After encouragement from family members and agreement from others my husband and I decided that it may be best to homeschool our now 3 year old daughter. There are a few simple reasons why:
- When she turned 2 I basically began homeschooling her. I was a stay at home mom and so we watched televesion shows like Dora the Explorer, Backyardigans, and Sesame Street religiously. In additon to educational programming we also did a lot of reading, flashcards and educational board games and computer software.
- Now she is three and knows all her basic colors, can spell all but 3 of them, recites the alphabet, knows directional and spatial concepts, counts to 20 and various other skills 3-4 year olds begin in preschool/pre-kindergarten programs.
- I’ve done tons of research on the No Child Left Behind Act and talked to numerous parents about how their child/children are doing in school. My conclusion is the program only works for certain situations like if you live in a school district that is performing poorly. If you have a gifted child especially one that is under the age of 6 be very careful. Alot of ‘gifted students’ are getting left out because of No Child Left Behind. Once the schoolwork is complete teachers don’t have time to give them something more challenging due to pressures to help everyone else meet the standards that this program have set.
For more information check out this book by James Gallagher “No Child Left Behind and Gifted Education”.
