Does anyone flexi school because school isn't enough?

[RoboJesus]

How did it work for you? Was it hard to get the teachers onboard? Could you have your child sit out of yer exams in the school? I'm trying to look into whether doing it would be a realistic possibility or not

[MissMarplesKnitting]

It's rated 12 or 15 by BBFC for DVDs. There's there's lots of sex references etc. It's hardly appropriate viewing for young kids.

Young Sheldon I haven't watched but I think isn't obviously as adult related.

[RoboJesus]

MissMarplesKnitting the dvd release is different to the original release and that's different to the day time release which can't be more than a pg rating. What planet are you living on 😂

[MissMarplesKnitting]

One that doesn't watch daytime telly....

[RoboJesus]

You should try it sometime

[FissionChips]

Inventing an imaginary child? No thanks, I have a real one.

[RoboJesus]

FissionChips what? I think you posted on the wrong thread

[FissionChips]

No no, I thought that was a reply to me, my foolishness.

Seriously though, what’s with all the nonsense? No child at 4 can understand the stuff you claim, they don’t know enough about the world around them in order to understand those things. It’s crazy.

[WyfOfBathe]

My kid was born this way, you can pretend they don't exist but the facts are just that.

In that case, I'm worried about your child. If they're able to engage with the KS3 English literature syllabus, they must already be familiar with suicide, sex and prostitution and the stigma around those topics (Inspector Calls), genocide and purges (Animal Farm), etc.

I assume that your DD already has basic understanding of at least 1-2 foreign languages? I would expect that of most incoming year 7s. As an MFL teacher, I taught extremely G&T students and native speakers. Sometimes I've needed to spend more time finding resources, speak to my colleagues, to their parents, etc but I've never had a child who is too clever to teach.

[RoboJesus]

If you don't believe gifted children exist, why are you on a gifted board?

[FissionChips]

Who said I don’t believe they exist?

I’ve just concerned and confused as the things you claim are not possible. It’s diaturbing.

[FissionChips]

Disturbing *

[RoboJesus]

"No child at 4 can understand the stuff you claim" you just claimed gifted children don't exist

[Plimmy]

OP, tell us about you. Do you think you’re very clever but perhaps under-achieved?

[PinkAvocado]

RJ, can you tell us who assessed your dc and the methods that they used? It may help.

[FissionChips]

No child at 4 can understand the stuff you claim" you just claimed gifted children don't exist

No, you just lack basic comprehension.

[Plimmy]

Personally, I do think the whole idea of ‘gifted’ children (or adults) is preposterous.

‘Talented’ children (or adults) is a different matter. But it’s curious that posters on these boards never say that their children are merely talented, they must be ‘gifted and...’ or just ‘gifted’.

So many little sons and daughters of gods that walk among us!

[RoboJesus]

Why?

[NewElthamMum13]

Yes, I have flexi - schooled a G&T child, and have home-educated another through to GCSEs.

Flexi-schooling is where parents come to a voluntary agreement with the school to home-educate for part of the week, and it's different from the reduced timetable for children with health problems which some people have mentioned. The difficulty with flexi-schooling is that the government guidance on it was changed in 2013 to say that the school should mark the child as having 'authorised absence', Code C, on the register, when the child is not in school. Prior to 2013 schools could mark the child as 'Educated offsite', and this did not count as an absence. In my area, several under-subscribed primary schools were happy to take home-educated children part-time under a flexi-school arrangement, until the guidance changed. The school received full-time funding even though the child attended part-time.

It's still permissible for state school heads to agree to a flexi-schooling arrangement, but the absences will impact on the school's absence figures. The only way round this is for the school to 'take ownership' of what the child is doing on the days out of school. If the school is prepared to take responsibility for the days out of school then some still use Code B, 'Educated off-site', although there is no explicit government guidance about this.

The most comprehensive sources of information on flexi-schooling are:
EdYourself on Flexi-schooling and
Flexischooling families UK facebook group.

Personally I think you would be better off at this stage sending your child to school full-time and concentrating on extension activities out of school hours. If your child enjoys maths, look at the UK Mathematics Trust - they have great challenges for mathsy kids, competitions, run the UK Maths Olympiad, and a mentorship scheme where able children can get online coaching.

If your child is good at music then that would be an area where you will find many opportunities to encourage them. Is there a conservatoire near you?

If languages appeal - see how he gets on with //www.duolingo.com as a starter.

Have you considered talking to independent schools about scholarships?
Independent schools are more likely to consider flexi schooling than state schools as they don't have to worry about the absence figures.

Home education worked well for my family for a long time, but it does take a lot of effort going to all the activities in order to keep the social contact up, and this eats into the time you have available to do other things. I think there is a lot to be said for the range of skills that they learn in school, working with different teachers, understanding that different people have different expectations, and so on. Some schools are brilliant at providing differentiation activities for able children. Try not to make assumptions about what schools could and couldn't cope with; each one will be a bit different. Perhaps you could ask for meetings with teachers at a few different schools in your area and just ask them what they could offer your child?

When my oldest went to sixth form, at a maths specialist selective school, he met other kids who were interested in the same things. Some of these children had achieved amazing things; they had not been held back. Instead, because they'd ended up at 'geek school', they found like-minded friends who could push each other on. The school had some pupils who'd done Open University maths courses whilst at school because they'd taken A-level maths early, or done it concurrently with their maths A-levels. Do find out what's out there, before assuming that school won't have anything to offer.

[Plimmy]

Why what?

Why is it preposterous to label a child as ‘gifted’, i.e. touched by a divine force? Because that’s just preposterous.

Why do people on this board never say their child is just talented? I’d suggest it’s because they want to believe in their child as being more than simply good at something. That would be a bit ordinary.

[NewElthamMum13]

The issue of whether to take exams early or not is interesting. I was debating this with someone recently regarding maths - she said nobody would say that an able musician should be held back because of their age, so why would you hold a mathematician back? DS, who's currently studying maths at Oxford, has also expressed that sort of idea - more so since being at uni with people from other countries with very competitive maths educations. The mathematicians talk about maths ability peaking in your 20s, so to maximise your own potential you might want to push beyond the usual timeframe. But this is specific to maths; with other subjects, what is the rush? Your ability does not have an expiry date. I think it depends if the child wants to have the opportunity to go to uni with people of their own age, and there aren't any easy answers. I certainly didn't want my child going to university early. And he wanted to study his favourite subject at uni, so if he'd pushed on ahead to Open University maths courses a few years earlier, he wouldn't then have had the same great experience that he has had now. You do have to think "To what end are they taking these exams early?" and ensure it fits in with their overall goals. If the goal is to become better at maths, sure, work at that - but that doesn't necessarily mean taking the exams early.

You can push a mathematician (or any subject specialist) in many ways other than just marching through the GCSE and A-level syllabuses as quickly as possible. Look for breadth and extension activities, rather than just more of the same. DS took his maths GCSE at 12 because he really wanted to, whilst home-educated. He then kept his maths current in other ways before going to sixth form to take his A-levels at the usual age. In the interim, he worked through A-level material, and the UK Maths Trust problems, plus other problem-based maths questions which were less linear than GCSE work, participated in the UKMT challenges, and read books about maths and biographies of mathematicians. These were all suggestions from someone involved in university maths admissions, btw.

If I had a child who was brilliant at French, rather than encourage her to take French A-level early, I would say - read in French, improve your French, but let's park up the exam until the regular time. We know you can ace the exam - let's work on your wider education. I would encourage her to take up other languages, to study language acquisition, the history of languages. There is so much that she could be doing to develop her talents and improve her education, other than rushing into her French A-level and kicking her heels for a few years until university.

I think this works for most subjects, doesn't it?

[amazingpoddlehairdo]

OP did your DC watch Bing Bang theory or are you saying Young sheldon doesn't follow the arc? Not that I know what that actually means

It blows my mind really thinking about a child so young being 10 years ahead. I know an Autistic child with knowledge in a specific area that is very advanced, but there is no balance. They are socially immature ( but I guess that's partially due to the Autism) and so in other subjects they are prob behind other infant schoolers.

I guess only you know OP

[Anasnake]

So, you're not going to say how your child was assessed ? If you have said before then I haven't seen it and it certainly isn't on this thread so I'd be interested to know.

[MyOtherProfile]

Anasnake you won't get a sensible answer to that. So many have asked and been told that she's already told us. Only she hasn't. I came to the conclusion some time ago either the OP is obtuse or has some kind of communication issues.