Need advice for my 9 yo ds and Stanford test scores

[Michelle in TX]

I've never posted in this forum before and I'm not sure I am in the right place for this question. My 9 yo ds has taken the Stanford test the last 2 years and I'm looking over his results for this year. He scored in the upper 90th percentile for most subjects and a few post high school this year. The results last year were similar though he had a few weak areas. He is completing 3rd grade and will be going into 4th grade next year. His overall grade equivalent on this years test is upper 10th grade. I know that doesn't mean he should be doing 10th grade work but rather his scores are similar to an average 10th grader.

I really struggle with doubts that I may not be keeping up with him. He struggles with attention issues but loves to read. Getting him to complete 2 pages of math each day is torture. I've wondered if he is bored but I'm not sure what to do about it.

He has a twin brother that scores more in the average to slightly above average range. They homeschool with the same curricula and levels btw. Everything comes easier for him though. And I do give him some meatier books to read through.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Should he take some other tests to determine if he's gifted. I guess I don't really understand the difference between gifted and accelerated. Thanks!

[elizabeth]

MUS is not a math program I am familiar with as we used Singapore for all levels with great success. You might want to do something more challenging and with fewer problems as repetition is the enemy for accelerated learners. TSOTW by Bauer is great as it is easy to supplement should the little person become fascinated with particular events, persons and the like.Unfortunately I am totally ignorant of the Stanford test as our state requires ITBS instead. One similarity is the test ceilings are about the same that is to say at your ds age our range was similar as dd had hit the ceiling or threshold of waht these tests can measure. We did opt for private IQ testing (Stanford Binet) in order to know what range we were dealing with . It seems as if dd would level out for a little while and then develop a whole new skill overnight. For example, struggle with prepositional phrases for a week or two then kaboom off to the races and time for diagramming with no help from me. That is a fairly consistent learning pattern for my dd. As time goes on you will begin to notice and interpret his signals that he has mastered X and there is really no need to repeat it over. Try to use mastery learning rather than spiral with repeats constantly these kids do not need it and it really causes problems with apathy, disrespect and humility. Keep aiming a bit past where they seem able and you are likely just where they need to be. Read Hoagies http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/ for testing info, curricula , games , dealing with relatives , you name it, they have information.