Acceleration
(Disclaimer: This post deals mostly with my children being smart. If you're the type of person who might take offense from that, maybe you shouldn't read on.)
We recently had parent teacher conferences for Dallin and Luke. Both their teachers basically said how they were amazed at how bright they were. It's certainly nice to hear that, but then Dallin's teacher brought up the possibility of having him skip 2nd grade. That was nice to hear as well, but it also means that we have a rather big decision to confront.
The case for:
Dallin's standardized test scores put him at a 4th grade level for both math and reading. While there is ample evidence to the contrary at home, his teacher assures us that he is very "mature" in class. He only missed the age cutoff by 11 days, so he wouldn't be drastically younger than his classmates. We're being rezoned to a different elementary school, so he would not likely know anyone in his class next year regardless of which grade it was.
The uncertainties:
If my child is enjoying school, even though it's not challenging him, is that enough? While Dallin seems to keep busy by helping out other students, might that change in the future and his boredom lead to disruptive behavior? Do I want my child to leave home a year sooner? I've already expressed my opinion of high school athletics, but would my child later regret not being a year older when competing in high school sports? Would the older kids accept him? Would his new teacher be supportive?
I remember a lecture given by an admissions officer at BYU where she related how people would often try to get their children into college early, claiming that they had nothing more to learn in high school. Her retort would always be that they still needed to learn from the experiences of high school: proms, athletics, etc. I recall finding her argument persuasive at the time..now I'm not so sure. For a lot of people, I think the high school experience can be pretty miserable. The passing of time doesn't guarantee meaningful experiences.
I've also seen the other side of that admissions officer's view. Working with a population of students who typically try to maximize their opportunities for learning has recolored my view of education. While this approach can undoubtedly be taken to detrimental extremes, I can't help but think that many (if not the majority) of young people rarely aspire to their full potentials. Differential equations, technical writing, and relativity are all topics (to name a few) that bright students in just about any high school could handle if given the chance. Would it be worth it? I don't know. But I don't think that one often regrets shooting for a lofty goal.
While I wrote this post mostly to kick around the ideas swimming in my head, feel free to offer any sage advice you might possess.
We recently had parent teacher conferences for Dallin and Luke. Both their teachers basically said how they were amazed at how bright they were. It's certainly nice to hear that, but then Dallin's teacher brought up the possibility of having him skip 2nd grade. That was nice to hear as well, but it also means that we have a rather big decision to confront.
The case for:
Dallin's standardized test scores put him at a 4th grade level for both math and reading. While there is ample evidence to the contrary at home, his teacher assures us that he is very "mature" in class. He only missed the age cutoff by 11 days, so he wouldn't be drastically younger than his classmates. We're being rezoned to a different elementary school, so he would not likely know anyone in his class next year regardless of which grade it was.
The uncertainties:
If my child is enjoying school, even though it's not challenging him, is that enough? While Dallin seems to keep busy by helping out other students, might that change in the future and his boredom lead to disruptive behavior? Do I want my child to leave home a year sooner? I've already expressed my opinion of high school athletics, but would my child later regret not being a year older when competing in high school sports? Would the older kids accept him? Would his new teacher be supportive?
I remember a lecture given by an admissions officer at BYU where she related how people would often try to get their children into college early, claiming that they had nothing more to learn in high school. Her retort would always be that they still needed to learn from the experiences of high school: proms, athletics, etc. I recall finding her argument persuasive at the time..now I'm not so sure. For a lot of people, I think the high school experience can be pretty miserable. The passing of time doesn't guarantee meaningful experiences.
I've also seen the other side of that admissions officer's view. Working with a population of students who typically try to maximize their opportunities for learning has recolored my view of education. While this approach can undoubtedly be taken to detrimental extremes, I can't help but think that many (if not the majority) of young people rarely aspire to their full potentials. Differential equations, technical writing, and relativity are all topics (to name a few) that bright students in just about any high school could handle if given the chance. Would it be worth it? I don't know. But I don't think that one often regrets shooting for a lofty goal.
While I wrote this post mostly to kick around the ideas swimming in my head, feel free to offer any sage advice you might possess.
Comments
Also, what other options does his school or the district have for advanced learners? Are there programs for gifted students? Maybe the teacher at his new school can accommodate kids at different levels. Our district has some schools that are foreign language immersion, which would provide a challenge to a student who was already ahead in other subjects.
If there's any way to do it, I would try to keep him at his current grade level and find a school situation that works well. But being bored in school because it's too easy is miserable so maybe it's best to skip one grade if that's the only option.
-Theresa
Unfortunately in a small rural town there aren't many options for advanced learners. Even the GATE program was cut during the recession and I doubt it will be back any time soon. I think an accommodating teacher can make a world difference, but that can be a hard thing to count on. I had a nephew who joined a 4th grade class for math when in 3rd grade. The next year the teacher wasn't willing to accommodate him so he had to repeat the 4th grade math curriculum.