Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I pulled one of my kids from 2nd because he was so unhappy - very young and somewhat immature for his grade, but also academically very advanced. The problem was that socially he'd have been better off being held back a year, if any of the kids would have shared any of his interests, but academically he needed to move faster. It wasn't an issue of level of instruction, it was speed - he was constantly complaining that teachers were trying to teach him what he already knew, because he didn't need the same level of reinforcement and practice as his peers. We now homeschool, with his older and younger brothers, and he can work at grade level on some subjects, slightly above on others, and twice as fast in things like math that just come easily to him. Is he off-the-charts? Sure, in a 99% way, but not in a 99.9% way, if that makes sense.

I am seriously wondering how many kids do actually need this level of reinforcement? Is it even that helpful?

We moved abroad to a regular public school in a different country and they just move at least 5 times if not 10 times faster. There is very little repetition, no boring drills, they spend less time in school and have fewer math classes yet math problems they do are just so much more difficult.

Anonymous wrote:I homeschooled a 99.9th percentile, Algebra at 8, Calculus at 10 kind of kid due to severe medical issues. I also homeschooled his bright but not brilliant brother with no medical issues.

One thing I would say is to remember that a 6 year old is still 6 and needs 6 year old structures even if he’s doing middle school math. We did a lot of snuggling up on the couch to read things like Life of Fred: Chemistry, and high school level history texts, and listening to audiobooks while building legos, and playing silly math games that embedded higher level concepts.

Another thing I would say is to go broad instead of fast. So, look for activities that extend skills closer to grade level (e.g. Beast Academy if he hasn’t done that, or math kangaroo contest prep) or that add things that aren’t part of the standard sequence (my kid delayed calculus by doing a lot of statistics, and number theory and counting and probability, and algebra based physics).

I’d also think of finding other cognitive outlets whether that’s learning chess or another language or music.

Finally, and maybe I should have said this first, I would make sure you’re following his lead. it’s really easy to turn academics from something the kid explores on their own to something that parents push.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I pulled one of my kids from 2nd because he was so unhappy - very young and somewhat immature for his grade, but also academically very advanced. The problem was that socially he'd have been better off being held back a year, if any of the kids would have shared any of his interests, but academically he needed to move faster. It wasn't an issue of level of instruction, it was speed - he was constantly complaining that teachers were trying to teach him what he already knew, because he didn't need the same level of reinforcement and practice as his peers. We now homeschool, with his older and younger brothers, and he can work at grade level on some subjects, slightly above on others, and twice as fast in things like math that just come easily to him. Is he off-the-charts? Sure, in a 99% way, but not in a 99.9% way, if that makes sense.

I am seriously wondering how many kids do actually need this level of reinforcement? Is it even that helpful?

We moved abroad to a regular public school in a different country and they just move at least 5 times if not 10 times faster. There is very little repetition, no boring drills, they spend less time in school and have fewer math classes yet math problems they do are just so much more difficult.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I pulled one of my kids from 2nd because he was so unhappy - very young and somewhat immature for his grade, but also academically very advanced. The problem was that socially he'd have been better off being held back a year, if any of the kids would have shared any of his interests, but academically he needed to move faster. It wasn't an issue of level of instruction, it was speed - he was constantly complaining that teachers were trying to teach him what he already knew, because he didn't need the same level of reinforcement and practice as his peers. We now homeschool, with his older and younger brothers, and he can work at grade level on some subjects, slightly above on others, and twice as fast in things like math that just come easily to him. Is he off-the-charts? Sure, in a 99% way, but not in a 99.9% way, if that makes sense.

I am seriously wondering how many kids do actually need this level of reinforcement? Is it even that helpful?

We moved abroad to a regular public school in a different country and they just move at least 5 times if not 10 times faster. There is very little repetition, no boring drills, they spend less time in school and have fewer math classes yet math problems they do are just so much more difficult.

Anonymous wrote:I pulled one of my kids from 2nd because he was so unhappy - very young and somewhat immature for his grade, but also academically very advanced. The problem was that socially he'd have been better off being held back a year, if any of the kids would have shared any of his interests, but academically he needed to move faster. It wasn't an issue of level of instruction, it was speed - he was constantly complaining that teachers were trying to teach him what he already knew, because he didn't need the same level of reinforcement and practice as his peers. We now homeschool, with his older and younger brothers, and he can work at grade level on some subjects, slightly above on others, and twice as fast in things like math that just come easily to him. Is he off-the-charts? Sure, in a 99% way, but not in a 99.9% way, if that makes sense.

Anonymous wrote:I homeschooled a 99.9th percentile, Algebra at 8, Calculus at 10 kind of kid due to severe medical issues. I also homeschooled his bright but not brilliant brother with no medical issues.

One thing I would say is to remember that a 6 year old is still 6 and needs 6 year old structures even if he’s doing middle school math. We did a lot of snuggling up on the couch to read things like Life of Fred: Chemistry, and high school level history texts, and listening to audiobooks while building legos, and playing silly math games that embedded higher level concepts.

Another thing I would say is to go broad instead of fast. So, look for activities that extend skills closer to grade level (e.g. Beast Academy if he hasn’t done that, or math kangaroo contest prep) or that add things that aren’t part of the standard sequence (my kid delayed calculus by doing a lot of statistics, and number theory and counting and probability, and algebra based physics).

I’d also think of finding other cognitive outlets whether that’s learning chess or another language or music.

Finally, and maybe I should have said this first, I would make sure you’re following his lead. it’s really easy to turn academics from something the kid explores on their own to something that parents push.

Anonymous wrote:Six years old. Finished elementary math and started middle school math. Also read science books at 1000-1100L. Neurotypical.