To think DS is an above average child!

[FragrantFiona]

He is 12 years and 3 months old and took a GCSE Physics exam at the weekend (printed from internet and sat at dining table in exam conditions). He got 84%.

Even more extraordinarily, he did this completely off his own back. Absolutely no input from me. In fact I tell him off for constantly studying stuff as I feel it’s not healthy that he’s not interested in doing normal kid stuff!

Recently found out he has a WhatsApp group where he gives homework answers to the other kids in his year. Everyone is on there!

He attends a ‘good’ state school. What should I do with him?

Thank you @FourForYouGlenCocoYouGoGlenCoco . I guess I started it as more of a ‘Is he that above average that I should push for something more for him or should I just think he’s doing amazingly and is quite happy so just leave him to it?’

Would I be neglecting my duty to help him reach his full potential by leaving him to it?

Move to Lake Wobegon?

Do you realise what this makes you sound like?

Obviously a joke @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie 🤔

Ha ha @2bazookas . I watched him doing the test with my own eyes (well glanced over from the sofa while watching Love Island recordings) so not delusional unfortunately! My older DC did well at school (Grade 8/9 for Maths and Sciences GCSEs at age 16) so it’s not that I’m inflating his intellect with nothing to compare it to.

I thought this was a forum with a large proportion of high achieving women with high achieving DC at private schools. Can’t believe the snarkiness.

🤣

Stuff him and turn him into a trophy

I genuinely thought you were joking..

I don't think it was obvious at all. I thought the whole thread was a joke, but you've said it isn't.

Ask him to text my daughter the answers 😂 & charge.

Why a joke or troll post, because he decided to do a Physics GCSE paper at age 12 because he was bored one afternoon and got a Grade 9? is it that unbelievable?

Must be an extraordinary boy then!

84% on a higher paper gcse is going to be above average even for a 16 year old. So that’s great! It’d be fantastic to encourage his interest and see if there are things he’d like to do that deepen it. If he likes stem, there are quite a few jobs out there which are pretty well paid, so getting him interested at a young age will probably be positive. What I mean to say is, you could encourage and support his interests without necessarily putting pressure on him.

Yep he did aye!

Schools normally recognise gifted & talented or excelling students and notify parents at parents evening (in my experience).

I was pushed academically and now have very bad anxiety which makes every day life very difficult. I’d always encourage happiness over excessive academic achievement, especially at such a young age.

A large proportion of gifted and talented youngsters struggle because they have social communcation difficulties.

You need to find a good balance between supporting his interest in Physics while also making sure he has opportunities to develop social skills and achieve across all his areas of development so he is set up to be a happy and well-functioning adult, as well as a precocious scientist.

Yes, it is a bit unbelievable! Do you not see that?

Who marked the exam paper? Can you be 100% sure that he wasn't looking up the answers on his phone? How is he doing in his other subjects including chemistry/biology?

I only ask because my story writing skills were at GCSE level when I was 12, but for other subjects/ other aspects of English I was still at 12 year old level.

Well it started off as fairly unbelievable, but you definitely outdid yourself by saying you punish him for studying too much by making him go on his gaming PC and PlayStation 😂

I agree with this. And bit off-topic, but I also wasn’t sure of the relevance of mentioning you were watching Love Island when you were checking on your DS mid-exam either.

Definitely encourage him into STEM/gcses early/coding camp. Perhaps along with lots of social activities too, encouraging more of his friends round, scouts, board games if he likes that stuff, art club. Chess is really good too. Does he watch chess on Twitch? It has a high online presence and is popular now

I wouldn't leave him to it, he is clearly fab at maths/science and enjoys the process of learning so why not nurture that? Grammar or independent schools?

Please get him off WhatsApp - I think their minimum age is 16.

I don't think you need to do anything, he sounds very capable.
I have a family member who is super-gifted, and the difference between her and the other bright kids in the family ( all adult now) is that she sorted out her own life much younger, found herself teaching work while still at school, sorted out her own interests and hobbies and ways of funding them, and generally acted like an adult from about 12. Didn't need help with homework, or UCAS forms or uni choices, did all the research herself, sorted travel to Open days herself.

Your son sounds as if he is similar. Just keep showing an interest. He'll do the rest.

Yes yes all very impressive but MY ds invented numbers, wrote the code for a new MOD security system and did 16 hours in the soup kitchen all in a day, last Saturday (we texted him over WhatsApp as we were at home watching reruns of murder she wrote RIP Angela). He has a job offer from Bill Gates but we are sitting on that for now. Anyway you don’t see me boasting on here! So uncouth.

🤣🤣🤣

84% in Physics GCSE at the start of Yr8 is hardly the norm. no?

Was it a recent Higher tier paper? If it was a foundation tier paper, those were regularly taken in maths and science at my school in y7-9 as interim tests by top sets, where many kids aced them. They are much easier than higher tier.

Be aware that gsce level physics is basic for a mathematically minded kid this age.

Only 16 hours? Lazy little shit