slowing down?

[roanna]

I am new to the boards and am just starting schooling my about to turn 5 year old son. I had a question about him that won't really change anything in regards to schooling but was curious if anyone else can give insight into his learning.

 

He started talking at 11 months, doing 12 piece puzzles at 15 months and 48 piece puzzles by 2 years, knew all 50 states geographically and memorized all the presidents becasue he wanted to. Around 3.5 he started reading 3 letter words. He now reads paragraphs and memorizes long childrens books.

 

All this info is to ask-- it seemed that he was going crazy learning when he was a toddler but he has little interest in puzzles now and seemed to even out. I know his reading may be a little advanced but I guess what I am asking is he seemed way ahead of others and now he seemed to have slowed a lot in the past year and a half. I don't push anything and he seems to be enjoying All About Spelling 1. Do you think he'll spurt again or just be more normal now?

 

This is purely a curious question I have as a parent not knowing other children who are in the same boat to ask the parents.

 

Thanks for any insight.

Roanna

[Dmmetler]

You never know. My DD was similar as far as having a BIG spurt at about age 1 1/2-3, then seeming to slow down a bit. Still really, really advanced compared to kids her age, but not those big, big jumps. But then we started homeschooling formally, and all of a sudden, the pace picked up again.

 

My theory is that she was simply to a point where she wasn't able to challenge herself enough to make those big, obvious leaps, so she needed the materials and ideas, and that once she had them, she jumped ahead.

 

I also think that there's some truth to the idea that kids develop in one area primarily at a time. Age 4-5 was a BIG social growth time for her, and she changed a lot in that year, so maybe that was where her energy was devoted at the time.

[Embassy]

I also think that there's some truth to the idea that kids develop in one area primarily at a time.

 

This is my understanding as well. Perhaps your child is focused on growing in other areas like motor skills or social skills.

[roanna]

Thanks for the info. I think that may be the case. Reading does seem to be the biggest academic thing right now, but he has socially become a different more outgoing person. I really appreciate your answers because I am having a hard time figuring him out. I don't really care if he is labeled "gifted" and I hesitate to assume that but I see that he is different than other kids and there's not a lot of places to find advice on it.

 

He definitely has overexcitability issues with intellectual, sensual and emotional. That's the only real concrete info I've been able to find that explains him more.

 

Anyhow, thanks so much! If anyone else has info it's greatly appreciated.

Roanna

[boscopup]

It seems like DS1 had a slow down time around age 3ish... He'd learned a ton at age 2, then at age 3 when it came to reading, he could chunk words and was ready to get to reading, but blending just didn't happen. I waited and waited, and then at 4.5, he one day picked up a book that was grade level 1.5 and he read 30 pages of it. I was shocked! So apparently, he'd been learning to read even though he seemed to have slowed down. He then took off quickly from there. He also had some big leaps at age 5 (especially in math - our van conversations were always interesting, as he'd tell me some mathematical thing he'd just figured out, and we'd discuss it and play with numbers in our heads - multiplication, negative numbers, and we even got into square roots and imaginary numbers one day :lol:).

[roanna]

That will be intersting then this year to see what happens. I purchased Right Start math for him but haven't started it since just doing the spelling is challenging with a very very active 16 month old climbing everything she can find. You can tell I am just starting homeschooling :)

 

I don't know if this is happening everywhere in public schools but my good friend had 2 children in a nice neighborhood public school (K and 1st) and they now integrate special needs children with the normal class. Seeing first hand this awful experience helped me to cement our decision to homeschool. One of her kids is obviously gifted, 2-4 grade levels in different subjects and the other was special needs. Neither one was able to have a good class experience because of the new way they integrate. She pulled both out to homeschool. -Just a side note.

[rzberrymom]

My DD was like that too. She did these 200 piece puzzles when she turned 2, and people would gather around and watch because it was so bizarre. And then one day, she wouldn't touch puzzles--she just completely lost all interest and seemed to not even remember how to do them. At age 6, she seems to struggle with puzzles that she could do at age 2!

 

It might be just a loss of interest for him. We moved on to other games instead, and she really took off with that. Anything that required spatial reasoning (like the puzzles used to do)--Labyrinth, Carcassone, Castle Logix, and chess are favorites.

 

At 6, she's still much more interested in the games, math, mapping, etc. She can barely read and it's a struggle to get through basic phonics lessons.