Friday

My Kid Is Freaking Me Out

My 5-year-old is officially freaking me out.  It's not just that she eats chapter books for breakfast, or that she has finished the first and second grade science and social studies curriculum in our online program, or the fact that she has been able to name and identify all fifty states for months, and so on and so forth.  We took the state practice exam for 2nd grade, and she scored about 90% on the math sections... without first doing the exercises.  Last fall, she read at an independent third-grade level. 

Really, it's her curiosity and passion for learning that freaks me out.  She wants to know everything.  She's curious about every animal, every country, every war.  In the past day, I've received questions like, "Is Santa Claus real?  ...Because the ancient Greeks and Egyptians didn't believe in Santa."  She wants to know about everything from how clouds taste to how we could repair the Liberty Bell to what my friends are saying on Facebook. 

She also doesn't give up.  My husband and I joke that she has Attention Surplus Disorder, because she won't stop doing particular tasks until she's mastered them.  For example, she had difficulty in learning how to tell time on an analog clock, so she worked on workbook pages, talked about clocks, changed the hands herself, and so forth.  Finally, she would ask me questions wherever we went.  "When the hour hand is past the two, and the minute hand is on the three, does that mean it's 2:15 now?"  She eventually got it, through her own drive.

She also learns quickly.  Today, she was practicing piano, and she came to a new song where she had to play the melody with her right hand while holding down the harmony notes with her left hand, and the beats were different.  She seemed out of her depth, so I kind of shrugged and told her that she did fine practicing, that she didn't have to worry about that song.  She practiced a few more times tonight, and she played the whole song.

Lest you think that I am another version of the Tiger Mother, I can assure you that Lolly has more free time than most kids.  We do formal lessons for only a couple of hours a day.   On days like today, we played at two different playgrounds with friends, so no formal lessons were done.  I do make three musts for each "school day": she needs to do silent reading, practice her piano, and play outside.  Everything else these days is unplanned before the day begins - and thus, optional.

I am trying to figure out what to do from here.  I also have many thoughts, such as:

Is she truly gifted (of her own nature) or "hothoused" (pushed to learn)?
If she were to ever enter a regular school, could she advance 1-2 grades?  If so, should she?
Will this rate of learning eventually plateau, leaving her feeling insecure because she sees herself in terms of her academic abilities?
Am I neglecting another part of her life?  Or am I neglecting my other kids without knowing it?
What does this mean for her future?  Can she get college scholarships?  What if she doesn't want college?

Finally, is there anyone I can talk to about this without annoying the person to death (besides my husband)?

Overall, Lolly is a happy-go-lucky, very sweet, spiritual kid who plays well with 2-year-olds and 12-year-olds alike.  She has lots of resources and good friends, and most of all, the attention and support of her parents. She enjoys learning, and I can only hope it will continue.


We told her that she could read before bed...