Thanks. I was thinking that talking to the principal would be a good start. I'm just afraid I'm going to hear the same things that everyone hears. "All children are gifted." "Our program is flexible so all children are challenged." I'm sure the school hears all the time from parents that their child is so bright that it goes in one ear and out the other. So I'm trying to figure out what to do. By the way, he is 5 so he's starting kindergarten.
Talk and listen anyway. Share the scores, and select a few stories to share that show your childs love of learning. Bring in some of his favorite books, and any math worksheets you have in his handwriting. Decide if you want to ask for a gradeskip, or a partial gradeskip. ((
Genius Denied, A Nation Decieved, and Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual, are all good books for this.)) If you get the usual "Bull-oany" then you know that you have to think very carefully about your alternatives, which are:
1) keep school for 'fun' and do some serious academics at home. Your son is young enought that you can get him in the habit of doing 30 or 40 minutes of real academics at his readiness level at home. How much time you can spend depends on how worn out he is from behaving while bored at school, and his personality. The main thing is to make it regular, and center stage, as in, this is not optional - every child needs to learn how to learn. At this age you may be able to do the teaching yourself, or you can hire a tutor. Just make sure that school really is 'fun' for your son.
2) homeschooling
3) private school
4) gradeskip
Even if the Principal isn't helpful, you may get to have little benifits like being able to observe the various teachers in other grades and help choose them.
Best Wishes,
Trinity
