i homeschool my pg son. i was recently asked when i would "put him back in public school?" i said that i didn't know when, if i ever would, concerned that that hadn't met his needs and might never. she also homeschools and her sons are atleast very academically ahead for their ages. when asked when she thought she would, her definitive answer was "third grade". Why? Because "they all seem to balance out by third grade."
i would especially like for those with older kids to answer this. does it "balance out"? once he's older, will he find a way to have his needs met? or does balancing out mean letting a gift stagnate? my son is just now 5, and it feels more like it would be the latter of the two.
alicia
Wow, when will we stop hearing THIS myth, huh? Man, if only it were true -- I'm sure it would be a real reassurance to all of the parents of children with special needs to hear that their children will miraculously "even out" by third grade...or that children who are too tall will somehow stop growing, or that children with athletic skills will lose their hand-eye coordination until they are even with their peers, and that children with vision problems will now see the board just as everyone else does.
In short, this myth is just as silly as all those other ideas, and for the same reason. Children who have been drilled to death with flash cards until they can read a few Dolch sight words on the first day of school will probably "even out" relative to their peers just as children who didn't know how to open a book on the first day of school will gain that knowledge too, but PG is a different kettle of fish.
If some people's children were to "even out," what that would mean is that basically some would actually have to
regress many grades or so in order to get (back) to third grade.
