related to grade skipping

[aishamama]

DS is starting Kindergarten this year in the Fall through a virtual charter school which uses the K12 curriculum. I'm happy about this choice as I was planning on homeschooling him because otherwise public school was going to make him start off with K. But the adviser told me that they will assess him and place him in the correct level academically, meaning he may skip K curriculum or do a portion, whatever is appropriate for him, until they assess him again.  They assess 4 times per year.  I've seen the curriculum and know he'll fly right through it. 

My concern is what happens if he flies through a few grades academically, like one or two for example, and then we transition him into some sort of brick and mortar school? He will be several years younger, many inches shorter, a lot weaker, and not as mature all around the board. The Charter school is a public school so all of this work will transfer and they'll place him appropriately in regular school.

For example, there is a girl who started with this school who is now in 8th grade, and she is now taking AP classes. So...she's what about 12/13 years old taking college level classes. The only option for her probably for a transition into a brick and mortar school might be like 11th or 12th grade and still take her AP classes. But that is scary to me.

Does it scare any of you that your child might have an even remotely similar circumstance? Is it wrong to hold a child back from advancing so much for fear of this situation?  If anyone can help me understand this a little better I'd appreciate it.

[Linda on the move]

Are there any alternative options for brick and mortar schools where you live? My kids go to a private alternative school where kids work at the the appropriate level for them, some kids do some subjects individually. The situation you describe would work just fine at the school. The average class size is 6. So for my 2E dd, her schedule includes one class that is one on one, a couple of high school course, a middle school math course, a mixed age home room etc. How hold the other kids are in a class is a non-issue.

[aishamama]

Right now there isn't a better alternative. I don't feel comfortable putting my son in an inner city school in a bad area. This year we can't afford private school. The advisor said that they'll place him in the right level, whereas that could be a higher level language arts and a lower level of math for example. Then they'll adjust where needed throughout the year. We will move from there after one year so fortunately and hopefully we'll be able to have better choices for the future. But I'm worried about how it works out when he's in a higher grade level than his age group.

[mom2ponygirl]

Originally Posted by aishamama 
 But I'm worried about how it works out when he's in a higher grade level than his age group.

I guess I would say you also have to worry about the opposite.  How does it work out when he's stuck with lower grade level work than what he is ready for and interested in?  Even if you don't let him access higher level work (and I know that isn't what you are saying) he will still be advanced and ahead of his age/grade.  We just finally came to accept that the standard age/grade track was not going to work for our daughter and stopped worrying about trying to fit that track.   I put my energy into finding the best situation we could with our local resources and budget. 

We have a dd, age 12, who just took the ACT and scored high enough for our state flagship university's honors college.  She's accumulated tons of high school credits already and will do one or two  AP level classes next year.  We have limited school choices where we are so homeschooling has been the solution for us (with a year half-time at a charter high school last year).  There are schools out there that will work well for kids who are academically advanced.  For what it is worth, our dd had no problems being in class with 14-17 year olds when she was 10 and 11.  The kids liked her, worked with her on group projects, and she got great grades.  It just bored her to tears. LOL  Also, if we went ahead and had her go full time with several grade skips, she would have graduated at 14 and exhausted their math at 12 or 13.  Some kids do great going to college very young, but we don't think that is a great idea for her.  She wants to dream and explore at home for now.  The local college culture isn't what she's looking for either.  So until she's ready to go away, she needs to work at her academic level here.

If you don't find a great school fit, homeschooling has not been as difficult as I worried it would be.  There are also some good to great online options for various subjects.  We plan to continue homeschooling until dd is ready to go away from home to college.  I don't think we will have any trouble keeping her learning and happy until near typical college age.  Once they get to a certain level of independence with their learning and a decent foundation of reading, writing, and math skills, there is just so much out there for them to do and learn!  

Good luck, and don't worry about finding the 'perfect' solution.  Their needs evolve and opportunities and options change.  Just find your best fit, keep as many future options open as you can, and reassess your options periodically.  

[whatsnextmom]

I wouldn't worry yet. In the early years, curriculum is all about learning to read and basic arithematic. However, that does start to change. In 3rd grade the curriculum opens up and that rapid progression can seem to slow. They are still developing and learning but suddenly it's less about language arts work sheets and more about creative writing and research papers. It's much easier for a child to get the same or similar assignments as the rest of the class but still work at their own level. They actually learn more about science and history and start to DO things with that knowledge.

My eldest started kindergarten 2 to 5 grades advanced all around and yet, as a newly 14-year-old, she is learning and growing in 9th grade. She has accelerated and honors courses. She does take AP physics which is atypical for her grade but she's not the terrible fit you'd think. She could have moved faster through up the grade levels but she's gotten a very broad education instead. There are options. My DD is planning on moving to the middle college program as a junior which allows her to take her classes at the community college for both high and college credit. We know lots of accelerated kids who do this. We know kids who started at the JC at 12 with no real issues.

Your little one is in kindergarten. Don't waste these years stressing about the future. Just enjoy the time and deal with the issues as they come up. I say this as a BTDT mom who really wishes I hadn't spent so much time worrying about possibilities that never even came to light!

[aishamama]

Thank you so much! I appreciate your input. I spoke to another adviser today from another charter school in PA (both virtual) and she informed me of something I didn't know...that he can go directly into first grade and not into K as it's option and he meets the age requirement. The State I live in now has different laws and I didn't know they had this law. So I think that'll be helpful maybe. I'm not sure what I'm going to do but I am going to relax for another year and see how it goes with actually having formalized instruction of some sort. He's never had class so to speak.

[serenbat]

are you in PA?

do you know that IF you did HS (with the exception of the Philly SD) you do not need to have your child "schooled" until age 8- at which time you could choose to pick what grade he could be in- depending on what school you do

homeschooler are not required to school until age 8 in PA (meaning reporting)

[aishamama]

We're moving to Pittsburgh in the summer but will only live there for one year; we'll then move again to another state (and hopefully for the last time).  I'm a little confused about what you're saying. I am unsure I'll be able to fully HS my son myself because of having 4 kids, still 5 and under with one being a newborn. I know parents to it..I don't know how lol. I feel a little shakey about that these days as this past year it's gotten so busy around the house with them. I try to spend some time with my 5 y/o now and sometimes it's almost a nightmare. Today was one of those bad days and I found myself wishing they'd all go off to school somewhere lol. If he weren't so motivated to learn on his own he wouldn't have learned much. I feel so sad about that but that's the way my household is right now since they're all so little. 

Given this and his abilities, what would be the benefit of not going through the virtual charter school in PA where they'll find out where he is and start him from there and allow him to move upward as he's ready versus my half job attempt at hs'ing him and putting him in school somewhere else next year? As far as I know PA's req of 8 is the most. 

Is this adviser correct about him being able to start First grade? His birthday is 11/23/2005, so he'd be a few months short of 6 when school starts. She was saying that he'd only have to be 5.5 years old to start First grade. I tried to find out online but I just couldn't find the information.

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by aishamama 

Is this adviser correct about him being able to start First grade? His birthday is 11/23/2005, so he'd be a few months short of 6 when school starts. She was saying that he'd only have to be 5.5 years old to start First grade. I tried to find out online but I just couldn't find the information.

According to this, Pennsylvania entry dates vary by district.  You would have to contact individual districts about their policies for first grade (or kinder).

[aishamama]

That was very helpful. I was looking on the wrong websites. I found the district specifically for Pittsburgh and found the ages and rules. Thank you for that tip!  (and yes the adviser was correct)  So much to think about. 

whatsnextmom - by the way I love your attitude and approach.

mom2ponygirl   - Thank you so much. It's so relieving to have you all to discuss these things with. I don't feel comfortable at all discussing anything related with IRL folks. 

[Bird Girl]

I will say that when gifted children are young, their rate of growth through material can be kind of frightening. It's easy to think, "What if they keep going at the same pace? They'll finish high school when they're ten!" But what we've found, as we've exited the primary school years, is that the depth and width of material increases exponentially. For a 5-6 year old child who's reading comfortably at a late elementary level, they can begin to explore the many, many topics (history, literature, culture) available to them. As kids finish elementary math, there are more mathematical topics available to explore. So it's not so much that gifted kids slow down, but that they can develop more interests, and spend more time following their own discoveries. While high school math can be more limiting to the profoundly gifted, a great books-type curriculum can keep kids interested throughout their teenage years, with no particular "need" to move immediately to the university level.

As far as having the younger ones at home...I may be one of the only homeschool moms who recommends this, but I do believe in preschool at age 3 or 4 for younger kids so that older ones get uninterrupted time with their work.  Just a couple of hours in the morning is very valuable.

[Roar]

Originally Posted by aishamama 
For example, there is a girl who started with this school who is now in 8th grade, and she is now taking AP classes. So...she's what about 12/13 years old taking college level classes. The only option for her probably for a transition into a brick and mortar school might be like 11th or 12th grade and still take her AP classes. But that is scary to me.

Many, many 10th graders take APs. So, in reality she's just a couple of years ahead of the curve and in many school districts that would not be at all difficult to deal with. One year later she's in 9th grade and then she's in a high school setting where there are a range of APs available and that should again be fairly easy to deal with. What about the situation scares you?

One of the best bits of advice I've ever received is: do what works for this year, this year. Worry about the rest later. Kids are ever changing. It is impossible to predict today what your child might be like at 13. His rate of development may slow way down or it may not. He may develop a deep passion (arts, sports, community service) that consumes much of his time. Or, he might be passionate about academics and he may continue to learn at a fast pace. That's not a sentence to an unhappy life. At any rate, none of that is going to be dictated by the decisions you make in the next year.

My personal concerns/questions about the virtual school would be:

How much time will he be on the computer every week? Is that developmentally appropriate?

How does he cope with busy work assignments that aren't appropriate? Will he get frustrated and turn off structured work?

What is this going to demand from you? (Many new homeschool parents are entirely shocked by how much easier it is homeschool than it was to cope with fighting over poorly designed homework assignments).

What happens if he doesn't like the program? Can you quit without it being a big deal?

A virtual school would have been a disaster for our son, particularly at that age. He wanted to be more self directed. He didn't respond well to busy work or inflexible assignments that weren't appropriate to his very asychronous level of development. He didn't need to be doing academics for so many hours a day. He didn't need to be alone and still on a computer for long periods of time. When he was much older very carefully selected online courses have been okay - but it has to be tempered with a lot of in real life contact. Of course kids are totally different so what works for one won't necessarily work for others.

Finally, I'm wondering - how does he do if you don't have school expectations. Is he happy to do stuff on his own or play with siblings or is he not content? Even many bright academically inclined kids his age really don't need a lot in the way of structured academics. I'm wondering if he had one or two things to work on that didn't require a lot in the way of prep from you if that might be enough.

[moominmamma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roar 
One of the best bits of advice I've ever received is: do what works for this year, this year. Worry about the rest later. Kids are ever changing. It is impossible to predict today what your child might be like at 13. His rate of development may slow way down or it may not. He may develop a deep passion (arts, sports, community service) that consumes much of his time. Or, he might be passionate about academics and he may continue to learn at a fast pace. That's not a sentence to an unhappy life. At any rate, none of that is going to be dictated by the decisions you make in the next year.

This is indeed excellent advice. I wrote in another recent thread (about radical acceleration) how my eldest at 7 or 8 was years ahead of the curve academically in an unschooled environment. If I had mentally continued that trajectory and envisioned her "being ready for college" at age 12 or 13 I would have done a lot of needless worrying. The reality is that there's a lot that kids can discover as they get older that will keep them happy and challenged rather than simply continuing a linear path through increasingly difficult math, science and english work. There is a world of possibilities out there: travel, music, entrepreneurship, sports, foreign and ancient languages, art, computer programming, gaming, animal care, volunteerism, creative writing, building projects, part-time work, social justice work, political involvement, activism, broadcast media, journalism, web publishing, the list goes on. My kids have done many of these things as they've got older, and my eldest for example during her 10th grade year devoted up to 60 hours a week to music, creative writing and part-time work alone. There was no need for her to take both Pre-Calc and Calculus that year in order to stay challenged.

Don't borrow trouble. Do what is right for now. 

Miranda

[aishamama]

Thank you so much for your advice.  As far as the computer time goes with the v school, for children in k-8, it's much less time. The instructions are moreso there for me to guide him through the non computer assignments. He has tests on the computer. All in all it's about 10% of the day for first grade, so about an hour at most for a day. He spends about that much time on the computer as it is playing games and whatnot. 

I like what the poster above said about as their skills increase, the broadness of study and opportunity will increase. I didn't think of that. 

This week I decided to sit with him daily and do assignments. Actually, I wanted to work on his handwriting. He 'can' write and has been able to make sentences since he was just over three, but the actual quality of handwriting is less than skillful =)  But this is a huge hinderance to him doing his work. He knows the answers but is unable to write them very well. So, I decided to formally teach him 'how' to write the letters. This has been a disaster.. He loves to do activities. He loves worksheets and solving things. But, somehow the writing part has been a big stress. He wants to do it how he wants to do it. Then the other kids have been so hard to handle while I'm trying to work with him. They get very jealous of each other when I do anything with another, regardless of how much one-on-one time I give them individually. I intentionally stagger their naps to give them each their own undivided time.

I thought that I'd try this week to work with him and see how it goes. I was planning to actually see if we could do a consistent daily schedule for a few months to make sure I could do it and then adjust a little when the baby comes. But I honestly and rethinking everything. I think it's just too much for me right now. I really feel sad, but I can only do so much I think. It's just their ages and their individual needs. 

To address something in the bottom of your reply.  I taught him how to tell time this week. I thought it was going to be hard to teach him. It seemed complicated to me to teach, but he just got it in about 15 minutes. He hasn't memorized math facts but can figure them out. I had stopped letting him learn for a little while to focus more on physical and social development so I didn't open any books or let him either. I know that seems odd probably, but I just felt like he needed that. So I put him in a preschool and let him play with others. It really, really made a difference for him in some of they imbalances and he's grown a lot. So, anyway, going back to the math facts. I thought that I'd have him memorize them for the month of March to make it speedier for him while I work on his handwriting so he could do his worksheets more independently. 

But I'm seeing that as I have expectations, he's rebelling and we're fighting. When I let him do things on his own...he asks me to do things and LOVES it. I can't get this. There are certain things he has to learn at certain stages...like he needs to learn how to write better. It's a shame that he can read so well but can't write that well. Spelling is fine but letters and numbers are just off. I don't feel bad about this at all in the way of disappointment, but that it's really time for him to learn how to write. He's 5 y and 4 m almost and should start learning how to form letters and numbers correctly. Am I wrong in this?  I had a meeting with his teacher and I told her that he prefers to type and doesn't want to practice handwriting. She was just stunned that he types his stuff in Word. As cool as that is I guess.. I want him to break out the pencil and paper and put in 'that' effort.

So to directly answer... he is happy to do things on his own but he wants to do them with me. In other words, he really wants to go through the activities with me but to do them on his own terms and to select the ones he wants to do. Otherwise it's kind of torture. I've never til now decided which we'll do. I always let him have at it. But there are a few things he needs to learn that he didn't..one of them like the telling time. That's a real skill that should be learned at this time. Because I decided it...then it was hard to make him pay attention but he did get it quickly. He's stubborn.

If I don't like the program yes we can transition into a brick and mortar school. I am just thinking though after all of this stress to put him in a private school and squeeze us into some sort of apartment nearer to it even if the neighborhoods are less to be desired. He'll learn from there because they are also giving subjects I've not formally taught him. He's trilingual but they'll also work on the grammar/writing and everything just like schools do in English. Plus there are a few other subjects they offer which he hasn't been exposed to. But, the question remains how will he do when 'they' try to teach him? Maybe he'll listen better and go along with what others are doing. Maybe I'll be surprised. Given that this week has been a disaster something has to be tweaked. 

Originally Posted by Roar 

Many, many 10th graders take APs. So, in reality she's just a couple of years ahead of the curve and in many school districts that would not be at all difficult to deal with. One year later she's in 9th grade and then she's in a high school setting where there are a range of APs available and that should again be fairly easy to deal with. What about the situation scares you?

One of the best bits of advice I've ever received is: do what works for this year, this year. Worry about the rest later. Kids are ever changing. It is impossible to predict today what your child might be like at 13. His rate of development may slow way down or it may not. He may develop a deep passion (arts, sports, community service) that consumes much of his time. Or, he might be passionate about academics and he may continue to learn at a fast pace. That's not a sentence to an unhappy life. At any rate, none of that is going to be dictated by the decisions you make in the next year.

My personal concerns/questions about the virtual school would be:

How much time will he be on the computer every week? Is that developmentally appropriate?

How does he cope with busy work assignments that aren't appropriate? Will he get frustrated and turn off structured work?

What is this going to demand from you? (Many new homeschool parents are entirely shocked by how much easier it is homeschool than it was to cope with fighting over poorly designed homework assignments).

What happens if he doesn't like the program? Can you quit without it being a big deal?

A virtual school would have been a disaster for our son, particularly at that age. He wanted to be more self directed. He didn't respond well to busy work or inflexible assignments that weren't appropriate to his very asychronous level of development. He didn't need to be doing academics for so many hours a day. He didn't need to be alone and still on a computer for long periods of time. When he was much older very carefully selected online courses have been okay - but it has to be tempered with a lot of in real life contact. Of course kids are totally different so what works for one won't necessarily work for others.

Finally, I'm wondering - how does he do if you don't have school expectations. Is he happy to do stuff on his own or play with siblings or is he not content? Even many bright academically inclined kids his age really don't need a lot in the way of structured academics. I'm wondering if he had one or two things to work on that didn't require a lot in the way of prep from you if that might be enough.

[aishamama]

I really love this advice. I need to calm down and just slow down. I don't know what the answers are right now. I can't take the stress we had this week and I'm not sure how to make it better for a few years..like maybe 4 more years unfortunately due to the baby coming. As soon as one leaves the needing every attention phase, another one enters. I'm really at a loss and feeling very sad this week.

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by aishamama 

I really love this advice. I need to calm down and just slow down. I don't know what the answers are right now. I can't take the stress we had this week and I'm not sure how to make it better for a few years..like maybe 4 more years unfortunately due to the baby coming. As soon as one leaves the needing every attention phase, another one enters. I'm really at a loss and feeling very sad this week.

Aw, don't worry. Just breathe through the bad weeks. Better weeks will come and even if you haven't solved every problem you'll feel better about your ability to muddle through. 

I honestly can't think of any real life reason why a boy of 5 y 4 m would need to write. He's not applying for jobs or needing to provide supporting documentation for software he's created or leaving information for the house-sitters. The main reason why 1st and 2nd graders "need" to write is to aid teachers in evaluating their school performance. If you have 25 kids in a classroom and you'd like to know whether each of them understood what a biome is, or whether they know that 9+6 equals 10+5, you can't listen to what they say, watch how they solve real life problems and pay attention to connections they make between these new ideas and other areas of learning. There are just too many kids in a classroom! You'll just hear what the most eager and vocal two or three say ... and the rest will nod and echo what they just heard. You need to use a silent, individual form of evaluation. So there's tremendous pressure in school to train kids to write early.

There are generally accepted expectations in school about how learning to read and learning to write "should" proceed in tandem. In early precocious readers, outside of a school environment, there's absolutely no reason why those skills should proceed in tandem. 

If you ask me. 

Which you didn't. 

But if he's fighting you on the handwriting ... I'd suggest questioning your assumption that he needs to have writing skills in synchrony with his reading and other cognitive skills. Gifted kids are almost always asynchronous, and this is a very common form of asynchrony. His K12 teacher seems fine with the it from what you said. Let him use MSWord. Let him dictate his answers to you. Let him simply answer orally. My 8yo has reasonable handwriting for her age, but she is doing 6th and 7th grade curriculum materials. She has the skills and stamina necessary to comfortably manage about 25% of the writing. Maybe 33%. I take dictation for the rest or else she types on the computer. It works fine. It doesn't seem fair to hold her intellectual development and academic progress hostage to her age-appropriate graphomotor skills. 

Miranda

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by aishamama 

So, I decided to formally teach him 'how' to write the letters. This has been a disaster.. He loves to do activities. He loves worksheets and solving things. But, somehow the writing part has been a big stress

.... There are certain things he has to learn at certain stages...like he needs to learn how to write better. It's a shame that he can read so well but can't write that well. Spelling is fine but letters and numbers are just off. I don't feel bad about this at all in the way of disappointment, but that it's really time for him to learn how to write. He's 5 y and 4 m almost and should start learning how to form letters and numbers correctly. Am I wrong in this? 

I think you are right. Have you looked into Handwriting Without Tears?

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

I honestly can't think of any real life reason why a boy of 5 y 4 m would need to write. He's not applying for jobs or needing to provide supporting documentation for software he's created or leaving information for the house-sitters. The main reason why 1st and 2nd graders "need" to write is to aid teachers in evaluating their school performance.....

There are generally accepted expectations in school about how learning to read and learning to write "should" proceed in tandem. In early precocious readers, outside of a school environment, there's absolutely no reason why those skills should proceed in tandem. 

I disagree.  It sounds like the poster is talking about learning how to correctly form letters and numbers, very basic penmanship. She's not talking about attempting to keep his writing on level with his reading, but rather to keep his writing Age Appropriate. And I think that it's age appropriate for a 5 year old to learn to hold a pencil, where the letters start and end, which way they go, etc.

I also think that one of the reason that kids do a lot of writing is because it makes them better at it. We homeschooled when the kids were young, and said all same things you put in your post. When my kids started school at 10 and 12, they both really struggled with the writing part of it, and they are BOTH gifted. The other kids had had so much practice, and could do it much faster with more ease, and this is VERY typical of former homeschooled kids. Writing is a skill that gets better with practice. Although I agree with you that reading and writing need not progress at the same rate, I think that *many* homeschoolers don't encourage writing enough, saying things like it's only purpose is in school.

[aishamama]

Thank you Miranda. I really appreciate your encouragement. I gave him a nap today in the afternoon, and when he woke up he was crying saying that he wanted to do his activities. So I said ok after dinner I'll put the other two to bed and it'll be just us. We tried earlier today to do them but he was upset and tired. He told me he can't think because of the noise, which I totally get because I couldn't either. So, tonight we focused on a few fun activities involving opposites and crossword puzzles..and a quiz on his math facts. He surprised me on his math facts and he got to pick out a big sticker. =)  He was so happy and it was full of quality time...quality, bonding time instead of fighting time. I let him write the answers in however he could put them down and I kept quiet just letting him. It was much smoother that way and he learned a lot. 

The reason you were saying about being able for the teacher to evaluate his work is the reason I was thinking he needs to be able to write better. He only goes to preschool right now, and it's just play time. I can probably just go with what he does and let him do one letter of tracing/practice per day and just move on after say 10 minutes. What you are saying makes so much sense. I was feeling a little stress that what if I have to put him in a brick and mortar school, he will start first grade and wouldn't be able to write well - if for example by the end of the summer I figure out that I just can't manage teaching him at home. I somehow think since it might very well have to be that he goes to a bnm school in August/Sept then he needs to catch up. He'll skip over kindergarten. But I can probably just be more patient. 

For now, I think I'll try to adjust the timings of his learning, after dinner after the other kids sleep, and see how that goes.

[aishamama]

Hi Linda, I haven't looked into Handwriting Without Tears..I'll check it out. I just bought a dry erase style notebook with the letters and step by step how to make them and a set of dry erase pens. We were going through paper. 

Yes, I think you understood what I was saying. He writes his three's backwards, like many of his letters...he basically draws them sometimes like a piecework approach. He is very good at memorizing details but somehow he still flips things. I think it's because we read both left to right and right to left in our various languages or maybe it's the age where kids still read sometimes backwards. Either way, I think he needs to learn how to write but not at the speed of his learning..definitely not.lol that's a lot to hope for right now. But I think we have to at least get started on basic control of the pen and the correct formation of letters. He self taught his writing and never practiced much because it was difficult. He'd say it was boring, he's tired, or any excuse. And there wasn't much need at 3.5 I guess but now going into First grade, he should I think. But like I said in my previous post, I'll try to make it easier for him and go slower. I'll also try to make sure we do it at a time when he's not tired or when it's noisy, something of that nature. 

Originally Posted by Linda on the move 

I think you are right. Have you looked into Handwriting Without Tears?

I disagree.  It sounds like the poster is talking about learning how to correctly form letters and numbers, very basic penmanship. She's not talking about attempting to keep his writing on level with his reading, but rather to keep his writing Age Appropriate. And I think that it's age appropriate for a 5 year old to learn to hold a pencil, where the letters start and end, which way they go, etc.

I also think that one of the reason that kids do a lot of writing is because it makes them better at it. We homeschooled when the kids were young, and said all same things you put in your post. When my kids started school at 10 and 12, they both really struggled with the writing part of it, and they are BOTH gifted. The other kids had had so much practice, and could do it much faster with more ease, and this is VERY typical of former homeschooled kids. Writing is a skill that gets better with practice. Although I agree with you that reading and writing need not progress at the same rate, I think that *many* homeschoolers don't encourage writing enough, saying things like it's only purpose is in school.

[moominmamma]

Reversals are completely normal up to age 7 or 8. That doesn't mean it isn't worth drawing his attention to them and giving him some common-sense strategies for preventing them -- if he's receptive. But there's no reason to expect that they ought to be gone by age 5. I have some lovely examples of my kids' 4th grade math workbooks with amazingly brilliant mental and algorithmic computations ... and backwards 3's and 9's. I'm quite nostalgic for those sweet little backwards numbers, actually. Ahh.... passages.

Miranda