the conundrum my son poses...
I know I don't post here often, but I know some people who might read this are parents. And really its a parent's perspective I am after. I am sure you all know I think my boy is perfect. But it is obvious since he started preschool that he is very intelligent, but his intellectual development has overshadowed his personal and social skills. ( Read more... )
Unfortunately they had a similar problem to yours with my education, when I entered Intermediate school (our equivalent of grade 6-7 I think - around 10-12 yrs old), and they were asked by the school to downgrade their involvement in my education. It did me no favours.
No matter what happens, your son should be fine as long as you stay involved and supportive - have discussions with him on topics he's interested in, play six degrees of separation, organise outings/tours/activities, introduce him to fun documentaries (maybe start with his favourite animal?), things like that.
If he ends up skipping a year, no biggie. Just don't let it be more than about 2 years - too big of a disconnect with his peers, and it will open the way for teasing/bullying which could undo all his socialising.
What you might want to try in addition to the suggestions above, is instead of pushing his education qualifications forward or up, broaden them. Organise extracurricular classes for languages, a musical instrument, or martial arts or something, so that he's got more things to deal with of a similar level.
Also, you probably know this, but children learn languages easier than adults. And Chinese is going to be very useful in coming years....
No matter, there should be something in your community, and it may even be free.
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No matter what, we will not back off from our role in educating him as parents. we've no hot housed him, but when he started asking what numbers were, we told him, when he obviously needed something new, we gave him his first sums. He has maths magnets on the fridge and makes his own sums up. We always felt that if he wanted to read, he should have books. He has a library and adores Dr Seuss and is reading way beyond the usual age level. Because he loves it. Its always been a case of encouraging his enthusiasm. If he wants to know and its not inappropriate for him to know, he's told whatever it is he's asking about.
Definitely looking at broadening his skills, his social skills being poorest I am looking at after school clubs for him so he can have fun with his peers. He loves physical play and slides and things like indoor adventure play just like any other boy his age. Paying for extra things isn't a problem, thankfully, money is available which puts us in a fortunate position. I am not thinking private schooling, we don't have that much disposable income, but schemes and clubs aren't closed to us if there are fees. I think his dad and I should look for something where the thinking isn't required, but he needs to learn the social skills, and broaden out his skills that way. Aim at rounding him out. He's unfortunately over a year too young for Beaver Scouts or I would have him enrolled! But if he needs more of a cerebral challenge, languages are definitely on the forefront of my mind.
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I don't just mean in terms of information games like Trivial Pursuit, but things like looking at small bits of the history of dominoes or pick up sticks. Give him a spinning top and tell him about the culture it originated from. Get him interested in botany or biology by pointing things out on a walk (even in a park!), ask him about leaf shapes or shells etc.
Also, I did watch a DVD a wee while back that was based on Pierre Dulaine's work on getting ballroom dancing classes set up in US schools. One of the major advantages of the classes is that it improves social skills wondrously, and not just in dealing with the opposite gender. There were some children of about 7 years of age doing these classes featured on a news item uploaded on youtube, so dance classes could be a possibility when he gets to that age.
You could also start thinking about how to get him involved in life-skills. Things like cooking and cleaning. My mum started me on baking when I was 5 or so, helping with Christmas cakes, mince-pies and muffins. Make a game of doing the laundry. That's probably something he could do now.
But ultimately just stay involved, supportive and interested.
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