Hmmm? How to write this without sounding first world/smug/awful? I will stick to the facts as far I can see them. My son was very standard in terms of his development milestones (walking/using a spoon etc) except that he both talked very early (quickly developed a very large, very mature vocabulary) and that he read very early (2 yrs old) and didn’t stop. Now he is nearly 4 (next week) and can read incredibly fluently. I am a teacher (but not early years) so know a little bit that reading before school is not unusual but also not common. However, what I’m trying to gauge (and think about what to do with the little man) is whether having a reading age (decoding - just reading a list of increasingly longer, more complex words) of 11 yrs old (according to a range of tests we've slipped him that we usually give my older kids at school) at 4 yrs of age and being able to pass the KS1 (for 7 yr olds) reading SAT (comprehension) comfortably at 4 yrs of age is in the sort of “nice one top of your class” camp or whether, as I suspect, it might be “nice one top of the the class two/three years older than you are” camp. The bit we are really thinking about is that both me and his dad were unashamedly nerdy (Firsts from Oxford, Harvard PhD) but neither of us could do much more than write our names and letters before we started our (state) schools. We don’t really want advice about “let him get on with it”, “round him out” or “don’t push him/make him weird” as we are both a bit nerdy/weird ourselves (‘18th century Flemish woodcuts’ is the current bed side reading) and know that it takes all types of people to make a world and don’t mind at all if he goes down the really nerdy nerdy route. What we really want to know is what fiction to give a boy of this age who can read beyond his years? His maths and writing are similar but that is easier to deal with as we just find him the next thing to work out/story to do. Also, has anyone had a similar child and how did your state school deal with him (just to make clear - we have no intention of telling school)? GParents are pushing for prep schools but I can’t see what the strictly academic advantages would be for the money? Has anyone “upyeared” their child in the state system? Good/bad consequences in the long run? When did you do it? Just one year? Two? I know, I know - it’s not a problem - but we just love seeing this little “hoover” so excited about learning (will read for an hour instead of faff about on the IPAD - by choice) and are wondering how best to keep him buzzing about it all for as long as poss. Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions.