Parenting and education

Just whatever you do, resist any urge to put him in school early. Let him be a normal kid.

 

Hell, Starman was already the state spelling bee champion by kindergarten.

 

The Rand girl never got over losing to him.

 

My $0.02 ... it's awfully, awfully early to be looking at standardized test scores and projecting that forward. Yes, your son clearly is bright, but I don't think I'd get too wound up about whether he'll be appropriately challenged just yet.

Also, another $0.02 ... in about 12 years, when he's dicked around on his college application essays and the deadline's tomorrow and he also has his homework to do and why are you harping on him for how he let all of this slip up and it didn't occur to him that he couldn't cram three months worth of work into one 12-hour period and oh yeah this trip payment was due day before yesterday but the teacher said it could be paid with a $20 late fee and wait I gotta fill out a form to request transcripts? ... you're going to wonder if maybe they got the names mixed up on this aptitude test.

 

In the mid-range between doctorq's two timeframes ... when my son was in third grade, he had two assessment tests in consecutive weeks, covering the same material. One was a district assessment and he got about 60 percent right, low enough that they thought about putting him in a remedial class. The next one was the school's assessment, he scored 100 percent, and when he got to fourth grade we found out they had jumped him to the fifth-grade math class.

Same kid. Same material. We figure he ate, slept and/or pooped better before going to school for the second one.

 

He seems like he has a bright future. On the downside, middle school teachers never have sex with the smartest kid.

 

yep

 

Many assessments can be 40-50 questions and at that age, they pretty much say "fuck this" sometimes.

DC, have you looked up what a lexile is yet?

 

Yes. Especially if a kid is naturally competitive, it can be hard to develop a sense of perspective. Academic "failure" is relative, so make sure he/she realizes that it's not the end of the world if he doesn't get the highest grade all the time.

 

You still bring it, Ace!

 

#SJParenting is the best.

 

It's almost as good as the responses from people without kids.