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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why must it be the latter only?  I totally consider "a little more advanced work" to be differentiation, and at that age, going beyond that strikes me personally as unnecessary.  But that's just my view.  We have a gifted kid too, and are fine with not turning elementary school into an extremely academically-intense experience.  There will be plenty of time for that in middle and high school.[/quote]
I don’t think you understand what it’s like to have a child who is gifted, not just bright. Math is a joy for him, not “academically intense.”  He wants to learn more, do more, explore everything that is possible. I can’t keep up with him and his dad who is mathematically gifted too can’t give him as much time as my son wants. We’re not pushing it. It’s what he wants because it’s fun.[/quote]

My kid is years ahead in math and science too, thankyouverymuch, but you know what?  Being gifted, bright, whatever-you-want-to-call-it in these subjects is only part of the overall school experience.  It doesn't define who our child is, and we wouldn't want it to.

If your Big 3 is doing great at addressing everything but math, and in a way that's better than the potential alternatives, changing schools just to get a better math experience doesn't strike me as worth the trade-off.  But again, that's just me.[/quote]

No, I don't think our Big 3 is doing great at addressing everything but math. Being gifted is not defining, but as a former gifted child myself I do recall that being bored can be quite a painful, exhausting experience. I sat in my classrooms doing independent work, so I was separated from my classmates anyway.  Eventually, I was skipped several grades, but it wasn't the best solution.

I think it's sad that we have an educational system that is terribly designed for gifted kids. We do much more for kids who need extra help because of disabilities or challenges than we do for kids who need the freedom to go at pace comfortable to them. There is nothing magic about the standard pace set for any subject in our educational system.

Most profoundly gifted kids can handle moving at a non-standard, accelerated pace without it compromising their social skills or emotional development. It requires tremendous effort for them to sit for hours each day through uninteresting, unchallenging curricula. Imagine an adult having to sit through hours of learning how to read each day.

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