Very intelligent 5 year old starting school and some concerns

MelanieC

brillbelcli wrote: »

With (all due) respect, I would be considering a different teacher / school.

On another note - many people have wild imaginations of how the childhood great geniuses or remarkable people play out. Believe me, its very different that what you describe.

With regards to your comment "we are a little concerned about whether it'll be too easy for him", what exactly do you believe would be too easy for him and who is measuring "it"?

I understand the OP's concerns as we are in the same boat with our five year old. We too are worried that he'll find Junior Infants too easy as they will be learning to count to ten while he can count into the hundreds and add,subtract,multiply.....they will be learning to write their ABC's while he is writing his own poems and stories.

It's a legitimate concern but people tend to scoff and dismiss it as cockiness whereas if the child were struggling academically people are far more open and understanding.

cbyrd

_Kaiser_ wrote:

The teacher. If they can do that great she said, but they'll be learning that stuff through songs and such anyway. Similarly other things like learning the alphabet and associating letters with sound and thus other words etc.

My 2 year old can count to 20. Can dress and put on her coat and zip it. My 7 year old has a reading age of 11.
Bright kids are everywhere. The teacher will cope and not let him get bored. My 7year old gets extra reading and spelling in his homework.

eviltwin

There are very few true genius kids out there, everyone has areas they excel in and those they need help with. I've seen it with my own children, one brilliant at writing but no maths skills to speak of. The other amazing at maths but has terrible hand writing. No point worrying about it until its a problem and unless your child is Mensa level its probably not going to be a problem. Friend of ours is a primary teacher, she says every year without fail there are a handful of parents who believe their child is a prodigy who will be bored silly, rarely if ever turns out to be the case. There is far too much attention placed on kids academic skills as it is, its a lot of pressure to put on a primary kid.

beauf

In my limited experience schools don't have resources for bright kids. You'll have to supplement their work yourselves, but make sure they can mix with their classmates and not alienate them, that social infrastructure is important.

jimbobaloobob

Not everything a child learns in school is based on academic milestones that society perceives as great.
Being or preferring to play with older kids is fine, learning to play with same age and younger is also a requirement in life and this will be met in school.
There's is differentiation in every classroom amongst all children and teachers are more than equipped to assess and cater for this.

brillbelcli

MelanieC wrote: »

It's a legitimate concern but people tend to scoff and dismiss it as cockiness whereas if the child were struggling academically people are far more open and understanding.

I think I've been misunderstood here.
People are very quick to consider questions as cockiness or something negative rather than taking them at face value.

brillbelcli

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

Not everything a child learns in school is based on academic milestones that society perceives as great.
Being or preferring to play with older kids is fine, learning to play with same age and younger is also a requirement in life and this will be met in school.
There's is differentiation in every classroom amongst all children and teachers are more than equipped to assess and cater for this.

Absolutely agree. Many are disconnected from the idea that being smart is only a small part of something much bigger and in no way suggests success in life. Things would be much easier if it was that way.

MelanieC

brillbelcli wrote: »

I think I've been misunderstood here.
People are very quick to consider questions as cockiness or something negative rather than taking them at face value.

You've misunderstood me!
I wasn't saying you were cocky!

What I'm saying is if you're worried your child is struggling and needs extra help/resources people in general are very helpful and understanding but if your child is especially advanced and you are worried for them that way,you tend to just get a lot of eye rolling and muttering of "oh,you're one of those parents" like you're cocky and deluded and think your little angel is perfect. Its not always true and not fair.

mloc123

pah wrote: »

Who told you junior infants was counting to 5?

My two year old (24 months) can count to 3... I guess he can sit back a bit for the next 3 years before junior infants

iguana

1 in 50 people are eligible to join Mensa, it's not exactly an impossibly high bar. For every 3 classes of children, there is a statistical likelihood that 2 of them will have an IQ of 148 or over which makes them a 'Mensa level genius.' So it's quite possible that one or more of the bright 5 year olds described here are in fact Mensa level. And yes, it's very possible that they won't really get the best out of school. They will either be bored but find a way to contain that boredom by daydreaming through the first decade of school while still coming out on top of every test, because they being tested on things they knew long ago. And then possibly struggle when they come up against a subject like calculus or chemical equations because for the first time ever they have to work at school and they don't know how. Or come to loath subjects they used to love because they are often simplified to the point of nonsense (like much of the history curriculum). Or, if they are a very active child, struggle desperately to sit still through hours of 'learning' things they know backwards.

To be totally honest, I'd bend over backwards to find an alternative to school for a very bright child. School is not compulsory and there are a growing number of alternatives for parents to choose from or plenty of help to create something better suited for their child. I'm in the process of setting up a co-operative school that will work on the principles of self-directed education and allow the children to learn at their own pace while fostering their own creativity. It will also allow for actual socialisation as the children can work together as and when they choose, be in mixed age groups, learn from each other and help each other through their mistakes. It's hard, hard work to get it up and running but I know from groups who have already set up this kind of school that the pay-off is astounding.

mloc123

alroley wrote: »

That's really bad advice. I would say most children are 5/almost 5 when starting school now. My sister is a primary school teacher(teaching junior infants this year) and said that children that aren't five by the end of December should wait until the next year.

So many kids who start at barely 4 end up repeating junior infants.

Also, they will really thank you starting college at 17... When everyone else is 18.

Foweva Awone

alroley wrote: »

That's really bad advice. I would say most children are 5/almost 5 when starting school now. My sister is a primary school teacher(teaching junior infants this year) and said that children that aren't five by the end of December should wait until the next year.

So many kids who start at barely 4 end up repeating junior infants.

I started on the day of my 4th birthday, which is at the end of September, so I was literally barely turned 4! I was the youngest in my class by a long shot all through primary school and secondary school (which I started at 11).

I was already a total bookworm before I even started Junior Infants and always in the 99th percentile for any aptitude test I've ever done. So academically I was certainly ready for it, I'm not sure I was emotionally ready though. I was painfully shy and anxious as a child; being the youngest (and shortest!) in the class didn't help.

OP I'd definitely look into getting him assessed for CTYI when he's old enough, they offer some great programmes, very pricey though, as far as I remember.

For what it's worth, even though I always found primary school work extremely easy, I wouldn't say I was ever bored or not challenged enough. You're chopping and changing between so many subjects during the day; if he's regularly finished his work quicker than others then most teachers will allow the child to read, or start on their homework, or they'll assign some extra work. My parents always had us going to plenty of extra-curricular activities too, so there was plenty of stimulation.

Madam Oblong

Kids used to be 4 going into school, now they're 5. Times have changed.

Vince135792003

Majority of children in our school are 5 starting school. I have never had a parent say to me they regretted sending their child a year later. I have had a couple of parents say to me that they regret sending their child to school at too early an age. The emphasis parents are placing on literacy and numeracy in this thread along with the work clearly being done at home is definitely a positive. I would just say that primary school is not just about that.

GritBiscuit

Foweva Awone wrote:

For what it's worth, even though I always found primary school work extremely easy, I wouldn't say I was ever bored or not challenged enough. You're chopping and changing between so many subjects during the day.

This. When I started school I was reading Roald Dahl and doing maths problems for 2nd or 3rd class. I never found school boring tho. Sure, I read my book when the class did their literacy learning and I was annoyingly fast at maths but I had a lot to learn about art... And friendship... And everything else that school also encompasses. Unless your wee man is savant level genius, he's going to be learning loads!

shesty

I noticed this today while on the hunt for something else

https://amp.independent.ie/irish-news/education/going-to-college/lessons-for-parents-of-preschool-children-35026541.html

It is mainly aimed at preschool parents, but also points out that JI is about way more than ABCs and 123s.

I would not worry OP, until you actually see there is a problem.Until then, let him develop at his own pace.I'd keep reading and maybe consider letting him take up a musical instrument or something, if you want to expand his learning more.And think beyond JI, he has a lot of years in education ahead of him, it's not just about JI.

mitresize5

its great to see that that country will be awash with Nobel laureates in 20 or 30 years time.

My little guy will be 5 in November and starts school next month. He counts to 20'ish and then couldn't be arsed anymore for the most part,

Sometimes if he's buddies are still outside playing he'll forgets to wipe his arse or leaves it too late to come in and will have a little accident as hes zooming past you on the way to the jacks.

He'll happily let you read the same spiderman story night after night as he's such in love with his favorite super hero that he want nothing to do with the hulk, Thor or Captain America.

You can see he's little brain ticking over as he tries to come up with an excuse when he knows he's out of line and he's been busted

Some days he'll come in covered in mud and **** no matter how much you tell him he has to keep his clothes clean just this once as we're in a rush to go to nanas.

He has yet to write his first screen play

should I be worried?