Thank you. I had already contacted both Pierrepont and Easton Country Day for visits this fall!
I hate that he dislikes school, but I get it (I was a gifted kid who disliked school until high school.) I still want to change that for him as best I can, though. Summers and vacations are great. We make an effort to have a family adventure every spring break and DS is a wonderful traveler who is very much at ease anywhere (except school, that is). I've been enrolling him in various themed summer camps for a few years -- Lego and science camps, mostly. He loves those and does great. I have bookmarked a number of summer institutes and other camps for next summer, when I think he will be ready to step it up a notch.
He's also excellent at entertaining himself -- he makes up his own games; builds with Lego and creates whole playsets for himself; LOVES video games. Today he made himself some science experiments involving his Mighty Beanz and we also played Bean Hockey in an arena he built from blocks. He took up skateboarding this summer, and although he is not naturally talented at it, he's been working hard at it with a teenaged teacher. He's been studying karate for three years and will get his brown belt this fall. He often says that a problem with school is that "it takes away from my free time."
We chose the school he is in because it is challenging, with a focus on the three Rs and also really good instruction in music and art and science. (I should say that he adores science class in school. His science teacher is great and DS looks forward to science every day.) I am starting to wonder if maybe it's still too slow-paced or otherwise not right for him, though. I feel like getting a handle on whether that is actually the case is important before I go looking for something else.
I will pick up "5 Levels" tomorrow and add it to my reading...
Thanks again. This is certainly an interesting journey...
