The term for supplementing the school's curriculum is afterschooling. There is an Afterschoolers board http://afterschoolers.yuku.com/directory. Strangely, although the board is all inclusive, many of the kids are gifted. I think the kids pull the parents into afterschooling rather than the parents pushing. And a couple of families have moved into homeschooling.

I've struggled with this for many years (well, 3yrs but it seems like 10). I was strongly encouraged not to teach DS8, then 5, math at home b/c he'd be bored at school. He's not as gifted in math as many here but at 5 he had figured out simple multiplication and division, could add simple fractions conceptually (1/2+1/2, 1/2+1/3, 2/3+1/3, 3/4+1/2 etc). He was at that age where mastering math facts (add/sub, multi/div) would have been fun. He would have delighted in beating his previous times etc. Kindergarten was a disaster. He cried every night just about. Constantly complained about math. By the end of K, math was a boring subject. A teacher-friend said I needed to turn that around and teach him math at home. So the summer between K and 1st I began teaching him with Rightstart Math (RS) and Sinagpore math. The problem was that conceptually he was way ahead of the curriculum but I wanted him to have that solid foundation and I just hate skipping. RS math is difficult to compact b/c it's subtle and an exercise will be the building blocks for something later on. Anyhow, that went well. He did half of level A and all of level B, afterschooling in less than a year. Most would take at least 1.5yrs to do it. So I thought hhhhh, he's pretty good at math lol. But 2nd grade there was more homework. DS is really disliking school now and it's nightly battles to get him to do his homework, and morning battles to get him to go to school. So I dropped math. He now has no passion for math. Has no energy or desire to learn math facts. I'm spending this summer trying to re-instill this BUT also trying to get him to be proficient in math since the school isn't expecting much. I want to teach him to persevere when it gets harder, the mental discipline to work through it when it's boring (learning facts), etc.

So, I think I"m with Kriston. It's a choose your poison.... a) afterschool math and risk boredom at school or b) don't afterschool math and still have boredoom at school.

OK so instead of math in K, I swayed him w/ chess, strategy games, chemistry and physics, nature study, biology. It's only a bandaid. When I talk to people about what science will be like in 3rd or 4th or even 5th, I think "Oh I certainly hope there is more to it." Science isn't bad for him now even though it's not been anything he doesn't know b/c he loves science and I think enjoys being the expert at school. Math on the otherhand, I call him my concept kid. He makes big leaps but doesn't want to do the work of the small steps in between. I feel this is what was lost by not ASing math in Kindergarten. Also, the mental skills he had in doing mental math, was lost in 2nd grade b/c it was all pencil and paper.

So far my 2nd son, DS5, entering K in the Fall, I'm doing it differently. He was adding and subtracting just before 2 or just after 2. Doing 40+20, 30-20, and negative numbers when he was 4 (all from listening to brother, not being actively taught himself). At 4yrs old, I started him w/ RS A. He finished a K/1st grade curriculum in 4mths or so going at his own pace. We went right into Level B (1st/2nd some 3rd grade concepts I've been told) and will be finished in about 2months. It will have taken him about 9mths to do level B and we skipped days, weeks of not doing math and never did it daily. So when I look at it realistically, a kid like him is going to be bored in math at school b/c he learns so quickly. And that is what I've always felt is DS8's problem. It wasn't that he was so far ahead of the curriculum like most here, but that he learns so quickly. He complains of the teacher explaining things over and over and over.

So, I'm too early in the game to tell you if this will work out better. I'm trying to focus on the long term. DS8 wants to be a scientist. He will need a strong math foundation. I refuse to let the school screw that up so I'm choosing to afterschool math at home. DS8 is finishing up RS level C in the next month, and will be moving into RS level D. we're also dabbling in basic algebra to restore his love of math, as well as exploring Geometry with Zome when it gets here tomorrow. We're also doing LEGO MINDSTORMs robotics for logic, critical thinking skills.

sorry this got so long but I hope it helps you in deciding what to do. EVERY kid is different and needs different things. It's our job to figure out what that is and if the school can't do it, we have to - that's my motto.

DS8 did complain recently that the trouble is I teach him things at home and then he gets it again at school. Talk about guilt trip. but we sat and talked about how those were things he started teaching himself 2-3 YEARS ago. I just filled in the gaps. If he had had no interest in math whatsoever, I wouldn't have afterschooled at at all. The problem now is that I've always been a year behind him curriculum wise. I look at RS D and think "wow conceptually he's got well over half this materal." But by going through it, he'll be solid in it. That's the part he hates. That's the price I paid listening to those who told me not to teach him math at home. AGAIN, let me state, this is MY kid lol YMMV depending on the type of kid you have!!! Ds's self-esteem started plummetting b/c he got to a point in math that he couldn't figure out on his own. he started saying "I'm not good at math. Math is boring." I needed to fix that pronto!