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My husband is a high school teacher and I taught special ed before I became a stay at home mom. We have talked about that we think it would make more sense to have a track for high school like you were talking about. Not all kids are going to college. We think that they should teach some of the kids that don't want to go to college some life skills classes: balancing a checkbook, using a washing machine, how to change a tire. Of course they still do the basics like English and Math, but they should learn a skill. Not that all kids don't need to know this stuff. This is not to mark any child as smarter, but to prepare these kids for life. We have a great state award winning car fixing program here. This is a great way to teach kids and give them a skill that will make them money. I don't think it will even happened because they are afraid it would hurt someone's feelings instead of teaching the kids on their levels about something they could use.

At my kids school they don't skip, they don't teach above or below the ciriculum to challenge kid or help them up. They don't fail or hold them back, you can't even say the word fail. They say they are assessing, but I asked specifially for it and I still have yet to see anything. I asked that he be put in a 1/2 split so he could learn grade 2 work and still be with grade 1 kids. To get the teacher to let him do the work though is like pulling teeth.

Once in grade 3 or 4 he'll be tested to see if he needs to go into an advanced program or to the gifted school. The only problem with the gifted school is it's across the city.

What about montessori, is that any good for kids that are bright? My son is not self motivated at all....

My son is bright, I wouldn't say gifted. Gifted in the true sense of the word is extremley advanced, not just a year ahead, in one area of learning, be it music, reading, math, science, or art.

I had the opportunity to skip a brand new kindergartner to second grade and elected not to. Since she hadn't been to preschool, I thought it would be too much of a jump. Plus, I hated being grade skipped and insisted on being put back. (I got tired of being made fun of for being brainy.)

Sometimes my kids had teachers who challenged them within their own grade. One had second grade books in her kindergarten cubby and she could work in them whenever she was bored--so it was her choice. Another teacher had a bilingual class, and if the assignment was too easy, she received it in Spanish. Eventually, we wound up homeschooling them, with the support of the principal, who felt they could no longer be challenged in school.

They started college at 16 and enjoyed that completely.

Wow... that is bright! Amazing....

My son is not at all self motivated and needs to be pushed to keep challenging himself.

How about how gifted kids have different social needs or how gifted kids often do terrible in school and on tests. Or even about how so many kids are only tested for giftedness if they are early readers, how can a parent find out if their child is otherwise gifted. You could also talk about the coping mechanisms these kids come up with, like one of my daughters who could read early in life but played dumb because she didnt want to read out loud. She knew if she told me she could read i'd ask her to read to me and she just didnt want to. I had my suspicions but she is a very good faker!

Meg

Both of my nephews were way ahead of their classes all through school. But every time it came to take a test, the fudged and failed badly. They wanted to stay in a class where they didn't really have to do any work.

I stayed with my age group, but visited two grades ahead for reading and math all through elementary--half days at the middle school in 5th/6th, etc. In upper grades, I switched to honors classes and finished school in the 11th grade. My son's following in my footsteps. He tried fudging on the GT tests. I made him retake them. It was a good try, though.

What's very interesting is your nephews basically spoke volumes with their actions about the skipping grade issue. In the end, kids want to be with their friends and developmentally really need that socialization. My daughter is incredibly gifted in many subjects but socially is 100% age-appropriate and would be a fish out of water if we had moved her ahead.

I believe strongly that socialization and peer connections get our kids farther in many ways than academic success early on. A smart student will succeed regardless of being pushed ahead but will miss out on so many important social lessons and run the risk of being an outcast over time by falling too out of step with their peer group.

All three of my kids were identified as gifted. My youngest is in the 7th grade now. My biggest concern has always been the animosity some of their regular classroom teachers have shown toward them and the other gifted kids in their classes while they were in elementary school. It's as if they resent the gifted kids. Some of them even made comments like, "You're still going to do all the classwork you missed from my class. If you're so smart, it shouldn't be a problem for you." They also don't like it when the gifted kids challenge something they say or ask questions that are outside the box.

This isn't true for all of them, but all three of my kids had at least one elementary teacher like this. In middle school, their gifted class replaces their regular English class, so it's only the regular English teachers who are sometimes resentful.

I think homeschooling is the better option for most gifted kids..