Parents of nine-year-old high school graduate reveal their number one parenting tip

‘There is no frame of reference,’ his mother says

David Balogun is a normal kid who competes in paper airplane races with his younger sister, Eliana and struggles to sit still, but he is also one of the youngest people in the United States to receive a high school diploma.

In late January, Balogun graduated from Reach Cyber Charter School, which is a tuition-free online school in Pennsylvania. This month he will be starting classes at Southern New Hampshire University as a full-time student.

Balogun and his parents, Ronya and Henry, spoke about what it was, and still is, like raising someone with a high intellect on CNBC Make It. The couple said they first tested their son’s intelligence when he was six years old. After that, they began to rethink any parenting philosophies they previously had. “There’s no book on it,” Ronya said.

“You’ve got to develop a different mindset as a parent,” Henry added. “It’s not always easy when your son is asking you questions constantly. You have to keep answering the questions, because you don’t want to say, ‘Just leave me alone.’”

Because of David’s unique circumstances, they’ve developed their own number one rule: When a system isn’t built for your child, don’t try to fix your child. Try to fix the system.

Ronya said when David was in first grade, a regular classroom wasn’t working anymore, noting that sometimes his peers would listen to him more than the teacher. So they looked into their state’s gifted programs, which also proved to not be rigorous enough for their nine year old.

In 2020, his parents enrolled him in Reach which allowed him to individualise his curriculum and take high school level classes. Although that didn’t come without challenges, including multiple calls to The College Board because David’s birthdate was too young to enroll in advanced placement exams.

As for deciding on college, Ronya said she had to put her foot down mentioning she didn’t want David in a class filled with 20 year olds. “It’s a different adaptation that we don’t have in the United States of America yet. It’s very scary, you can’t find this,” she said. “Sometimes I can’t fix the system, but there are other unconventional choices and solutions to help lead my son through his journey to fulfill his dreams.”

Trust is also a big part in parenting David, his parents said. They mentioned that, when he was learning specific skills like adding and subtracting negative numbers before he was taught, they had to believe he knew how. “I can’t tell him, ‘This is what you know,’ because I’m not in his brain,” Ronya said. “I have to trust him to be partially leading the way.”

Although there are some boundaries in this trust, as David came home one day claiming he now knew where babies came from. His mother was able to briefly give him some information on reproductive anatomy before putting the conversation to a stop. “Mind you, at this moment, I’m talking to a six year old,” Ronya said.

In terms of what happens to David beyond college, his parents are unsure and are just figuring it out as they go along. “There is no frame of reference,” Ronya said. “So you know how sometimes when there is no path, you start a new path? Yep, that’s what we’re doing.”

The Independent has contacted Ronya and Henry for comment.