We have a gifted 4th grader and have some questions on schooling options. Our son is in public school and is very bored. We are new to this community due to just being tested. We live in Indiana and have looked at online schooling, and a mix of homeschool and a co-op mix. The problem is that the public school he attends only wants to accelerate in math and not the other subjects. The problem we have is that his school goes to 6th grade and when he is in 6th grade it would be a problem with doing the Jr. High math
He would be doing math by himself at that point. We are just looking for some guidance from some people that have experienced this with there own children. Any help or guidance is appreciated.

Welcome!

I think you will find that all of the possible schooling options have met with some success with someone here. Your options depend on the resources you have available, and your child and family's needs. I will say that doing math by himself is one of the less attractive options, as instruction is important even for gifted learners, as is a learning community. But even that might be the least-worst solution, depending on your other circumstances. Perhaps you can tell us a little more about the kind of learning environments that seem to suit him, and some of his specific educational needs.

My daughter moved ahead in math and spent each day doing cyber/computer math in a separate room when it was math time in 6th grade. She was fine with it. There was a Jr. High teacher formally assigned as her "teacher" who we could reach out to if needed, but we never did. Our school uses Edgenuity for cyber - she took the Algebra 1 class in 6th.

Personally I have not had the experience with my DS10 yet but I know a couple of kids who skipped the 5th grade advanced math and went to sixth grade advanced math. They are in separate buildings but within the same school district. They were able to bus the kids from one school to another. So this may be an option for you if the school is willing to do that.

Thanks for the response. A little more information about my son. He currently goes to a school which uses cluster groups. So 8 high achieving kids are grouped with 16 regular kids. Our school district requires the kids to complete the regular 4th grade work before working on other school work. An example of this would be in math. He completes his regular math, then he can work on independent worksheets while the teacher is helping kids who are struggling. This is probably what frustrates us the most. Also Indiana uses Pearson for state testing, so Pearson is what is used for math. It is a terrible math program and not user friendly. I hope this helps with some feedback.

Joshua, I am not sure you are familiar with it but my kids use the Russian School of Math online (https://www.russianschool.com/).

Basically as soon as your child is ready for 4th grade math you can enroll. 3rd grade is the earliest you can do online. RSM is in a dozen states so if you are lucky and in one of them you can start in K. Online courses are offered with life instructors 2 hours/week (lots of days/times) and then there is 2 hours of hmwk. 4 hrs of extra math/week Sept-June. We do this in parallel to school. RSM works ahead of the actual grade you are placed in (they will test your child to place correctly) through a placement test and each grade has 3 levels. The program is tremendous and the best math school I am aware of in the country. (My opinion but the results are reflected as shown on there website).

RSM benefits -
1. A vehicle for us to keep our kids working at their level and pace
2. A means to teach them the content that will allow them to successfully test in their resident schools for grade acceleration in math
3. Gives them confidence in their school placed grade (they know more than their peers and this feels good)
4. Allow us as parents to not carry the weight of supplementing / teaching at home.
5. The program is a live class where the student can see the other students and teacher with a whiteboard. Synchronous as they call it. Great software and delivery.
6. Free homework help tutoring for RSM homework. Up to 1x/week and every day there are offerings. Takes all pressure off parents to help them if they are stuck.

RSM costs some $$$ but it is so worth it. RSM is a big piece of my strategy to get my kids a solid math foundation. I have 4 kids and my oldest 3 are in the program. My 14yo will be going full time to GA Tech starting in May and has taken College Calc 4 and Linear Algebra already. Results for my family already there with RSM front and center.