Our 5 year old son began his first year of “school” a few weeks ago. We decided to do Connections Academy (an online school) because they allow for flexibility in placement and pace. After their placement testing, they recommended he begin in 2nd grade with an additional Gifted and Talented Language Arts course. They suggested re-evaluating after a few weeks to determine if 3rd grade would be more appropriate. Two weeks ago we moved him up to 3rd grade in everything but math. He’s on track to finish 2nd grade math in a month or so. 3rd grade seems to be much better for him (although still pretty easy for him). He is moving through it quickly, and it looks like he will easily finish the first half of fourth grade before the school year ends.
He is extremely internally motivated and is eager and excited to learn about anything and everything. Learning comes very easy to him and happens naturally. He figures out many things without ever being “taught.”
We don’t push him when it comes to academics, but do provide him with many opportunities. He excels at the piano, loves karate, sings in a homeschool choir, has swimming lessons, takes an after school class at our local elementary school (Bricks4Kidz), and has many playdates with his friends. Busy kid! He loves each of those activities, but often in his down time, he chooses to curl up with a book or two and will read for hours.
Today we met with a psychiatrist because of some behavioral problems we had with him over the summer. Incidentally, his behavior problems have nearly disappeared and his behavior changed drastically the first day of school. The psychiatrist said he was against rapid vertical acceleration for kids like our son and preferred horizontal learning. He hasn’t met our son yet, but just making a more generalized statement. We realize our son is on a course to finish school rapidly and will likely be ready for college at a young age. To be honest, we don’t care at all about what grade he’s in or how fast he advances. We just want him to be challenged, because he is a much happier child when he is challenged.
We would love to hear about experiences from others who have had a child advance quickly. Pros and cons, etc. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.
