<p>I would be very concerned about sending any 13 year old away to college. There is so much that could be done to supplement and enrich a child that age. My three sons were fortunate to be able to attend a CC at 14. Not one of my kids would have adjusted to the social life at age 13,14,or 15 and for us that was a very important part of being in college. This particular kid is very gifted and probably needs far more than what any middle or highschool could provide. He probably is also bored to tears with his peers, which is very sad but to live on his own and deal with kids 18 to 22 on a regular basis is just more than what a 13 year old should experience. We did not opt to send our sons to a four year school for classes at 14 for this reason. </p>
<p>The sad thing is that gifted kids or very bright kids are not met with the same level of thoughfulness as kids on the other end of the curve. There is not enough understanding for the needs of the exceptionally gifted. I am glad that mine were just bright kids because we did’nt need to deal with these difficult decisions.</p>
<p>^ Do you mean you did part-time/dual course work at your local college at age 14? If yes, I would say its quite common, no, people will not think its crazy at all. If you left your family home at 14 to live at a college dorm with several years older college students, than please post your experience again.</p>
<p>@momma-three There is not enough understanding for the needs of the exceptionally gifted. For us, that wasnt our problem. Our local public school has recognized mines need fully, and has asked us to allow ours to skip grades, but its been our choice to say no.</p>
<p>^ I don’t think skipping grades is the answer really. The child skips grades and is able to fly through 3rd grade or 6th grade or whatever grade they are in but how is that stimulating to the brain that is so far beyond the average kid even two years beyond. I am speaking about making a true and honest effort to address the needs of those kids that are so far ahead of the curve in their ability to think and reason. It can’t be easy for parents who struggle to find the right situation that would work well for their child.</p>
<p>There are no easy answers. Highly/profoundly gifted kids take many different paths and each family has to wrestle through this. There can be second guessing whether a child went to college early (and I have known kids who go full time to college at elementary school age) or who wait until age 18 to go full time. There is compromise and sacrifice at either extreme and anywhere on the continuum. It’s just not easy, folks…</p>
<p>Gifted kids who go beyond their age mates are NOT “pushed”- they are just not held back. Think of the two halves of the Bell curve- there are just as many severely ■■■■■■■■ as there are severely gifted. And it can be just as hard to be so different on either end of the curve. We need to use the individualized teaching methods worked out for the ■■■■■■■■ to meet the needs of the high end gifted. The harsh reality is that most people have this glass ceiling and think a child is fine as long as they reach the top, without considering how hard it is to not be able to be natural, to aleways hold back so you “get along” with age mates who are severley ■■■■■■■■ compared to your abilities.</p>
<p>It is so much easier to be in the middle with a lot of peers. Hard to try to discuss when no one else gets you and, as kids will do, not include you or make fun of you, or other nasty stuff kids will do. Hoe tiresome to always know the answer and have to let the slow kids take their turns instead of soaring.</p>
<p>Yes, imagine as an adult needing to spend all of your days with average ten year olds acting as their peer and never being able to talk at an adult level. This is not the same as being the teacher. Imagine always needing to wait for others to “get it”… Much better to be where you can express yourself freely. I don’t consider it good to be forced to interact with boring people all of the time- and yet some of you insist on it by insisiting every child is best off with age mates. Guess what- even once everyone has grown up the majority of people will still not be ones to want to socialize with. Hard to always have to slow down to be understood or to be polite with interests of others when none of them take the time to try to be interested in someting you find easy and interesting… </p>
<p>Gifted kids and adults are square pegs in a round world. Don’t insist they try to fit in with the majority. It must also be brought up that some 75% of the highly gifted are introverted whereas 75% of the general poulation is extroverted- thought processing and needs are different. You need to think well outside the box for social needs as well as intellectual ones. Not everyone has the same needs.</p>
<p>We are talking about exceptions to the rules.</p>
<p>Wow, we are talking about how to support exceptional kids best. I do personally have chosen not to send mine to college far away at too young age. But then, I still have no answer how to support them. If 12 year old who has completed all high school math including AP Calculus BC in local regular public school with 800 in SAT math II subject, is yours, how would you support for about 4 more years? I do not find any easy path, but I am still able to voice that sending so young aged kids to college dorm far away isnt right one either.</p>
<p>This has been mentioned upthread, but perhaps it should be repeated.
Stephen Stafford lives at home with his parents, in a suburb of Atlanta.
He does not live in residence at Morehouse.</p>
<p>^ Thanks for info. As long as not leaving home at young age, yes, many young kids could take local college courses if allowed, even at far earlier than age 13. I didnt know this type of story would capture newspaper article though.</p>
<p>@wis75 You seem oddly obsessed with the word “■■■■■■■■.” You’ve used it excessively in every single one of your posts almost to the point of ranting. Not to mention, you are using it incorrectly and in doing so are being extremely offensive to those individuals who do actually live with mental retardation.</p>
<p>MathmomVt, I didn’t realize how bored my son was in HS, & how he enjoyed the company of boys 2 grades ahead of him (from Academic games, band, math and econ class). He was dual enrolled in local U’s, and another boy’s dad use to drive them 45 minutes for math classes. He often got home after 10:30 pm from his 5 classes a term at local U. I ignored a math’s teacher’s suggestion to send him away to the college for HSers (Slippery Rock?) Honestly, I was preoccupied with the illnesses and deaths of my parents, and working full time. It was his GC who suggested in Dec of his jr year that he appy to college. We had a busy 2 days deciding on schools, getting teacher recs, setting up a few interviews (most said too late). (no visits until accepted). Two of son’s friends also left after jr year, and I don’t know if this has become a trend.</p>
<p>An acquiantance in NYC let her younget son enroll in college a few years early, but he commuted from home to an excellent college.</p>
<p>Even more extreme, the worm’s classmate in grad school was 16 when the program began. He was home schooled and then a college student at an elite U. His grad school is across the country. His parents were definitely proactive in meeting their gifted son’s needs.</p>
<p>I think many parents pay attention to their kids’ interets in school, and the kind of people they enjoy as friends. I wish I had a do-over. Kids can be in one grade, but take classes in certain fields in older grades. Dual-enrollment on local colleges can be a resource.</p>
<p>At age 14, my son did his first college class – calculus – at our local community college. He really enjoyed the experience being with older kids (as in 18 and 19 year olds). He did exceptionally well. This satisfied his need for more math, something his HS did not offer.</p>
<p>@bookworm, you must be thinking of Simon’s Rock. My S went there in middle school to take an AMC math contest and asked if he should be thinking about going there. I told him that if he was having a good time in HS, had friends and activities he loved, he should stay in HS, but that if he ended up finding it horrible for whatever reasons, it was an option we could consider. I didn’t realize until senior year when senioritis hit bad, just how bored he was in HS. But ultimately he had a nice time with a few good friends and the drama club, and is off to a top college now where he will not be bored, and where he will be surrounded by intellectual peers. And I hope that he will find that the experience was worth waiting for.</p>
<p>Having kids take a few college classes when they are still in HS may be one appropriate compromise for some kids, if you can get the transportation etc. to work out.</p>
<p>MathmomVt, I wish your DS all the best. I’ve only heard positives about the college your DS will be attending. Simon’s Rock is definitely the one I meant. Just knowing that your son knew of AMC and such programs in middle school shows the variations in school districts.</p>
<p>The school district we live in was not cooperative many years ago, when the worm was in HS. Had he stayed for senior year, he would only have been able to take English IV. Everything else would have been at the local U, which is one NEVER even considered/mentioned by CC folk.</p>
<p>The worm was lucky to enroll in one of the colleges that don’t insist on a HS degree. He found many kids there who had been allowed to skip grades, or take courses appropriate on skills, not age. He guessed that many were a year or 2 younger than he.</p>
<p>Anyway, i think CC is a wonderful resource for parents and teens that are looking for specialized summer programs or colleges, etc</p>
<p>In an article I read online about this student it says that the first courses he took at Morehouse were college algebra and precalculus. His mother says that he has not taken his SAT but that his ACT was “very average.” He was home schooled apparently because the public schools were not good. I wonder if he might have been better served by a rigorous private school, either day or boarding.</p>
<p>“I saw this happen even with the daughter of a friend of mine who was in a hurry to get out of high school. She ended up at BU, but there’s no question in my mind that if she’d been willing to spend another year in high school she’d have had other options. OTOH she graduated summa cum laude and is now at Duke for law school so she hasn’t done too badly all things considered!”</p>
<p>All I can think of is the 13 year old kiddos I know, even the most gifted would find it varying degrees of social awkwardness being mostly surrounded by kids 5-10+ years older than them, which is common of most colleges.</p>