Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Enrichment for a 6 year old

Children have odd ways of asking for things. If the child comes home and says "Mommy! Guess what I learned today!?" Then you and the school are doing just fine. However, a parent should always keep track of the schools' intentions for the child. You'll find that the more a child learns, they will gain new interests and maybe even get rid of a few. The most a parent can do is to keep track of their childs interests as they happen and find ways to encourage them. A parent doesn't need to know all about what their child is learning, but I've found that a child can be a teacher and a student at the same time as long as there is openmindedness.

Hi Kristi04 -
Welcome!
First of all, Did you know that a higher than expected number of high school drop outs are gifted? Just some food for thought.

2nd - do you know any people in the medical profession who would mentor your daughter. My son at ten is also beyond me in many of his interests - so welcome to the club!

Think of music as an example. What would you do if you had a musically talented child? Would you feel personally resposible if you couldn't teach her yourself? I wouldn't.

Also the internet has lots of websites.

Ruf levels are from a book by Dr. Deborah Ruf Loosing our Minds, gifted children left behind.

You can get an idea of "how gifted" your child is by doing a talent search from one of the universities or by looking at Davidson's YSP page.
http://cty.jhu.edu/ts/index.html
http://www.ditdservices.org/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=252
Or you can look at the individual tests and see if it says "superior" or "very superior" -

Truth is that there is a wide range of giftedness and a wide range of how people divide up levels of giftedness. What ReallY matters is meeting your daughter's needs. They will always be individual, no matter what the test says.

Welcome again and ask away! We're standing by ((wink))
Trinity

Thank you for your input I have to admitt I have like I said been letting the school do their thing as far as teaching my kids the basics. I happen to babysit a teachers kid today and she asked me if my kids are being challaged enough.because she has a kid in her class that is also in the gifted program and the work is just too easy for her student so she asked me what i thought about the gifted teacher and the work. my response was ya know i have not payed attention.my kids get 100's on thier work and never have to ask for my help. I just had a light bulb moment lol so I am so ready now to get on the ball with my kids and get more involved. thanx again kristi