We
have already effectively run out of English, and of social studies.
Our answer has been threefold, but
it DOES involve early Uni entry (then again, we're talking about a kid who is a 3+y skip across the board without any ONE area way ahead of others):
a) decelerate as much as possible until things are kind-of in synch (that is, drop into some kind of tolerable holding pattern with strengths until the most asynchronous areas come into focus too)
b) TUTOR at the levels the student has MASTERED. There is usually room for that kind of reinforcement that forces students with material/curriculum mastery to consider things in new ways as they explain it to others,
c) When the holding pattern is intolerable, or the option to revisit material via tutoring/explaining doesn't exist,
independent study. (We're doing this right now with literature and social sciences.)
We are trying to use the extra time to explore "mathy" topics more deeply that fall outside traditional math courses -- physics, economics, computer science -- can use math and apply it without being a typical math course.
:nodding:
Yes. Exactly. Sociology and psychology along with non-traditional literature and writing, in my DD's case. We've also had her "detour" on her math track because of
how the pre-calc and calc courses are taught at her school (they aren't, basically... they're canned instruction and all-assessments). That detour has involved tutoring lower-division math (pre-algebra through geometry and occasionally algebra II), and taking physics, stats and econ to keep skills sharp.
Finally, once we've run through those things, DD will be more than ready for college. In DD's case, she will
begin college just after she turns 15, the summer after she graduates high school.
I wasn't sure about the timing of it all until about a year ago, though. I was frankly kind of TERRIFIED about 2.5y back, but DD has matured a lot more over the past year than I anticipated at that point in time.
We have
not worried about credits here-- as Kaibab notes. My feeling is that if they aren't ready for a college environment, they probably aren't really ready to be racking up undergraduate credits on a transcript, either.
A gap year is another idea-- let them run through secondary and graduate, but then use the gap year as independent study time.
