I think it's so more important to be a child first. If your child is the type who WANTS to push ahead and do gifted or extra work, I'm all for it. But if they don't, I see no reason. I have a big problem with putting children in gifted programs because they are gifted. Some of them are very happy to be just regular kids and not do extra or harder work. If they are truly gifted, then they will excel as long as we teach them good study habit and pride in their work. What they do in elementary school and before is not important.
The part in bold is incorrect. A truly gifted student isn't necessarily just going to excel even if they are taught good study habits/pride.In fact far too many gifted kids underachieve for a wide variety of reasons.
Take the case of the child that enters K reading chapter books, and is being given letter homework in K. The child ends up being bored in K, and then has to do homework that is meaningless. Does that happen always? No, of course not, BUT it does happen.
How is a child going to truly learn the meaning of work, if they are not given work at their level? What pride is a child going to gain by matching big and small letters, when it is several years below their grade level. How are you possibly going to gain good study habits, if the work you are given in class and after school is ridiculously simple for them?
A child doesn't need busywork, or 5 works sheets of rote math problems, but a gifted child does need work that will stimulate their mind and challenge him/her. It is then, that a child can take meaningful pride in something.
We saw this happen with my brother. He was not challenged at his level. Because of that, there were no study habits, and their definitely wasn't pride in items that he could complete without thinking.
With my daughter, she hates writing out spelling words. Why? Because she knows them, and the work is absolutely meaningless. The difference is extreme when she is given work that challenges her. She then has difficulty pulling herself away from something that truly is exciting and challenging.
She DOES need to be challenged, though. She doesn't push herself, but the challenge is imperative for her and many other gifted kids. If they get free/easy rides, when something comes along that is remotely challenging, where suddenly they don't get that A++, they may give up. I've seen it with my 6 year old. In K, I did my best to explain to the teacher that her acing every math fact quiz was not healthy for her. She needed some sort of challenge, to know what work was.
Challenging a gifted kid is not about giving them 30 minutes extra homework compared to the rest of the class. They can have the same amount of work as their peers, but at the level they are working at.