I think the  that is being ignored is the emphasis on early learning in Finland. Americans who make a big deal about Finland do so because they think that Finnish students don't start learning until they are 7. The fact is literacy and early learning are hugely important in Finland. If opponents of early learning were aware of that, you wouldn't hear so much about Finland.

"conservative and libertarian opponents of increased early childhood investment have seized on Finland, where compulsory schooling doesn’t begin until age 7, to bolster their arguments. Earlier this year, the Reason Foundation’s Shikha Dalmia and Lisa Snell wrote that, “Early education in general is not so crucial to the long-term intellectual growth of children. Finland offers strong evidence for this view. Its kids consistently outperform their global peers in reading, math and science on international assessments even though they don't begin formal education until they are 7.” But, while Finnish children don’t begin formal schooling until age 7, that doesn’t mean they’re lacking for education before that. In fact, Finnish children have access to very high-quality, affordable child care that meets most of the standards for what we in the United States would call preschool."
http://newamerica.net/blog/early-ed-watch/2008/how-finland-educates-youngest-children-9029

Here is an overview of the Finnish preschool curriculum:

"The core curriculum does not divide instruction into subjects or lessons, but it does include various subject fields and objectives. These subject fields are: language and interaction, mathematics, ethics and philosophy, environmental and natural studies, health, physical and motor development and art and culture."
http://www.oph.fi/english/education/pre-primary_education

Also, being ignored is that about a third of Finnish children learn to read before starting school.

"When children start school...they already know a lot about reading and writing and some have even learnt to read.
Reading is a valued skill in Finnish cultures. Early readers are seen as talented and people who read a lot are respected."
Learning to Read, Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen

The anti-learning crowd also likes to point to Finland because they think they don't have exams. But Finnish students have to take a tough series of exams before graduation. We have lawsuits in the United States when easy exit exams are proposed. Students are given no incentive to work hard in school and then we wonder why we do so badly on international assessments.

mikaelreads,

If you are looking for knowledge building sites, I can only think of a couple at the moment. Brainpopjr.com is a really good website. But it isn't free. It has a lot of really good educational videos. They have some free videos that you can check out. Gudli.com is another good site. Unfortunately, the electronic sounding voice can sometimes be a bit hard to understand. But it is free and does a really good job teaching various concepts.

Take a break for a few weeks and just do educational shows and videos (and apps if you have a tablet). Read to her if she is still willing. I'm going through a break with my 6 year old right now on nonfiction reading I was doing outside the requirements of her homeschool program. She was learning a lot but suddenly started fighting it. It's frustrating when something works but they decide for whatever reason they don't want to do it. I'm going to try again next week with her and see how it goes.

http://eequalsmcq.com is a website that has a free Life Science ebook that I'm currently using with my 6 year old. The teacher who wrote these books does a 50% off sale on his other books each January. The other books normally cost $50. The sale runs from the 16th to the 22nd of January. See http://eequalsmcq.com/HolidaySale2012.htm for more info. He has a preview of each book, so you can decide if you like them before you buy.

It seems to be the case that smarter kids socialize easily with kids their age in the early years. But they tend to gravitate toward equally smart children as they get older. Like Indidee said, I don't think most young children realise that they know way more than most kids their age.

I do wonder about an impact on personality though. Surely knowing more in general impacts who you are and how you look at the world. PhDs and high school dropouts likely have very different worldviews due to education levels alone. Why would kids be different? Surely kids who know a lot think very differently than kids who are less knowledgeable. If a 4-6 year olds knows about things that many kids don't learn about until middle school, how does that impact how they think and see the world?

This likely wouldn't impact things like hyperactivity or shyness. But I wonder about things like level of maturity, concern about social issues and the like.

Start out teaching her about the continents. Once she has become familiar with them, start to focus on one at a time. Get a good picture atlas for her to look through with you. Finding good books for preschoolers isn't easy. So, videos can be very helpful.

http://www.brainpopjr.com/socialstudies/geography/ has some really cute videos. My kids 6 and 3 love them but you do have to pay a subscription fee to view them. http://preschool.earlyknowledgeforkids.org/socialstudies_continents.html is a free preschool/K curriculum that introduces the continents, so that may help as well.

My daughter started reading to herself at about 4.5 years old. She really liked mystery books and started reading mainly A to Z Mysteries and picture books at first. She now reads 1 to 3 hours a day willingly, mainly mysteries, American Girl, Beverly Clearly, abridged classics and the Little House series. So, for her, it was hitting on a genre she really enjoyed that turned her into an independent reader. Nonfiction has been a problem though. She occasionally reads nonfiction but doesn't care for it. When she starts 2nd grade, I'm going to make some nonfiction reading a requirement of the school day.

There is a free preschool and kindergarten curriculum at http://preschool.earlyknowledgeforkids.org. The curriculum is laid out in sections and days, so you just go section to section and day by day. It has text with links to videos, games, coloring pages and worksheets. The curriculum covers science and social studies. The curriculum is still in progress but there is probably enough right now to last a couple of months. "Only parts of the curriculum are available at this time. The complete curriculum should be finished by the summer of 2012. New sections will be added regularly."

You can also download free educational magazines in PDF format from http://www.earlyknowledgeforkids.org/ that are aimed at elementary age children.

I get a combination of easy and just right books for my child. It doesn't make sense to get advanced books unless the parent is doing the reading. Kids aren't good at figuring out meaning from context, so they don't benefit from material that is too hard for them. That's why parents should continue to read to already advanced readers for as long as possible. It helps to get them to the next level.

Pokerdad,

I think you are right about abstract thinking. Much of what kids are required to learn at school is quite abstract, so it shouldn't be surprising that kids who are good at math are good at other things. The same has been found for learning a musical instrument. The skills transfer into other areas. I think in the early years though, a focus on literacy probably has a bigger payoff for most kids. Babies and toddlers can learn to read and build up a significant amount of knowledge. Early reading gets kids ahead. The same doesn't seem to be true of math. Early exposure to math seems to make later learning easier but it doesn't seem to get most kids ahead (unless they already have an aptitude for it). My 6 year old reads at about a 6th grade level but she does 1st grade math despite all my early focus on math. She is a 1st grader but math is her only 1st grade subject. She's ahead in everything else.

For the 3 year old, combine LR, starfall.com and readingbear.org. When you read to him, underline the words with your finger. Maybe buy one or two of the Your Baby Can Read DVDs used. He should be able to read by 4 to 4.5 years, if you teach consistently.

Articles like this may be very discouraging for parents who are considering early reading, if they are being told that their kids won't have anything appropriate to read. I wonder if an article like this would have given me pause when I started teaching my first child at 9 months. I knew little about children's books at the time and may have worried about what she would actually be able to read. Now I know that age appropriateness is often based on the assumed reading level of the reader, not on the actual maturity of content. But many parents of babies and toddlers may not realise this.

What exactly is stressful about beginning math? Are the critics assuming that kids will be stressed by it or do they have solid data to back up their claims? If kids are being stressed, it must be due to improper teaching or bad curricula.

I would assume that kids who are better at math later on or doing well academically in general experience far less stress than struggling kids. Even if there is a little stress for children learning academics at an early age (which there shouldn't be), isn't this better than the stress of struggling at school for years or struggling in low paying jobs? By protecting kids too much in the early years, these critics harm them in the long run.

The big problem I had with the article is you can't make a general statement that advanced books are bad and age appropriate books are good for a child. Parents need to be careful with every book they pick. And that means knowing their child. What will upset one won't bother another. I remember being devastated as a child reading an age appropriate picture book The Fox and the Hound. I cried and cried for days. Yet plenty of more advanced books didn't bother me. My 6 year old reads a lot of American Girl history books, which are advanced for her age. She loves them. I read a lot of classics to her that she has loved. Yet it was an age appropriate picture book Hansel and Gretal that gave her nightmares and still disturbs her months later. I also bought a collection of picture book stories for 3 year olds. There are a few stories I wouldn't read in there because they have some disturbing elements. So, why make "reading ahead of grade level" the point of the article rather than be careful about what you let your kids read? Picture books with disturbing content can actually be far worse than chapter books because the bad parts are so much more visual.

I agreed with some points the article made. I agree that if a book is scary or disturbing, it wouldn't be good for a young child. I agree that there are a lot of really good picture books. I don't think children should be forced to read books that don't interest them. I don't think parents should have academics in mind with every book choice made for their kids.

But I felt that the article went beyond that into criticizing parents for wanting their younger kids to read higher level books in general. There are plenty of good books aimed at older kids that are often far less upsetting than an average Disney movie. And even picture books can address themes that may be troubling to some children. I've read attacks before on introducing young kids to chapter books and this seemed like another to me. Although the criticism was more implied than direct.