This is my first post here…though i hv been regularly reading all the forrum discussions. It feels great to see all the wonderful progress that the kids have been making.
But then i would like to knw…how do these kids cope up later…i mean ur kid is able to read by the time hes 3…but after that whn he goes to a normal school…where he is taught alphabetically…will it not take the enthu out of him for learning…??cos hes already at a higher level than the other kids in his age group. will it not take away his interest as he isnt learning anything new…
Even i hv been itching to buy LR for my dd who is 19 month old…however i always end up getting these nagging thoughts .
I am so fortunate I don’t have to deal with this situation as my 13 year old is thriving academically in a private school and I chose to homeschool my 2 younger ones ages 6 and 4… I would love to hear others opinions or experience on your question as it is a very good one :0
My mother taught my sister and I to read at early ages (2 yrs and 4 yrs) long before we began school. My sister only began grade 1 in August (normally in this country they start in January) so many of the children there had had 8 months already to learn reading so she fitted in ok and was not subjected to much phonics.
I started school at the normal time and joined a group of children who could read somewhat but I was very unhappy in the school and was soon moved to another school where we could move at our own pace slightly better. By grade 2 the teacher would choose books for me to read at home far beyond what the class readers expected, however I still had to read with a group during school and read the “boring books.” However at that stage it was only a few minutes a day and we were given plenty of additional more stimulating material to do if we finished the easier classwork.
My own daughter we plan on homeschooling so that she does not have to deal with the extreme boredom of following the syllabus. It seems to be much harder to get a teacher to care enough to stimulate these kids these days. AT the moment she is in a creche where she just does what the other children do and this is fine as at this age they should just be learning through play - so she gets me showing her plenty at home and learns other things at school that I cannot teach her at home (like taking turns, getting on with other children, fine motor skills, playing on jungle gyms etc)
If you plan on putting your chikd in a school then talk to the teachers and find out what they do for advanced children already and what they could offer your child. Good luck - but don’t let that stop you teaching her now - many children who are advanced learn to cope in other ways at school and to stiumulate themselves somehow - and yes it may disrupt the teacher, but that is their problem, not yours or your daughters - they need to find something that will keep her busy and stimulated.
I was reading before I went to school. I read my first ‘novel’ (Matilda by Roald Dahl) at age 5. I don’t remember it being a huge issue. My parents say they didn’t follow a particular program or do anything special, they just read to me lots.
For my son, I am planning on teaching him to read and perform math before he starts school, then enrol him in a ‘standard’ school. I expect that some parts of schooling will be boring to him as he will already know it, or be able to pick it up quickly due to what I have taught him. Learning to deal with this boredom is part of life, unfortunately.
However, wherever I can I plan to give him other stimulation, such as art, computer programming, learning to play a musical instrument etc.
If he gets really bored at school, I plan to meet with the teacher and work through a plan of some extension work. For instance, taking a novel to school to read once he has completed the classwork.
I know of a lot of kids who get bored in regular school who start classes via Internet through Stanford or johns Hopkins home school program. Might be a way to go, or hire a tutor like you would hire a music teacher b/c you wouldn’t rely on the school to teach your child how to play the piano… So if they are really great at like math, why not get them someone to expand their knowledge? Or you could just totally home school… Or very expensive private.
The doc :clown:
