I haven't closely read all the other responses, but it seems your child might be responding negatively at school because the work isn't challenging. My son never went that far, but he did cry in frustration at having to do work that was many years below his ability. Like you, I couldn't justify his need to do that work, so I ended up taking him out of school to homeschool for part of a year. In that year, I skipped him a grade and he raced through that curriculum in about 2 months. The rest of the time he spent on passion projects and with private tutors in language arts and math. He loved it. He just re-entered public school and while he only skipped one grade, he's 3 years advanced in math, and the school has him in the right math class. If home school is an option for you, I would encourage you to give it a try so that your son can regain his love of learning. Then you can put him back in school in the appropriate grade when he's ready.
