Thanks.
He was in a Montessori program for 2.5 years and when the teacher refused to give him harder work, we had A LOT of behavior problems at home. (He was generally well-behaved in school, but would let it all out at home.) I'm talking 45 minute long screaming tantrums where he would try to punch or kick me. He HATES repetition, sometimes even when it's something fun.
It's been a year since the real problems at his Montessori school started and he stayed in that school through to the end of the school year. I'm only *just* now starting to feel like he's gotten over it.
These are the main reasons why I hesitate to put him in school. I went to school and enjoyed it for the social aspect while still excelling academically. (My senior year, I skipped class so often that I technically shouldn't have been allowed to graduate, but since I was valedictorian, the principal made up a "doctor's note" excusing me.)
I do have lots of conflicting feelings about school vs. homeschool. On one hand, I'd like him to have some of the social experiences that come with real school (I think he blends in well with most kids and is usually well-liked, so I wouldn't worry about bullying, as some of you might have to worry about.). I was more impressed with the school he'd go to than I thought I'd be. And truthfully, sometimes I'd like the break. On the other hand, he's active and a perfectionist and hates repetition and I can see the school environment crushing him. I've also had the benefit of seeing the type of luxuries that homeschooling offers, like never facing crowds at the science museum and spending the whole day in the park with friends riding bikes.
I just feel that his personality and learning style are not the best fit for the traditional classroom, and I worry about it crushing his spirit (and dealing with the behavior problems). With age cutoffs, he'd be going into first grade next year as one of the youngest in the class (Cutoff is Dec. 1 and he's mid-November.).
My husband is from Japan and they have no differentiation in the school there. Performance on a test literally defines your life path, as this gets you into the right elementary school, which gets you into the right jr high, and so on. Hearing that our son is "high iq" ("gifted" never sticks for some reason) just equals school success in my husband's view. He doesn't understand the emotional differences that come with that high iq. Things are just black and white. He also doesn't have much experience being around other kids, so he doesn't see our kids as being somewhat out of the norm.
The workbook thing just popped into my head as an idea after getting a coupon for 40% off any workbooks in the store. haha. But I think that having some type of "hard data" to show husband that DS is more advanced than other kids his age might sway him to see that homeschooling is the better choice for us.
