Thanks all parents here. I am going to submit DIY application forms.

@Ashley, thank you for your suggestions. We submitted all his achievements /certificates to 6 schools. Not sure if we need to do any extra to convince admission office that DD is a good candidate? Please suggest ...


Originally Posted by ashley
He is bored. I have a gifted son younger than yours and I can tell from experience how boredom and lack of mental stimulation shows up as a lack of work ethic. My son is a rule follower and people pleaser - so, his reaction is to think about entertaining things in his mind while doing his school work with 10% of his brain logged in - hence the endless "silly mistakes" in his work.

I recommend that you pursue that private school application process and visit them and find out how they handle subject acceleration. Also, continue the good job you are doing in after schooling him. Children need to face challenges in academics in order to learn how to persevere when faced with a problem that cannot be easily solved - most gifted kids never learn this because everything comes easily to them.

You can ask the current teacher if there is any way to let him work on open-ended assignments. I believe that it might make him more interested and help him survive the rest of this year without further incidents. Tell her that he is highly gifted (provide the test numbers) and that he also responds better to challenging work. Ask her if she can assign open-ended projects e.g.: read a biography and prepare a presentation (you can choose a book with a higher reading level), be allowed to do his AOPS homework if he finishes school math work quickly etc.

For a child with issues due to classroom boredom a strategy for applying to middle school is to make an admissions portfolio - in the portfolio, put his test scores (SSAT, any Talent Search test like JHU CTY etc), awards or prizes won in sports/music, recommendation letters from people who think that he is good at what he does (orchestra or instrument teacher, hockey/swim coach) and some work samples (AOPS, essays, original music compositions if any etc). This is the best way to counteract the effects of any of the school teachers who are frustrated by his lack of work ethic in the classroom. This will show the middle school that he indeed has a good work ethic and can apply himself to tasks that are demanding and produce good results.

I also, second other people's recommendations above to apply to DYS and get the help of their educational consultant to talk to the new school. Good luck.