Nathan is PG and has a high level of intrinsic motivation. He decided he wanted to try school to see what it's really like. He is only theoretically supposed to start grade 1 next January, but since he is doing mostly grade 3/4 work with maths at grades 4/5/6 and reading at a 12 year old level I decided to try find a school that would let him spend a few days.
I managed to find one that (very rarely) offers grade skips to certain students they identify in class as needing more.
So he spent 3 days there.
First day in grade 1 was a disaster! He was horrified to realise that he had to request permission to get a tissue for a nosebleed. They trotted him out to read his favourite book (Macbeth) to the grade 7 kids, and they gave him 3 entrance exams back to back (for grades 1, 2 and 3) - without my permission.
He managed right up to the last two sections of the grade 3 paper and got tired right where they asked for immense amounts of writing (creating sums from word problems and a comprehension exercise).
The second day he attended grade 2 - and he loved it. But the other kids got upset because he was answering all the questions before the teacher could complete the questions. He enjoyed the money game they played - making change from larger cash denominations.
At break he got into a conversation with some of the grade 7 kids about a few books they had all read and he packed his bag and moved to the grade 7 class after break (recess). He joined in the coversations in class and said that he finally learnt something new AND interesting. But his favourite time was sitting at the back of their class reading a book he had taken from home.
The third day was a disaster - mixed grade 2/3 class as he could not physically keep up with all the writing. I had to fetch him two hours later.
He was rather sad to realise that school was not measuring up to his expectations. but has since settled down so nicely to just getting on with him own thing.
Just thought I'd share our experience
