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I haven't been on hear in a little while but wanted to share and discuss a solution we came up with for the next school year. I am sure that others have had this same type of experience before and can help me with a smooth transition.

My DYS is 8.5 and going into 4th grade (1 year skip). Academically school has always been easy for him, socially and behaviorally things have gotten better with each (maturing) year. Socially my son is not interested in another full grade skip at this time.

This summer we have enrolled him in two classes at our Virtual Learning Charter School. It is free for residents of the state of NH. They offer classes for Middle School, High School and Dual Credit (HS/College). He is currently taking Middle School Math 1 and Computer Literacy. although the content of the courses is not proving to be too difficult (yet) my son is learning a lot about time management and deadlines.

I am hoping that since this is an approved state Charter school course that we will have success convincing his teacher and principal to allow him to continue the math course in place of the regular 4th grade math curriculum. I know the Computer Literacy Course will not be able to replace anything but he will be finished by November so Iam not worried.

For the past two years my son has actually had a pre-test at the beginning of each math module. If he scored a high enough grade (which he did 99% of the time) he would get project time instead of the daily math lesson. He was always still responsible for the math homework, daily math work, and math tests. He just didn't need to listen to the lessons. I am hoping that he could continue to pre-test and not be responsilble for all that work if he passed. He could just continue with his Virtual Learning Coursework instead.

Can anyone else share their experience with incorporating Virtual Learning into the workload of public school. Was anyone successful in allowing enrollment in a course to replace the regular curriculum?

My son is involved in a very intense sport after school five days a week and some weekends. One and a half to two hours of intense aerobic exercise after school (not a sport where you have a lot of rest time).

We are considering waving PE and asking that he continue with his online class that he started this summer during PE time...in the library. Some kids get PE waved so that they can get intensive reading if they are below grade level. My argument will be he has the daily activity and his gifted needs will be met better with the additional academic activity. (I also think PE will be horrible for him in that he doesn't like typical sports and might be a target for unpleasantness). His online class will not take the entire period and I hope that he can also work on homework or read. He loves to read and during the school year he has to find time to slip it in.

I don't know how my request will be received so I will just have to see.

We did this last year, with ALEKS. DS8 in 3rd grade last year just worked on his ALEKS on the computer during math class, in lieu of the other math. Our school is very good with this sort of thing. This year, going into 4th, he will be taking a middle school math class instead. By next year, I expect that he will be done with middle school math and we will be doing an online high school math class instead -- they are just starting the online high school this year for our area, with a state-accredited curriculum.