Thank you, thank you for your thoughts!
Master of None . . . that is our struggle. He wants to be challenged (and even one grade level above isn't going to be it for him, but it will be NEW for a while and he'll no doubt gain something and likely be ready for more . . . we'll keep building bridges where we need them, I guess), but he also fears change a little. He's improved on this a lot. It's the perfectionist in him, I think. Since we was tiny, he wants routine because it feels comfortable . . . yet he wants the challenge. He has his mind wrapped around moving to third grade and is excited, but next year the potential plan, assuming all goes well and it is a good fit, is that he'd go into fourth grade. When I casually mentioned investigating that as an option, he simply said, "No." Obviously I don't want to force him into anything . . . but as was said, it isn't the content as much as the pace. If his history is any indicator, he'll be ready for more . . . and I just hope that he can find calm in himself and confidence in his transition to be ready for whatever is out there without holding himself back out of fear.
I agree that it is a struggle "accepting my kid is never going to be normal," and it is one that I had no idea existed until I climbed into these shoes myself. It is "easy" to at least make sense of the fears and struggles of those who watch their children struggle academically . . . we can understand how heartbreaking it could be, and I think our society is geared toward understanding that a little more. I truly never expected the inner-struggles that I'm facing now, though had I listened to my nervous twinges when he first entered school and blew his standardized testing and academics out of the water, I would have had a clue.
Baby steps are the answer, I guess . . . one thing at a time using whatever data and "readiness" was can gather. The world is wide open and I trust that he'll make the most of it, but the daunting task of helping him begin to take those steps outside of a "normal system" that the rest of our society depends on completely to guide them feels huge right now.
