Spinning on that dizzy edge

If it makes you feel any better, you've already got a great head start on the whole shebang. My poor parents grew up in a time/place where "gifted" didn't really exist, and then they wound up with me and my sister. Our school district hadn't figured out what to do with kids like us either by then, so there was a lot of guinea pig-style experimentation through the years. (This all makes me sound like I grew up pre-Industrialized Revolution or something, but I'm 23. Home is just a very, very rural place.)

The one difference that I'd say helped smooth out my sister's progression in comparison to mine was that she was tested very early for "gifted" status. People hate labels on principle, but it made it much easier to have it all be a known fact, rather than something that our parents had to worry about introducing to each teacher out of the blue. For us, at least, it also meant standard conferences between parents, administrators, and teachers as to how we were doing, and what direction our education should head in next.

Not sure if that's at all helpful to you, but congratulations, in any case, on the Emperor's early ability to confound and challenge his educators. *g*