Both of my kids hate soccer, but one/or both enjoy swim team, running, skiing, ice skating, rock climbing, biking, white water rafting, and mountain biking. My son is begging to try fencing, but we haven’t worked that into our schedule yet.

Anyways, I wonder to what extent you have introduced board games (chess), puzzles, music, light projects…maybe even a sport like soccer which is out of the ordinary.

I mentioned these as having seen a lot of bright kids, I think I know some of the things that while fun, help the learning process considerably and make some excel.

You have some interesting assumptions.

Actually, 2nd graders are not required to take any particular tests. I’ve given him tests to help me plan his instruction, but informal assessments such as discussion or writing also work. Generally, he fares extremely well in most academic subjects.

There are many homeschooling curriculum choices. In New York, there are some requirements but there is also a lot of freedom to decide how to meet those requirements.

In fact, it is this desire to learn without restrictions that is one of the primary motivations for choosing to homeschool.

Why should a child only learn the state-mandated curriculum, when there is a world of exciting material to explore? Instead of worrying about performance indicators, let kids continue to love learning.

Bottom line, I’m not worried about his performance on this test. It’s just one tool for getting more information about his abilities.

I’m wondering; however, what did you do to counteract your child’s boredom?

In my own experience though, it sometimes hard to judge kids. Sometimes they are plain board and will only perform when they are a little older and when it’s getting close to crunch time (boys especially).