Okay, Nevermore. Quit trying to gloss over the fact you skipped 3 grades--- because of being homeschooled. It might work except for the part about starting at MIT at 15. I can speak from experience because my son will be graduating soon with an associates degree at 14. He's not MIT material though and has no interest in going to an Ivy. </p>
<p>He also has met some opposition and while it wasn't pleasant he just worked through it. Most of the students and professors have been friendly and supportive. There were a few students that just brushed him off initially, but it wasn't a big deal.
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<p>I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "gloss over". I was homeschooled for several years (due partially to really bad asthma) and when I started public school, I was three grades ahead. I then graduated from high school early. Those are the facts and I don't quite see how I'm trying to "gloss over" them. </p>
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1) I couldn't sign any of the contracts at school by myself because my signature as a minor wasn't valid. A minor inconvenience.
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<p>Heh, I was wondering about that. Did you end up having to fax things home to your parents? That might be a bit annoying.</p>
<p>Nevermore, sorry if my original post came out wrong. </p>
<p>I think one can safely assume you're gifted between being accepted into MIT at 15 and graduating HS early. I see a lot of kids and parents makes excuses such as "Oh, Johnnie's ahead because he was homeschooled." They feel they have to justify being ahead. That's what I meant by glossing over.</p>
<p>For contracts, I either had to get them faxed or mailed for signatures. But I look older for my age, so a lot of times, I just signed and they never bothered to verify my age.</p>
<p>I went to public schools until 6th grade. The school board skipped me past 7th and 8th, but they wouldn't let me enter 9th traditionally since they were concerned about the age difference.</p>
<p>They gave me a town tutor for most of 9th grade, and then we realized that was silly because I was still really far ahead -- even with private tutoring, they were trying to keep me at the same pace as the in-school students -- so we switched to unschooling. That was the best decision I made in my academic career before college.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, because of the laws here, I didn't get my GED until I was 18. It would've been possible at 16 if I had stuck with the town's homeschooling, but since I went my own route, 18 it was. Oh well! Still worked out. :)</p>
<p>I'd like to point out that you can't blame people for blaming being ahead on homeschooling. It's a very valid point. Skipping 3 grades is something my school district wouldn't have ever let me do.</p>
<p>And earning an associates degree early is besides the point, is it not? In my honest opinion, it's pretty straightforward earning an associates if you have the right opportunities.</p>
<p>I attended public schools in the era before homeschooling existed. I spent 2nd grade in a private school in England and by combination of my relatively cerebral style and this school, I was probably 5 grades ahead in most subjects when I returned. So they asked my parents if they could skip me to 4th grade, which I did. I was small at the time and socially I don't think it was great, but I don't think I would have fit in in 3rd grade either. I was still pretty unchallenged. We did SRA reading and I did it independently and basically went years ahead and was otherwise bored stiff. When I entered high school, I was the shortest boy in the grade (I'm now 6'2"). They asked me if I would like to skip 9th grade. I tried it for two weeks but was in the same grade and in one of the same classes as my older sister and it was very awkward. Plus, the social fit was not good and there was still not much intellectual challenge. It is the same school population from the perspective of IQ and attitude, so whether you are in 9th grade or 10th grade wouldn't matter that much. I was bored through almost all of high school, but got a job writing software at Bell Labs, which was at the time a phenomenal research institution, and helped people there with research. When I got to college, I felt like I fit in for the first time and remember saying, "There are people like me here." Had a blast in college, though I had to learn to manage a real workload of challenging work. I suspect being much younger would have made college much tougher from a social perspective and fI don't know if I would have been mature enough to handle all of the available choices. I had a great time socially, learned a lot, was intellectually challenged, wrote a senior thesis that was published in the best journal in the field (which made graduate school very easy), and graduated magna cum laude from a terrific school.</p>
<p>Based upon my idiosyncratic experience, I wouldn't rush to get to college (I know you are not rushing your son). In your son's case, are there places he could work that would be intellectually challenging? For example, we live near teaching hospitals and research labs that are at the forefront of genomics and neuroscience, among other things. My son will probably spend a year working at one of these labs before going to college. Are there community colleges that he could take a few courses at? Is there some intellectually challenging project that he would love to take on? </p>
<p>I have a friend who, if I am not mistaken, entered graduate school in math at Harvard at age 19. He went to some large midwestern state university in the state he grew up. He was not that socially well-adjusted at Harvard -- clearly insecure and trying to impress other folks. I think he was doing some of his adolescent rebellion while in grad school and made several choices that I suspect he would make differently in hindsight. Again, I'm not sure he was mature enough to handle the adult choices he was called on to make. I'd have to ask him if he feels the same way, but watching him -- he lived across the hall from me in the dorm that first year -- I thought he should have waited.</p>
<p>I skipped a grade (6th) but then I decided to go to school (7th) so I entered into 7th instead of 8th because I wanted to coast in school. It worked.</p>
<p>I like Lisa Rivero's take that homeschooling allows "acceleration without grade-skipping." I have considered declared grade skips for various of my four children, especially my oldest, but thus far we have found ways to get him advanced courses without changing his grade designation. EPGY </p>