What I have learned is that determining a child's learning style is more important than determining their intelligence level. My middle child is homeschooled right now because he learns better independently and when he can set his own pace, not because he is so gosh darn smart. There are many much smarter children in school settings doing fine. My youngest child thrives on competition with classmates and would, I expect, do very poorly at home if he had noone to pace himself against.
And I have learned, as mentioned by Ellipse, that (mostly) everyone eventually learns how to read, do algebra, etc. In the end it does not matter if they learned it at 8 or 12 or 15. So fill in that time with all the extras to really open up their world and expose them to what's really outside of the school walls. The things that have seemed to make the most impact in my kids' lives have all come from extra-curricular activities.
That's my wisdom for the day!
Wow CFK - this is a great post! Love it. I've never gotten full #'s on my kid and at this point (2nd grade and home schooled) I just feel the #'s wouldn't tell me anything I didn't already know. It is a lot about honing in on learning style and then letting them go.
My 4 year old might be a tougher nut to crack! We'll see!
