yes - considering homeschooling as well...he learns very quickly and i am a bit worried that this 3 year gap between his age and ability will continue to expand...that next year I will have a child technically ready for 1st but on a 5th grade reading level and 3rd or 4th grade math. i never know with these kids what's right to do frankly...slow them down, work at their pace...never know what serves them best. any opinions on this. i feel with both my kids (as is the case with many of these kids) - it is like a bottomless well that needs and wants to be filled, so the compulsion is to fill it, but then they become harder to serve in the school systems. what do you think of this issue?
Wow, this sounds so much like our experience. My DS was shouted at in school (private K) by a teacher too. We started homeschooling soon after and haven't looked back.
You see when we started homeschooling the whole giftedness issue wasn't an issue because I was clueless for the longest time. I pulled him out because he was miserable but I hadn't connected the dots about giftedness then. My 8yo is now breezing through 8th grade level work at home. He wants to go higher but I can't keep up so I'm keeping him at that level for now.
Asynchronous? Oh yeah! Only just learned to ride a bike. Still can't climb playground structures and he doesn't have physical disabilities. Not at all a nerdy type though he can bury himself in books (even literally so). Always laughing. Always making the silliest jokes. Can't look serious to save himself.
The bottomless well will get filled. Their ability to learn will keep expanding and expanding but you don't really run out of things to expose them to. For example, he outpaced my ability to teach science a long time ago so I found a tutor who works with college students and DS and tutor get on famously. They discuss not only science concepts but real-life stuff, office politics, work experience, math tricks, all in an age appropriate setting...it's awesome to watch them together. If you live close to a good college, bring him to their public talks and programs, visit museums, or just let him loose on the internet with parental controls in place...there's just so much to learn!
If you need to dicuss homeschooling I'd love to chat more. Wishing you lots of luck with this!
