Super smart 4 year old. What would you do?

Question

Note: I am writing this because I am curious as to what YOU would do in this situation. It is my friends younger brother and they DONT know what to do as of right now.
So my friends younger brother turned 4 lin june, and they are looking to get him into kindergarted next year.
The only problem is that he is probably WAY ahead of his age.
The basics: He is fully potty-trained, can count to ANY number, count to 20 in spanish, speak complete sentences, dress himself, brush his teeth, was his hands, ect.
This is a little weird for a four year old.: He can read most things, not the super hard words but most words, he can spell his name and as long as you tell him how to spell long words he will write them out, he knows ALL the capitals of the 50 states, the first 15 presidents in order, If you ask him "If your mailing a letter from arizona to michigan what states will it go through?" He will tell you, he can multipy, add, subtract..
How would you put him in kindergaten like this??

Answer 1

Starting the child early is one option. It sounds like his memory and language skills are advanced (at this age, math is considered an aspect of language). But there are other things to consider, which I'm sure will be done at the evaluation.

Another option is enrolling him in a gifted program. Then he'd be taking classes with children his own age who are also of equal intelligence, and he'll be engaging in higher level thinking skills.

My son was the same way. Preschool and kindergarten were rough because nothing was new to him, and he felt that the kids and curriculum were "babyish." His kindergarten teacher used him as an assistant teacher with his regular class, but also tested him for grade level equivalency in math and worked with him at his level. He was pulled out for work with a gifted teacher, even though they didn't typically do that with kindergarteners. Had I left him at that school, he probably would have skipped grades, however we moved and I enrolled him in a gifted program. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good one, but he did meet other children that were like him and developed friendships that he still has 8 years later.

It may be helpful for his parents, if they can afford it, to have him evaluated by a cognitive psychologist. There are more aspects to intelligence and education than the things you've mentioned. Lots of times, these super smart kids may have "unbalanced intelligence" or end up with psychological issues, and a psychologist can help prepare them for that and how they should react to him.

Would I put him in kindergarten like this?
Yes! Kindergarten is the introduction to school life and much more than academic concepts. The development of social skills is a big part of the curriculum. But, I would very carefully select the kindergarten program and teacher to be sure that the teacher will allow him to work at his own level academically while encouraging him to interact properly socially.

Answer 2

I'll be watching to see the answer to this because my son, who will be 2 1/2 next month, seems to be headed down this same path. He could recognize all his letters at 18 months, knew their sounds at 20 months, and is beginning to read simple words. He, also, knows the capitals of all of the 50 states, and can identify each of the states on a map; when he puts together his wooden U.S. of A puzzle, he can pick up any piece and tell you by shape what state it is before he places it in the right spot without hesitating. He can not do math calculations yet, like the little boy you mentioned. But again, he's only 2 1/2. He can count pretty high, though. At this point we are fairly certain that we will be home-schooling our children. I am curious, though, as to how others address the needs of children such as these. We just keep nurturing his interests.

Answer 3

Look for a mixed-age class, with a teacher who will allow children to work outside of their age group. I have a bright 5 year old who is in a K-2 classroom at the University's Education department. Some activities are done as a whole class, and others are done in grade-level groups. My daughter does reading and math with the 2nd grade group. There are a couple of 2nd graders in the class that work independently on 3rd grade activities.

I would home school rather than let a smart kid be bored in a traditional classroom.

Answer 4

My stepson is the same way, just overall surprisingly advanced, learned to read at 3 and has dressed himself since 2 (better than we ever dressed him) It's easy to forget that he's just a little boy!

He'll either really enjoy school, or really resent it. Depending on his personality. For smart kids, they're used to being told how smart they are, so when they actually face challenges, they get extremely frustrated and give up too easily. So it's important to encourage them when they work hard even more than when they act smart. "Wow, I can tell you really put a lot of effort into that." does so much more for a kid's self esteem because that means they have control over what they do or don't understand.

Anyway, just keep his learning continued at home as well as ask his teachers to give him extra work if he finishes early, or ask him to help in the classroom and things like that. Reading every night, and extra curricular activities like chess or reading groups are also a lot of fun for strong readers. There are lots of things to fill his mental capacity to keep him from getting bored in school so long as everyone involved makes sure he's doing well.


Also, as sort of a side note. Try not to assume that an intelligent child knows better if acting out. They may be smart, but they do have to learn things before knowing them like every other kid.

Answer 5

I would try not to repeat the mistakes that happened to me:

I was a very bright child myself, and was reading fluently by kindergarten. It meant I was often bored and schoolwork was always very easy right through school. I never had to work, and sailed through every test going. From nursery (kindergarten) onwards, I was 'the bright one' and didn't socialise well with my peers because I was in another world intellectually.

I really, really wish I'd had to work hard as a young child, and to see tasks through. I never learned to put in a sustained effort as most children have to at school. I had to learn this as an adult and it's much harder by then.

So, if my child was the same, then I would stretch them at home, try to work with the teachers to find ways to keep my child occupied and not disruptive, and ask other parents how they deal with their kids' learning, to find a guide for how much pushing to give my own child. I would try to remember that being very intelligent doesn't give social smarts, and to teach the basic rules of interaction - please, thank you, wait for the other person to finish speaking, that sort of thing.

I would concentrate on developing those areas very bright children are traditionally weak in - sustained effort, physical sports, practical knowledge, social skills. Change a bicycle tyre, catch a ball, paint a tree, finish the job and clean up after - and do it all while working with others.

Answer 6

Well, I would certainly hope that he could do a lot of that at the age of four (eg, the basics.) !

But its true that he knows a lot of things that other children his age don't know. However, if he were my child, I'd put him in kindergarten with the rest of the children his age, and let them decide on how to place him. He may be good at memorizing things, but it doesn't necessarily mean that there are things that kindergarten couldn't teach him. If he is the smartest kid in the class, great! But I wouldn't give my child added pressure and expect him to advance grades or miss out on other childhood interactions.

Answer 7

Well...this may just be me, but I don't think that it's all that odd for a four year old to do these things. Both my younger brother and I did all of these things when we were around 2 years old. But I see nothing wrong in skipping grades if he is ahead. I also skipped many grades during elementary school, and I think that it's better to decide the level of schooling by the level of knowledge and intelligence, not based on age. It's very hard to do this in public school, though, so if his parents have the money they want to consider putting him into a private school that will let him work at the level that he is ready. But whatever they decide to do, it is always good to encourage his learning, and push him at home. What he doesn't learn in school, he can study further on his own or with his parents. That's what my family did with us.

Answer 8

i was a little like that as a kid and the school made me do this test and after the test and 1 week of kindergarten i went straight to grade 1.
It sounds as though this kid is really smart and no offense but i would have to actually see and hear a child of 4 reciting all these things for me to believe them. It sounds a bit much for me to believe it from what your telling me and i don't know of many kids that recite all 50 states at the age of 4, most of them barely know the state they live in let alone all 50 of them, then on top of that he can count to 20 in spanish yet he is still learning the english language and i know from my own 4yr old who does watch Diego and Dora that they never count to 20 on there.
Maybe this kid is another Albert Einstein.

Answer 9

My daughter was very precocious at that age. She could read anything she picked up, and I don't mean just baby books but anything. She memorized things like the states and things too. However, socially she was still very much a 5 year old and it would have been hard on her to try to put her ahead. So we put her in kindergarten at a good school. Her very sweet and very wise teacher gave her lots of enrichment activities: for instance, she gave her books and a tape recorder and got her to record herself reading the stories. Then the teacher placed the tapes of my daughter reading the stories in the library center with the storybooks as an incentive for the other kids to learn to read--by hearing them read in a child's voice they knew it helped them realize if she could do it, they could, too. Plus it was quite an ego booster for my daughter. The teacher also assigned a non-English-speaking student to her for her to be sort of like a peer mentor. She was able to communicate with him enough to help him figure out what was going on and what to do, and he taught her a bit of Spanish in the process.
Most schools have gifted/talented programs that begin in earnest by 1st grade---they might be willing to allow a kindergarten student to participate. It depends on the state and the district guidelines, but I suppose a parent could request an ARD meeting similar to special needs kids and try to develop in individualized curriculum that would meet the child's needs.

All the academic smarts in the world doesn't make a child more physically, emotionally, or socially mature--if you try and push a child ahead, you will have this smaller, less mature kid struggling to fit in all the way through school, hitting puberty later, driving later, etc. etc, and setting him/her up for teasing and ridicule. Why not let them coast through and be the smartest one in the class their age instead? A kid like this has honor grad in his future, but in the meantime, allow him to just be a kid and enjoy his childhood, too!

The only other option I could suggest if money were not an issue is to send him to a high academic private school.

Answer 10

He still needs to experience kindergarten. People make the mistake of putting "smart" kids into advanced classes. He needs to experience the things every Kindergartener experiences.