Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Ideas for Enriching a bored 7th grader at PS

I submitted my 7th grader's Davidson application for the May 1 deadline, but meanwhile I am seeking ideas for helping the school situation next year. This was our first year back in PS after homeschooling for 6 years. The issue is that he is bored but not motivated except to get good grades; He certainly does not want to get more work because he is smart. He goes to a VERY competitive public school, and high school will be fine since they have honors everything, so we need to get through 1 more year of non-tracked education.

His strengths are math and music. He is accelerated and will go to the high school early each morning next year for Honors Algebra 2, but he's still bored. All of his grades range from 96%-102% (math). They have a gifted program that is mostly field trips but he has taken minimal interest in what they've offered and stresses about missing class - because it means more homework!

The only suggestion I've offered has been that we could fight for him not to have to finish his math homework when he "gets it", but to do enrichment problems like MathCounts instead. He said no, he's not interested. I can't even come up with any other ideas! Does anyone have any creative suggestions?

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You've received a great response with valuable resources.

I'll just add a few thoughts about approaching the school.

Honors classes are not necessarily "tracked" education, nor are honors or AP classes necessarily a "gifted" education program. Additionally, if a student begins underperforming (even if the underperformance is due to lack of challenge worthy of his potential), the student may not be granted placement into the desired honors/AP or other higher-level courses.

You may wish to think in terms of dropping the word fight which implies win/lose and substituting the verb advocate which has a more positive win/win connotation. A small change in semantics can convey a sufficiently different message to have a large impact.

Here is a link to past forum discussion on advocacy:
Analogy: Advocacy as a Non-Newtonian Fluid

Here is a link to an article on the Davidson Database which discusses teaching positive self-advocacy skills to a child: Tips for Parents: Preparing your gifted child to leave your nest and build their own, including links to these excellent resources:
1. YouTube video, Davidson Discussions - Self Advocacy
2. Self-Advocacy, The Power of Speaking Up

Thank you. I'm not sure when he would take an online class while at school. I guess he would have to substitute out another class.

I do have the attitude of fight...you are correct. I know from my oldest son that we would have to get a lawyer and go to due process to get anything beyond a minor in-class accommodation for my son. And I consider getting a lawyer a fight rather than advocating because it makes my angry that I would have to be so confrontational and go to such an expense.

And yet I don't have any good ideas so I don't even know what to request for this particular child to make him happier. He is very anxious for school to be over and now seems dejected lately. But he is not my passionate, motivated child either. He checks off the box and gets high A's in everything, and then wants to be done

Many consider this the ideal. Rather than coasting through a class in which a student is "treading water" while waiting for others to catch up and/or complete their work, the student would spend time in school learning new information: being presented with classes and materials at the appropriate level to provide challenge, learning, and growth in his/her zone of proximal development (ZPD). Many families and schools partner on planning and providing single subject acceleration, such as math one or more grade levels advanced.

Taking the end-of-year test early is one way to prove a child needs a more advanced curriculum placement and/or compacted pacing. Results of above-level tests may also be useful as evidence that the student needs or would benefit from higher curriculum.

On another recent thread, there's a post which lists common downsides to NOT providing higher level curriculum for students with a demonstrated need for it: