Regarding the talent searches that wis75 mentions, the Johns Hopkins CTY program also covers California in addition to the East Coast. My son took their SCAT test in 3rd grade. It’s taken on a computer and he enjoyed taking it. It did give us a better understanding of our son, though we didn’t use their online class, camps, etc. services much.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-cafe/1334625-profoundly-gifted-p1.html
Take a look at the above thread…perhaps you will find some useful information.
Give it a break, MiamiDAP. Anyone who has been on this forum for more than a day knows your OPINION…and it is just that…an opinion…about the schools.
This child is a third grader. He needs to develop his social,skills as a little kid as much as he needs to develop his academic skills. Many kids find a good group of friends who share their interests.
I mentioned Boy Scouts earlier, and I’d like to mention. It again. In addition to the group activities, scouts work on their individual merit badges, which are often things if high interest to the kiddo. If the kid really likes scouts, he could end up doing a really neat Eagle Scout project in high school. The outdoor education is also a good thing.
Look for enrichment activities within your community. Where we live, some of,the community colleges offer enrichment courses in the summers for school aged kids.
And there are any number of camps or summer programs.
Our kids went to music camp for four weeks in the summers. Both were talented musicians, and music camp was a great time to build their skills while also providing great social interactions.
Your son might enjoy an activity called “Odyssey of the Mind”. Students work together in groups of 5-7 to creatively solve problems. The solutions are presented at competitions. (you can check out their website for more information). I believe there is a similar program called Destination Imagination. If your child’s school does not have an activity like this consider starting one.
My S was on an OM team for 5 years (4th-8th grade) and loved it.
Also, just a reminder that the OPs kiddo is a third grader, maybe nine years old. This is the time to explore lots of things…and realize that the interests could change over time…and that’s ok.
The OP might want to find a forum that deals with enrichment for young kids. And I would strongly suggest he look locally to his area.
Hey, let’s not jump all over @MiamiDAP .
“No child is left behind” can also mean “No child leaps ahead”. The schools teach to the average child. The average child is not the average college-bound (eventually) child.
Getting my kids the enrichment they needed was a battle that required knowledge of state law and the occasional whisper in my ear from someone in the know. IMO public schools will only do what they are minimally required to do, and they drag their heels all the way. This is a problem for exceptional children on both ends of the spectrum.
To the OP, hang in there. I found that in 3rd grade, my boys were expected to be better at writing… a skill that didn’t click for them until a year later. Also, I think grade acceleration puts them in with a group of kids that are not their peers physically and emotionally, and that can be problematic. Good luck!
^This type of attitude will keep schools here from progressing in a right direction.
Very sad and shutting up others is very inappropriate!!
It takes us off track to get all involved in what’s wrong with k-6 or k-12, blame kids, or call up some anecdote to “prove” it’s this fault or that.
OP was looking for some perspective for his situation. And, he did say he’s “concerned about the social aspect as well.”
The way I saw it, when mine were so little, is that just because the usual process works for most kids, doesn’t mean it works for all. Or works all the time. Some aren’t mature enough, some have learning issues- at that age most are till learning how to process what they do learn. (The shift from concrete to analytical thinking usually comes in later 3rd grade, many think.) And some just don’t want to wait while others are still learning to write or add. They hunger for more challenge.
So parents can, on one hand, explore the nature of the problem and look for what more the school may offer. And at the same time, try to supplement. If a child is interested and ready to learn some programming, there are also books for that age on planes, trains, building projects, inventors, math concepts (the whole world of tech thinking.) Or some will be ready for more challenging lit. One of mine loved museums, they both loved little science programs on breaks.
But I think OP can also ask if some of his son’s interest in programming is as much the chance to spend time with Dad.
To the OP. I had one of those kids that the teachers struggled to keep busy and engaged all through elementary school. Teacher conferences would begin with the teacher rolling her eyes, and saying something like, “He’s way ahead of all the other kids. I’ve been working with teachers in grade X to give me more materials for him.” But a lot of that was just makework. We had a very undeveloped gifted and talented program in our small(ish) school district.
Here’s how we approached your problem. Since he was a very early reader (as well as highly numerate from age 2-3), we encouraged him to read whatever interested him. This happened to include the newspaper, and perhaps especially the sports pages, because he was a numbers fanatic. (Some of his classmates called him “Numbers” as a nickname.) He loved sports, especially baseball. And this led him to a hobby, namely fantasy baseball, even in 3rd grade. By 4th grade I introduced him to a colleague at work who got him involved in fantasy baseball, esp. Scoresheet Baseball. To manage his teams, and evaluate how his players and teams were doing, he taught himself to use spreadsheets, including writing macros. Not very athletic himself, at least he found common ground as a very precocious fan. But he did participate in team sports (soccer, T-ball, baseball).
Keeping somebody like your son engaged is going to be a challenge. In middle and high school, kids have more differentiated schedules, including possibilities of accelerating in certain subjects. So “boredom” with repetitious makework wasn’t as much of a problem as it had been in the elementary years. Also, we kept feeding our son with opportunities, mainly outside of school. Sports, astronomy, collecting (in his case, baseball cards).
But only in high school did he find the types of group activity that challenged him and also kept him involved with “teamwork” – namely debate and writing for [later editing] the school newspaper. What those activities also did, however, was bring him in contact with coaches (debate) and teachers who made sure that the kid was keeping up with homework and other academic activities. “Want to go to this weekend’s debate tournament? Show me that your homework is done.” In truth, at home we never saw him doing any homework! That’s because he did 90% of it while in school. Did his math in his English class, English in his Spanish class, etc. Home-time was mainly his hobbies (baseball stats), and later doing research for debate, to which he devoted probably 30+ hours per week in 10th-12th grades.
He turned out fine. But it was a constant search on our part for things that challenged and engaged him – mainly outside of class. He performed well enough in school to get into some very fine colleges. And now in his career he draws on everything he learned in and out of school.
Someone else mentioned Lego robots. If that’s up your son’s alley and there are programs nearby, he might enjoy getting involved with FIRST Lego League or Junior FIRST Lego League:
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/jr.fll
Although the programs are intended to get kids excited about STEM and can segue into eventual participation in the high school robotics competitions, they’re not designed as a career-prep program–just something fun for smart, creative kids who enjoy math, science, and technology.