be bored in a traditional classroom and you don't want to do anything to exacerbate that. So I would focus on the things that PS will downplay if not ignore all together. Science, history, art, music, critical thinking/logic, foreign language, etc. Song School Latin might be a fun program to do with your kids.

[Gratia271]

So dd is 7 and is in a gifted program in her public school. She is a fine student. I don't know if gifted by my definition, but bright and certainly strong for her setting.

 

DS however, is a different story. He is 3. He sounds out words. Knows all letters and letter sounds. Writes words if dictated. Today he was asking for math problems to be set up where he adds two groups of dots together and writes the number.

 

I guess I am impressed. There are kids in my dd's first grade class who can't do some of these things. My question at a young age is....do you start to practice the reading or let it continue to develop naturally? I think he picked it up from Leap Frog and listening to me with his sister. Do you teach them math?

 

Obviously I am doing this in some aspect because he is picking it up and understands the concepts. My question is, at what point did it become intentional?

 

We after school. I would prefer he stays in the same district as his sister. I cannot homeschool as I have to work. I am already concerned what they will do with him in kindergarten!

 

Thoughts? Advice? Experience?

 

I agree with what everyone else has said regarding enrichment and focusing on motor skills.

 

Regarding kindergarten, it is likely he will be bored whether or not you actively "teach" him. I let all three of my children set their pace, and they were autodidacts with reading and early numeracy. I could have attempted to slow them down so that they could theoretically assimilate into a school culture, but it would not have worked....