How to promote advanced development in toddler

[peonyrv]

My 2 1/2 year old granddaughter seems to be advanced for her age. She recognizes the letters of the alphabet and can write some of them. She recognizes numbers, some words,  shapes such as circle, rectangle, triangle, oval, octogon, pentagon, star and can draw most of the shapes. Her vocabulary and sentence formation is mind boggling at times. She carries on a conversation using words such as delicious, friendly, beautiful, disgusting, frightened, understanding their meaning.
My concern is that she needs a more sophisticated environment to stimulate her, and wonder if her abilities and knowledge continue to progress, should she skip kindergaten and go straight into first grade? What can we as family to to continue to teach her, without pressing her beyond her abilities or causing her to grow up too fast?
My son was bored in school and by 4th grade, teachers encouraged me to move him into 6th grade. I did not follow their advise and the results were disastorous.
I work in education and see highly intelligent students faltering as they are so bored with their environment, complete their assignments and have nothing to do as the rest of the class works at a normal pace.

[peonyrv]

Thanks for the feedback, I find it most helpful. She has very few peers, however, she spents alot of time with creative adults and older children. I am pleased to hear that we are traveling in the right direction.

[SeriousSam]

Also martial arts is reccomended because many of the skills teach a child comittment, health, and interactive skills.  I would see if there is a little dragons program in your area and if possible try for soft forms of martial arts like Tai Chi or Ju-jitsu.  The teach flexibility, and have largely moves that can only be used if another person makes the first move.  It cuts down on calls from angry principles regardin hitting and pushing.

[SeriousSam]

BTW.  Peers are over rated.

[SeriousSam]

Art is one of the stimuli, it and some of the jumpstart language programs are very good as the part of the brain that uses languages also is used for symbolic language,  Also try to surround her with people slightly older than herself.

Also there are playablr music instruments (four -eight keys) that use internal reeds that are made in italy (on ebay) that are very good for younger kids 2.5 and older.  If you have have anyone else who plays music let the grandkid watch and maybe join in.

Are any of the family bilingual?  Use both languages interchangeably.  This will in the short term result in a setback in englis but in the longterm will result in massive gains.

THe music suggestion is only good so long as the child participates. Otherwise they will most likely grow up hating the music.  You want the the childs tacit cooperation.

On arts, at first I am talking leggo blocks, the pottery you bake in your oven, shrinky dinks, carving pumpkins ( they have save plastic kits that have no sharp edges) anything hands on.  Parents who have smart kids through osmosis do not have smart kids due to their actions but rather in spite of their inaction.

Ideally interaction, and if the parents work the child being with older highly interactive older relatives is the best path.

[tiredbuthappy]

perhaps it would be worthwhile to consider a montessori school for her? they mix age levels. she can be academically challenged but with her peers at the same time. you may want to research it.

[babygirl6152]

I know what you mean- there's a "just right" balance for a child, and may end up an underachiever if they are not stimulated enough.

The emotional maturity level is what I think they take into consideration as with anything-- for instance there are some 8 year olds that you can leave alone at home while you run to the store but there are some 12 year olds you would never dream of leaving alone for even 5 minutes-
My son had a high IQ, and even though we had him in gifted/talented classes he came out an underachiever- we did not skip grades and I was told by an OT specialist it is usually not a good idea to skip grades. Look at it this way- she is ensured to be the Valedictorian if she stays at the top!
So to help her stay interested- the school should allow her to bring her hobbies- stamp collecting, within reason, any hobby she can work on when she has finished her assignments. Another tip schools try is for upper grades to tutor lower grades- She can go to the kindergarten class maybe as a 5th grader and read them books, help with math lessons,- etc

We encouraged the classical music, classic movies- Camelot, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, Man of La Mancha- ballets such as The Nutcracker at Christmas every year-, musicals, operas.. you know- the cultural side- anything that exposes her to the Arts-