If your child is gifted and an outlier, did you homeschool?
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Anonymous
My child passed away. So, I don't have long term stories to share. It does sound like your daughter might be on a different path. I will tell you that between 6 and 10 what we found best was to go broad instead of fast. So, for a 6 year old who is fluent with fractions, I'd look at topics that aren't well covered at school like probability, statistics etc . . . I'd also think about competition math, probably starting with some of the old papers for Math Kangaroo, or things that apply math like physics, or that are math adjacent like music theory or chess. Having said that, I'd only do any of that if my kid was begging (mine was). |
Anonymous
OP here. I am really sorry about your child. Sorry, I asked. Thank you for the suggestions. |
Anonymous
No need to apologize. I'm glad to remember him, and share the things he taught me. |
Anonymous
This |
Anonymous
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I'm not trying to be snarky or catty but I do have a contrarian perspective. It is this: if you look at long-term outcomes there are not a lot of prodigies who are successful adults. There are some but they tend to be outliers. If you don't believe me then start to do some research yourself. And then think about all the quasi-regular kids who are accelerated for the super-TAG/AAP kind of things or who are home-schooled because the school systems cannot or will not move the child through the programs quickly enough for the parents. Consider how many there are in school or home-schooled each year and then ask yourself how many you know about who are stunning the world as adults. There aren't many. So, yes, keep your kid active and engaged but set your goals on the long-term outcome. My sister has a child who is PG (lowest score was 178) and multi-dimensional. They chose a different route. They went private at grade level. It gave the kid an opportunity to socialize with peers. Yes, there were times when the child was probably bored during the school day but the socialization aspect was more important. The kid had a lot of after-school activities to keep busy and to exert energy. The kid's parents required that the kid attend college for 4 years so the kid took 6 years and graduated with a bachelors, a Master's and most of the academic work for a PhD. Why were my sister and her husband so rigid about this? We have two older relatives who also are PG. My sister and her husband made the choice having seen the experiences of the two relatives. Their goal was to have a happy, well-adjusted adult after 21 years, not some frazzled, stressed out basket case. I am posting as a many years super-TAG/AAP teacher. I loved what I used to do but I will tell you that there were a lot of kids I wish could have been taken off of the hamster wheel. Be thoughtful. Be careful. Good luck. |
Anonymous
| My child is several grades ahead in math and above average in reading. I send him to a DLI school (not in the DC area). I don't think he learns any math at school, but we do Beast Academy at home, which is plenty challenging. I like that Beast focuses on depth and more discrete topics that aren't covered even in our school's gifted program. Homeschooling is not an option right now due to work schedules, and even if it were, I would still send him to school for socialization and enrichment. The DLI program has been great since it is very challenging for him and he was already ahead in math so it didn't matter that he couldn't understand math instruction at school for a few years there! |
Anonymous
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I have a definite outlier, who is gifted with disabilities, and I have a gifted kid, who is not an outlier for this area.
Both are enrolled in MCPS, the former in the GT/LD (gifted, talented and learning disabled) and the latter in a magnet program. |
Anonymous
| OP, my kids are in Montessori and are very above grade level for 6. We also have PhDs. Mine is in education and I am very careful they don't go to fast. Sometimes it seems like they want an academic fire hose but they also need athletics and socio-emotional learning--especially when they are that smart! I worry the kids are out of the gate two fast which could have negative consequences down the road. Learning and school are amazing but some is going outside and climbing a tree. Teach them to be a good person first and foremost. The imaginary numbers will come in good time. |
Anonymous
| I have a kid who flew through Algebra in 6th at age 10 and just kept on going. He's now a senior In high school. Looking back, the thing I'm most happy I did was socialize the heck out of him. I hosted play date after play date. he developed an incredibly tight group of friends and the ability to relate to al sorts of kids. he's a bit quirky and often anxious and being adept socially is not entirely in his DNA. But I made sure he learned it. for what it's worth, I feel this was far more important than anything I could have taught him academically. |
Anonymous
| Each kid is different. We sent ours to Feynman School, which handled the academic needs. By older ages, the social needs were getting more important, so needed a larger school. Time will tell but Feynman was a godsend for elementary school. |
Anonymous
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"I also have a kid who is more run of the mill gifted, ready for Algebra at 11 kinda kid. He has been well served by schools."
I have a run of the mill gifted kid (140 IQ), and I would completely disagree that his intellectual development has been "well served" by public school. Yes, overall it was good for him to have the social experiences and exposure to school clubs, etc. But even AP classes provide a minimal amount of stimulation for him. Yes, they provide a way for him to develop organizational and study skills, which is important. But it wasn't until did a summer course offered by a college (similar to the Hopkins program) did he actually get pushed to think hard and deeply. So, we've done a lot at home over the years to fill in the gaps. |
Anonymous
| Yes, now he is dumbed down and ready to go to a regular school. |
Anonymous
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My child does not (so far) have challenges with academics. That comes very easy to him. The much harder piece is social skills -- working with other people, being around new people and people from different backgrounds, and learning to interact with peers and adults. Sure, I could stretch him academically at home, but he'd miss out on the thing that is harder for him to learn!
Not everything that kids learn in school is academic. |
Anonymous
How can you completely disagree with a statement that I made that only applies to my own kid? |
Anonymous
Please don't listen to people who know nothing about homeschooling. Go to the Well Trained Mind forums and start asking your questions. |