That's it. No more acceleration for us

[CleoQc]

DS is 12, working at a grade 8th level, mainly because we slowed down and worked various subjects, like 4 languages.
However, now that he's ready to tackle high school courses (he was probably ready 2 years ago, but we did not) we're going to slow down.
He wants to try for ten APs before he applies to university. We're spreading those APs over more years than just grades 11 and 12, so he can do more of them.
From now on, he's going to be considered a 6th grader (per his age) thus giving him 6 years of high school instead of 4. We think that way he can study a lot more and specialise a lot more in sciences and math, his preferred subjects.
Our plan will be:
math: going with AoPS starting this summer so he can have algebra 1 under his belt (finally! I've stalled him for 2 years by switching curricula on him all the time. Just bad planning on my part) to finish with AP Calculus.

sciences: chemistry in september, biology, AP biology, physics, AP Chemistry, AP physics. Possibly others too, but that would be the bare minimum. There's 6 years there, but we may double up. We'll see.

Others: AP French(should be a no brainer), AP Spanish, AP Human geography, AP computers (got to investigate this one a bit more).

By spreading them over 6 years, it will be doable. I'm glad we have two extra years to work on more advanced stuff!

[Dulcimeramy]

DS is 12, working at a grade 8th level, mainly because we slowed down and worked various subjects, like 4 languages.
However, now that he's ready to tackle high school courses (he was probably ready 2 years ago, but we did not) we're going to slow down.
He wants to try for ten APs before he applies to university. We're spreading those APs over more years than just grades 11 and 12, so he can do more of them.
From now on, he's going to be considered a 6th grader (per his age) thus giving him 6 years of high school instead of 4. We think that way he can study a lot more and specialise a lot more in sciences and math, his preferred subjects.
Our plan will be:
math: going with AoPS starting this summer so he can have algebra 1 under his belt (finally! I've stalled him for 2 years by switching curricula on him all the time. Just bad planning on my part) to finish with AP Calculus.

sciences: chemistry in september, biology, AP biology, physics, AP Chemistry, AP physics. Possibly others too, but that would be the bare minimum. There's 6 years there, but we may double up. We'll see.

Others: AP French(should be a no brainer), AP Spanish, AP Human geography, AP computers (got to investigate this one a bit more).

By spreading them over 6 years, it will be doable. I'm glad we have two extra years to work on more advanced stuff!

This is exactly where my son is, as well. We realized that we had two options:

1. Take two more years of math and science and actually graduate at 14, having exceeded the public school requirements.

2. Assign a grade for the first time (we're saying 7th grade), and begin studying at a new level with very specific goals.

We went with #2. How strange, to go broad and deep after rushing headlong for all these years!

Nathaniel is also finding puberty to be a real pain. He can't concentrate at all on his studies unless he digs ditches (literally) for about two hours and runs five miles per day.

I feel as if he is a totally different person, suddenly. His needs and habits are changing so quickly.

[The Dragon Academy]

Nathaniel is also finding puberty to be a real pain. He can't concentrate at all on his studies unless he digs ditches (literally) for about two hours and runs five miles per day.

I feel as if he is a totally different person, suddenly. His needs and habits are changing so quickly.

Don't you love it though? This age is unique. Dragonrider and I are having an interesting time of it.

[Karin]

Nathaniel is also finding puberty to be a real pain.


We have two dc in different stages of puberty right now, and it definitely is a real pain.

[crazyforlatin]

DS is 12, working at a grade 8th level, mainly because we slowed down and worked various subjects, like 4 languages.


Just curious to know what 4 languages your son learned, how you went about teaching them, and which programs worked or did not work for your son. Thank you.

[LisaK in VA]

We've decided to do the same thing with our oldest (and probably youngers as well). Although, I'm hoping they will be able to take some time to explore potential career areas...as well as AP equivalent coursework.

[KC in KS]

My kid isn't nearly "there" yet - she's just 5 - but I've already decided we'll assign her a grade-level based on her age. Then we'll work through the subjects at her pace - who cares if a 3rd grader is doing 6th grade math? Looking forward to the day we hit her "enough" point, so we can get our teeth into a subject, rather than just speeding through it.

[kck]

My kid isn't nearly "there" yet - she's just 5 - but I've already decided we'll assign her a grade-level based on her age. Then we'll work through the subjects at her pace - who cares if a 3rd grader is doing 6th grade math? Looking forward to the day we hit her "enough" point, so we can get our teeth into a subject, rather than just speeding through it.

This is what we do. My 3rd grader is well ahead of grade level and my K is coming up every month. I have no intention of sending them to college early though. We go wide and slow every opportunity we can.

Love hearing about what families a bit ahead of us are doing with their GT kids to keep them learning and engaged. Thanks for sharing! :001_smile:

[starrbuck12]

Good for you! I have been losing sleep wondering what this will look like when we hit late middle school!

I have also decided that we will skip a grade unofficially this fall, but that's it. If she gets bored with that, we'll just widen our horizons to include more stuff. :glare:

[chai]

It is nice to see what others are doing at this age. I have been planning to go deep rather than having dd graduate early, but it's hard to know what that will look like. We have been slowing down in math (her least favorite subject), but I think that we will cover a lot of history, writing, and literature over the next 7 years. I've just started looking at the AP list of tests too and trying to decide where to fit those into the schedule.

[Nan in Mass]

GRIN - I feel like I keep saying to you, "Just wait!" I think your plan is a good one, but don't forget that it is just a plan and your son himself will probably radically alter it at some point, when he wakes up and realizes that it is his life and his education. Mine woke up at about 15 or 16 - they had plans before that but they weren't as serious or long-range. I have had plans for each of my children and they each have completely changed the plan - changed the material and the timing and the manner of their education. Their changes would have been much more difficult to implement if we had accelerated them. I got more of what I wanted for them because there was more time for them to do both their own plans and mine. It was a surprise each time it happened, even though I had been urging them to do exactly that. You'd think I'd learn...
-Nan

[CleoQc]

Just curious to know what 4 languages your son learned, how you went about teaching them, and which programs worked or did not work for your son. Thank you.

French is our main language. English our second. I added Latin and Spanish for my son (although he did the equivalent of 2 years of Greek at the elementary level), and my daughter does Spanish and Mandarin.
Since French is our main language, I doubt any of the materials we use would be of interest to you.

GRIN - I feel like I keep saying to you, "Just wait!"
I'm waiting for something to click for my son! Right now, playing video games is the only thing that does, but that's not acceptable to us. I'm eagerly waiting for the moment when *he* will change the plan for something worthwhile...

[Karin]

GRIN - I feel like I keep saying to you, "Just wait!" I think your plan is a good one, but don't forget that it is just a plan and your son himself will probably radically alter it at some point, when he wakes up and realizes that it is his life and his education. Mine woke up at about 15 or 16 - they had plans before that but they weren't as serious or long-range. -Nan


I hope my dd wakes up and does this soon! She's going to be 15 later this spring. Right now she's planning to major in science because she has to go to college and then just go designing things that aren't scientific, which is very vague. If she can work hard swimming, she ought to be able to make the switch to working hard in some other area someday. I hope so, since she can't make a living as a swimmer. She has no desire to lifeguard or teach swimming, and those aren't exactly decently paid jobs around here.

[Nan in Mass]

We said the same thing about gymnastics, and all three of mine were able to make that transfer when they decided they wanted to. Is she one of those driven athletes whose identity is all athlete and nothing else? If so, she might have trouble. Otherwise, I think you can assume that all those good skills will transfer just fine. Same with your son, Cleo. Over and over again on the high school board people say that they are surprised by the change. Just keep encouraging them to think about what they would like to do, and listen to them carefully.
-Nan

[Karin]

We said the same thing about gymnastics, and all three of mine were able to make that transfer when they decided they wanted to. Is she one of those driven athletes whose identity is all athlete and nothing else? If so, she might have trouble. Otherwise, I think you can assume that all those good skills will transfer just fine. Same with your son, Cleo. Over and over again on the high school board people say that they are surprised by the change. Just keep encouraging them to think about what they would like to do, and listen to them carefully.
-Nan

Thanks. No, I don't think her identity is all athlete and nothing else. She swims harder than most on her team, but we can't afford a US swim team and she doesn't hound me to do so, nor is she one of those who has to try to be on top all of the time, just to improve her times. Now we have to manage to wait it out.

[Nan in Mass]

I used the waiting time to work on basic skills like drawing, writing, math, sight singing, the scientific method, and foreign languages; to finish reading TWTM logic stage history and lit lists (we save the US history ones for high school); to fit in some of the odd things like geography; and to do some of the things that *I* want learned, like natural history and living skills. Not that mine didn't want to do natural history, but they wouldn't necessarily thought of it on their own. This is a good time to get those sorts of things done because once your child takes the lead, it will be hard to find time to cover anything that isn't directly related to your child's plan. Take this time to cherish them. Your child is disappearing. You will still have to parent them, but it is a different sort of parenting. This is also a good time to make sure you are making being grown up look attractive, not scary. If you make it look like all hard work and no fun, either by obviously not enjoying it yourself or by making scary predictions about how they will have to change when they are on their own, your children may balk at growing up. I always felt like this was a time of treading water, but looking back, I can see that lots was happening. It can be a useful sort of waiting.
-Nan

[babysparkler]

My kid isn't nearly "there" yet - she's just 5 - but I've already decided we'll assign her a grade-level based on her age. Then we'll work through the subjects at her pace - who cares if a 3rd grader is doing 6th grade math? Looking forward to the day we hit her "enough" point, so we can get our teeth into a subject, rather than just speeding through it.

This is what we started doing with my 4th grader in Math. This year we have been going DEEP into Algebra 1 rather than pushing forward at his usual lightning pace. It has been so fun and he is coming out with a fabulous foundation for the higher math courses! Next we plan to do some of the "extra" AoPS books. Since he still has 8 years left of available time, it looks like he will be able to fit in PLENTY of extra math (and deeper study of it) without needing to rush through the normal sequence right away. It has been nice flying through elementary math since it all came quite naturally to him... but now we get to dig in and enjoy our higher math :)