Our son who just turned 6 in September and goes to first grade, is quite bright and talented. We enrolled him in this highly rated public school and they accepted him for grade I. Within 10 days, we (in fact our son) realized that this is not the place for him and we pulled him out and enrolled him back in his old Montessori school. Though a Montessori, they still have a weekly work plan which is designed for 1st graders. It is quite advanced compared to the public school though but the teachers emphasize on handwriting and ability to sit still more than my son's intellectual need. The teacher admits she has handled gifted children before and too much pressing might be detrimental.
Now on our son a bit, he was tested for CTD(NW University) and he scored a percentile of 99.9 in every aspect. Recently we had to test him with WISC IV and he scored a percentile of >99.9 and a FSIQ of 151. He started reading while 3 and now reads at my level. Out of his own curiosity he has in depth knowledge on things like Geology, Space, Oceanography, American History, Herpetology ( i think in par with the folks in National Geo :-)),Disasters, Periodic Table and basic chemistry, basics of Physics,Nuclear Disasters and their causes and effects, World War, Cold War, Cancer, Genetics .... an I can go on..
He is quite social too and in 7 weeks of Piano, he has startled us all by playing Celine Dion's 'My Heart will go on' with chords ( discovered himself, without notations or books). He is presently deep into study of Mythology and Impressionism and wants a canvas as he wants to paint in Renoir's style!
I know he has potential and more so, I don't want him to undergo the 7 hour torture every day. And my biggest worry, he is now trying to adjust to the class and unlearn stuff !
We cannot home school as both of need to work to make ends meet. We enrolled him in Mensa and EPGY Math.
Apologies for a long note, but I really want some advise on how we can keep him motivated to perform at his potential. We live in Western suburbs of Chicago.
