I guess what I need to do is build on what the school had offered me to begin with - which was a high schooler to to pull him out in the afternoon. I can provide my own curriculum and specific direction, and if need be, pay a tutor to pull him out instead. Can anyone suggest a curriculum or a curriculum base that would work for me? I don't have anything specific that I need him to learn. His one weakness is writing - the subject matter, not handwriting. He does not enjoy being prompted to be creative; he is more of a checklist kind of kid. I would want a curriculum that is inexpensive since I have other education expenses.

These are ideas I can see really working! Thanks!

Actually I don't make him do any work at all - he makes me do it lol ! He has an insatiable appetite for learning and is always begging for more. But almost all of his free time is spent in reading and games which are fun, even if he does learn tons.

They have 1.5 hours of recess every day, which as I understand is a lot more than they have in some schools.

Thank you, thank you all for your excellent ideas and for all the encouragement!

I'm pretty new to this forum but I am so impressed with what I've seen so far. I am hoping someone here can help me with my problem. I have a six year old boy who is in second grade in a religious private school in NY. From 9 - 3 they learn history, culture, religion and text-based foreign language (which includes translating, grammar and handwriting). From 3-5 they do "secular studies", which at this age is just reading and math, on a low level. My child is very bright and displays lots of gifted traits like perfectionism, persistence, curiosity and intensity, though he has not been tested. He was already grade-skipped once, but he is still several grades ahead in the secular studies. We managed with his boredom last year by sending in a reading workbook he could do on his own (while the rest of the class was learning the alphabet!). When this proved insufficient, we were finally able to get him pulled out for individual learning at the tail end of the year. This was not enrichment nor a differentiated curriculum; rather it was a high-schooler working with him on the next grade's textbook. Unfortunately even this did not carry through to this year. Now we are having additional difficulty - he is complaining about the repetition and memorization during the morning hours. He has also been sent out of class occasionally and once even had recess taken away. The teachers at this school are pretty old-school and don't really understand differentiation. The teach the class as a group, in a very structured way. They are afraid that if they allow him to do his own thing, as I keep requesting, the other kids will want to do it too, and the class would fall apart. I am willing and able to be involved and take responsibility for his learning. I can't actually home-school him since I work, but I can send in work to do, if they would only allow it! They told him that he can do the work I sent only AFTER he finishes the work they assigned. And then they are upset about his behavior! As of now my child comes home from school having learned almost nothing, and he devours anything academic that I have laying around the house. I am afraid the problem will keep getting worse as he grows older. I don't want him to develop a bad mouth or self- identify as a troublemaker due to his boredom! We will not be changing schools at this point in time, so I need advice on how to work through the difficulties of differentiation in my situation. Thank you so much!

This was helpful to me. I have one boy in second grade; he is also very bright and I am also trying to afterschool for not more than an hour a week. I looked up Life of Fred and I am super excited about it! I would like to add that. Which book are you doing? How do you like it? Have you completed any that you would want to sell to me? Thanks

This is a great discussion! Lots of very good points from both perspectives to think about! OP, I wonder how you feel about all of this now?

I am so glad things worked out so well for you! I'll share my thoughts anyway for others who may be wondering. In my experience, when homeschooling is not an option, it is more beneficial to do preschool with his age group, and save the grade skip for later. School becomes rigid very fast, and at that point it is terribly frustrating to have to do work that is not academically appropriate, and at the same time be expected to sit longer. In preschool the schedule is less structured, the teachers more willing to work with you, and a kid can usually find SOMETHING to learn. He can read books to the others... He can skip first grade, which is the year that the majority of phonics learning takes place, and also the year with the most boring math. I agree with what others posted - he will be bored at any age, even with two grade skips. If someone has no other choice, this seems to me to have the least negative effects. Of course, my son was not tested as HG, so this doesn't apply to everyone, but it worked ok for us.