My daughter is 21 months and we've been taking a very relaxed approach to learning to read.  Using the Doman Method loosely, and have started phonics, just learning the sounds of the letters of the alphabet.  She can recognise 20-30 words and really loves it. She also knows her colours and a few shapes.

I am really excited about what she's able to learn already, and I wasn't worried about her being ahead of others at school (in my opinion, she's a really bright little girl and will be ahead whether I teach her anything intentionally or not!), until I read a conversation on facebook about a teacher complaining that some prep teachers were giving the kids readers to take home (age 4 and a half to 5 and a half).  I asked her how many kids can already read before prep and she said only a few (and that they had been "forced" in another state of Australia) and that they are now "burnt out" and "switched off".

So I'm wondering, if my daughter can already read to some extent and do basic math before she gets to school, is she going to be a "problem child" in the classroom - be inattentive, disruptive, and then hate learning???  How hard is it for the the teacher to give her more advanced work if needed?  Does this ever happen?

Sorry this is a long post.  Just wondering what others' experiences have been once their children reach school.  I don't want to home school for a variety of reasons, but mostly because I believe the social interaction at school is really important and my husband and I both work.

Thank you.

Hi FortNelsonMom

I haven't started the dot system yet, still reading about it all, and one thing I was wondering is I know that I will never get to doing 9 sessions a day, due to work and other things, so am also wondering if 2 or 3 longer sessions would be ok.  I don't see why not, provided the child is not saying she/he have had enough.

Anyone had experience with that?

I wouldn't start over though.  She would have absorbed some of it by now so might be bored starting over.