Well it's almost that time again, for some of us... I register DS6 tomorrow for 2nd grade. Since we moved, even though we're in the same town, he will be attending a new school. Seems the school is very fitness focused, which I LOVE since DS focuses so much better with regular physical activity. I just hope that he gets a good match with a teacher and that his Target teacher was as great as the one he had last year.

We have Meet & Greet on the 3rd and then school officially begins on the 5th for us.

Thanks for starting this thread, JJsMom. I really enjoyed keeping up with everyone last year.

DD6 will start 1st grade at her gifted school in August. A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to informally meet one of the teachers she may have for first grade (and will almost certainly have for math - as this teacher instructs the higher ability math groups).

She and dd had a conversation that went like this:

Teacher: Nice to meet you, (dd). What are you looking forward to about 1st grade?

dd6: Umm ... hopefully we can have some challenging math. Not like kindergarten which was 0+0, babyish!

Me: Come on, now. I don't think kindergarten math was like 0+0.

dd6: Well, it was on our end of the year test!

(turning back to teacher)

dd6: Kindergarten was all single digit numbers - and only addition and subtraction. Personally, I am much more comfortable with 4, 5, 6, or 7 digit numbers.

Teacher: Ok! I will take note! (DD) wants more challenging math.

Then teacher turned to me and said quietly ... I actually was just hearing about your dd and how she needs to be challenged in math.

***

I was so happy about this conversation because dd did an unexpectedly good job of advocating for herself and because the teacher apparently has dd on her radar. Yay! Now let's hope this year lives up to the expectations.

Our summer term only finished on Wednesday, so next year is still a way off (September) but I love these threads so I'll play anyway :-) DS6 will be starting P3, equivalent to second grade. Broadly looking forward to it. He had some hiccups last year that I posted about, but they improved, and by and large it was a good year. Certainly he learned a lot in all kinds of ways.

I don't know his teacher for next year at all, but DS liked her on the "taster day". My two biggest concerns are how he'll handle the increased-again writing demands, and how she'll handle his maths. The plan (discussed with his this-year teacher) is to make problem-solving be the main focus of his maths next year, with new content a minor element, but how well that works will be quite dependent on how comfortable his teacher is with the kind of problems he needs to work on. After next year, maths is taught by maths specialists, at which point things should get easier again.

He'll continue piano and start voice lessons. Currently he wants to play the 'cello as his second instrument, which I think is a great idea (not as painful as the violin, but still an orchestral instrument with plenty of slots per orchestra, so good for socialising, and a great repertoire), but he's still changing his mind fairly often so voice for at least one year seems wise: we won't have to buy him an instrument that he may go off after one year, it'll be good for him to think about intonation etc., and he'll have another year for his motor skills to develop before he has to deal with bowing and fingering.

I am so jealous of this. DS6 would LOVE to have an actual math class! They have math & science lab, but it's not the same thing. They don't do the separate math classes until middle school here!

Irisheyes - that cracks me up! DS6, when asked what he liked about school at the end of the year, added that the teachers should've started on multiplication and division... here's to hoping his 2nd grade teacher might throw some in there. I don't think they start that until 3rd grade here.

Love catching up with everyone! The fitness-focused school and the self-advocacy bode well for your kids, JJsMom and Irisheyes. Yay!

DS6 was in public school K last year with no accomodations except occasional--VERY occasional! Like one question per day, tops--math differentiation. It was tolerable for him because it was only half-day. He made friends, but he needed to do a lot of "hard math," as he called it, at home in the mornings with me.

Testing this summer has shown us that he may be a DYS candidate (we applied for him July 1), and that he has some sort of 2E issue going on as well, which is probably why he is so tough to figure out and why he's not reading well yet, even though he is a verbally strong kid. Grade-skipping doesn't seem like a good thing to try with him. Our schools are not very supportive of an HG+ kid, let alone an HG+ kid with LDs.

So, we have chosen to homeschool him for 1st grade.

Well, sort of... He is going to be attending our school-for-homeschoolers 4 days a week, so it's really almost like he's going to a private school.

Our DS9 goes there 2 days a week and adores it. DH and I lovingly (and privately!) call it "The Island of Misfit Toys" because it is such a good place for kids who need something different than mainstream schools offer. Both gifted kids and LD kids thrive there. (And probably normally developing kids do, too!) DS9 has a friend with Tourette's, a friend who transferred over from a school specializing in LDs, and friends who are all over the gifted spectrum.

The small class sizes, the fact that classes are not one-year only but ranges (like 6-8yos all in one class), and hands-on teaching philosophy of the school are good for our "misfit toys," and everyone is kind to one another, very accepting of differences. DS9 told me that he has never seen anyone--child, teen or adult--be mean to anyone else. Never! It's a lovely atmosphere.

However, I'm a bit concerned about the math for DS6. The teacher for his class is apparently more traditional than most of them are, and I'm not sure her worksheets will work for him. I'm very skittish about that class. But I have Singapore Math workbooks, and I will change out any assignments that seem too easy for ones that are harder. Worst case, we'll pull him out of the class, but I'm hoping we can find a way to make it work.

Kriston - that sounds LOVELY! I hope they get the right fit with math for your DS! I know for mine, he would do the school work and then be excited to come home and do an extra worksheet out of the "harder" books.

It's a pretty long day for a 6yo, though. It runs 9:30-3:30, and it's roughly a 30-minute drive each way. (We're actually hoping to sell our house and move closer to the school next year, which would enable the boys to take one class here or there instead of having to take a whole day at a time.)

Happily, that includes 2 hours of free time if you include the whole 60-minute lunch time. Most kids eat for half of that and play for half. So he should have a good amount of time to relax and play. Plus his history class is Lego history, as in history taught through the use of Legos. Things like that should help.

Still, I'm not sure how he'll do with the homework. It will be new.

On the bright side, it's ultimately homeschooling, so if it doesn't work for him, I can just refuse to have him do the homework.

DS6 will start his 2nd year homeschooling. He is a 1st grader on the paper but that's where it ends. Homeschooling has been going pretty well for both him and his older brother, but I am sure glad it's summer now This is only our 2nd week of summer break so to me school seems really, really far away right now.

Unfortunately the boys will no longer attend a small private school couple of afternoons per week like they did for the last two years. This option is no longer available We will have to do with weekend gifted programs and homeschooling/after school class here and there. It's not optimal but unfortunately our choices are quite limited. I wish we had a co-op like Kriston has.

Kriston, good luck with the DYS application.

Oh, LMom! I'm sorry that the school isn't letting the boys attend anymore! That seemed like such a good solution for you.

You know, this school was started by a homeschooling mom. Some 10 years into it, they now have their own building, hire teachers, own "school stuff," etc. She started it because it filled a need that she experienced in her own life as a homeschooler and saw others having. Maybe it's time to start something?

The school no longer has an older elementary class, so no class to attend for my older one. Next school year the will go up to the 1st grade only. The enrollment just wasn't there. Add to it financial problems and they decided they would be better off with PreK and K-1. I could still send D6 there but that wouldn't be too fair, not to mention that even this year he cared more about the older kids more than his age mates.

LMom, that is a bummer.

Hi everyone! We're still new here, but I saw your K posts from last year and am so glad to join in with all of you! DS will be an official 1st grader in a few weeks.

We started homeschooling in January after half of a year of PS Kindergarten, and we're starting up again in a few weeks through our charter. As a Kindergartener in the public school, we went through the typical PG issues with acceleration (school suggested, but we didn't feel it was the right solution) and differentiation (school was supportive, but it wasn't nearly enough).

We have a public school HS charter that is the perfect solution. As LMom put it, DS is a "first grader on paper only," but it gives him the flexiblity to jump into higher level academic workshops while still enjoying some of the fun "artsy" things that the other 1st graders are doing. It also helps us to be able to keep him registered as a 1st grader for religion class and sports (where he is not nearly so gifted! LOL).

In addition to our charter activities, we are also in two co-ops. Our Monday co-op is with a lot of older children (most not gifted), and it's a great way for us to study "out" instead of just "up." We have several vendors lined up, and have a schedule filled with Spanish, science labs, music appreciation, fine arts and drama class, and LEGO Robotics. Our Friday morning co-op is comprised of more than 50 families, and he'll be able to choose 2 similar "learning out" classes. Both sets of parents seem very supportive when I've explained that he is 6 in terms of arts/gross motor, but 3th-5th grades academically. I have my fingers double-crossed that this works out.

One question that I'd love to throw out to this group is something that comes up a lot right now. It's extremely common for random people to ask DS how old he is, followed by questions of what grade he's in, particularly when he has a schoolbook with him (ie at the dr's office/one of his brother's activities, etc.) We've tried the simple answer of "K" or "1", but when they see what he's reading/doing, it turns into a further conversation. I don't love explaining to strangers, and this will surely come up with other kids (particularly when the older kids in the co-op and workshops see him in them). Does anybody have any thoughts that you could help us with this?
Thanks!!

My last post was so long that I forgot to add...

Irisheyes, I'm SO impressed that your DD advocated for herself like that with her teacher! I think so many parents out there *think* their children are GT when they're not that teachers don't always listen to us when we try to advocate on ours' behalf. When they can speak up and explain it like she has, though, the teacher is bound to sit up and take note! I hope that goes well!!

Colinsmum, I'm also so impressed by DS's music study! I would like my DS to try piano, but this is the one thing where he continually expresses noninterest. I hate to make the leap since I know daily lessons will be a drag if he's not into it, but still, I wish I could get him excited about the idea! He wants to play guitar instead. I've tried suggesting a year of piano to start, but just found a guitar teacher who will take 6 year olds. DH is suggesting we just give guitar a try. I'm still on the fence....

Kriston, my fingers are still crossed for DS's YS app!

Hi! I'm so happy to jump into the conversation, too.

DS6 will be a 2nd grader in September. We met with his school in May and everyone agreed that he needed to be subject accelerated to 3rd for math, with the possibility of being accelerated in other subjects if the schedule demands it. We're good with that since really he's academically at least 3rd grade across the board save writing. The problem is that the scheduling is turning out to be *very* difficult. Last I heard, they were working to rearrange several teachers' and specialists' daily schedules in an attempt to accommodate DS. I'm trying to be patient and give them time to work through it as well as enjoy their time off, but if I don't hear anything by the second week of August I'm going to have to call and find out what they've worked out. I don't want to find out on the night of the open house that things still aren't in order. I really want him to start the acceleration on the first day of school and I really want to be able to introduce him to both teachers at the open house. There is another boy who also is requesting harder work in math, but he hasn't had any of the ability testing or achievement testing done (other than the MAP), so he isn't likely to be subject accelerated but will be placed in the same 2nd grade class. We know this boy and he is bright in math, but not nearly at the level of DS or even really above-level in anything but math. Still, it will be an added benefit to have another mathy kid in his class. While scheduling would be easier, we don't want to do a full grade acceleration because in all things non-academic he seems to get a good fit with the class he's in now after having skipped K.

As far as summer goes, he's just having a good time relaxing, traveling, swimming, and playing soccer. He's been writing a letter today to his 1st grade teacher and I'm really impressed with how good he is at spelling now. I think the Words Their Way curriculum they used last year really helped him internalize a lot of spelling rules (even though the words themselves were way too easy) and now he just seems to "get" spelling. So that's fun to see. The one thing that he didn't know how to do on the end-of-2nd year math test he took in May was rounding (it hadn't come up at home yet), so we talked about that one day while we were swimming and now he's got that down cold.

The one problem we're having is that when people ask him what grade he's going to be in next year, he always says second *and* third. Of course that always leads to a lot of questions for me, but to him that seems normal since year-before-last his sister did essentially do 2nd and 3rd grade together. I've told him just to say 2nd, but so far it's not working! I try not to call any attention to the fact that my kids' academic programs are different than the norm, although I will answer questions honestly but briefly when asked, but he's not helping! On the other hand, he's just stating fact when asked and not bragging, so maybe he's got it right?

mnmom, I think he's got it right! I generally blame the school when I get asked and it usually shuts people right up. Afterall, for us, it was the school's decision to test, etc... but most people who know us/know DS know he needed to be skipped. Thankfully not too many strangers ask further than the "he is?" when he says "going into 2nd", and I reply "yes, he is".

Hi everyone! I hope you don't mind if I join in, even though my DD7 is technically a year older than the group.

She's scheduled to be a 2nd grader when school starts in 4 more weeks. At the end of first, she asked to be grade-skipped to 3rd, so we signed her up for testing, which will be the last week in July. She's since decided she'll be happier as a 2nd grader (the unhappiness of an unchallenging school year being a distant memory, and the unhappiness of being in a class of new kids being all too close), so we'll see how the testing goes. I think that just about any outcome (full grade skip, subject acceleration, no acceleration) could be a good placement for her in one way or another.

We're adding a second dance class, along with swim lessons, but I think she wants to drop the Nutcracker, so a net increase of one activity. If she gets a full grade skip, she may want more downtime after school, and we'd cut back again.

We just started Open Enrollment EPGY math, and DD seems to be enjoying it, although it took some adjusting to make it work for us. I don't think we're at the right level yet, but it's moving fast enough that DD isn't unhappy.

We don't get teacher assignments until a few days before school starts, and any in-class enrichment is at the teacher's discretion, so hopefully we'll get a teacher who can find ways to challenge her. I wish I knew what to suggest - helping other kids seems to be popular among teachers, but one of DD's complaints about first grade was that she had to help the other kids.

Wow, some of you start the school year early! Ours starts in September, so there's plenty of time to worry. DS6 is accelerating into 2nd grade at our local public school next year, with 3rd grade reading and math. Not sure if that will be with other kids or by himself. DS6 is moving to the 2-4 grade center, so it will be all new principal, teachers, kids, etc. We don't know anything about teacher assignment and haven't even met the principal, since we got notice of the skip the week after school ended, when everyone was starting vacation. Oh well! We'll start over in a few weeks, I guess.

DS6 seems pretty excited about the skip. At a party, a stranger asked us what grade DS was going into, and I said 2nd. DS was in earshot, so he piped up, "I was in kindergarten and now I'm going to 2nd!" I was planning on just not talking about it at all!

One of the items on the list of things 2nd graders are supposed to know: tying your shoes. I laugh at this, because I have so few shoes with laces myself. DS has even fewer. I'm sure this is mostly a concern when they didn't have all the shoe options and the teachers were required to tie everyone's shoes... We shall give it a go, but I fear success will be difficult, since I can't come up with a good answer to "why do I have to do this?" at this point!

Good luck to everyone with all the different school options. I love to read about all the different choices - this is where I get my great advocacy ideas.

We won't start until Sept. either, SPG. Public school starts in August here, but we're going to continue our laidback summer schedule until the school-for-homeschoolers starts up.

And LOL about your DS6 blowing your grade skip cover. Ha!

Joining the party! My DD just turned 6 this summer. She had a very successful year homeschooling a little, and playing and exploring quite a bit. She's accelerated in everything with the possible exception of writing. Since we're homeschooling and she's young for grade, I'm still probably going to take almost a laid back approach with her for another year. She does have things she needs to do, but it doesn't take more that 30-45 minutes. She takes violin lessons and does many extra activities (dance, circus, swimming, others on occasion). Lots of social time is important to her.

We aren't starting until September either! We are going on vacation right after labor day and starting after that. It's been great taking advantage of off peak travel!

When my kids are asked what grade they're in, they just say the age appropriate one. I've found, 95% of the time people really are interested in age and don't want the specifics of our homeschool day. If people ask more questions, I go into it. Many times I've found if people start asking questions they have some sort of context for understanding more info. Sometimes my kids will be reading, or my son will start talking on some topic, and I might get another question. I don't downplay it. I just say they are strong readers or very verbal, etc.

St Pauli Girl - I tried teaching DS6 about a year ago how to tie his shoe, and he wouldn't do it. I dropped it, as his shoes were mainly velcro anyway. And then all of a sudden I realized he had been tying his jogging pants' strings. He taught himself. I guess. LOL

Ds7 (June birthday) will be in 2nd grade - school starts August 16th. When he was in 1st, they accelerated him to 2nd in math, but could only manage 3 days a week, due to scheduling problems. This year, his 2nd grade teacher, and his 3rd grade math teacher are supposed to be arranging their schedule so he can go every day. Fingers crossed that this actually happens ! His 2nd grade teacher this year is the same one he went to math for last year - and the 3rd grade teacher I also know, as her son used to attend my daycare He does have one girl in his grade that is almost at his reading level, so I'm sure they'll be grouped together again. His teacher last year gave him his own spelling list, and I'm pretty sure that will carry on this year. Last year they let him attend the ULE (gifted) program starting in about Feb, even though he hadn't been tested yet. In May, he tested into the program, so he'll start with it straight away. I'm interested to see how it goes - the school so far have been wonderful, and are happy to have ds there and to help challenge him. We went to a science evening in May, and the principal pulled us aside, and told us that in 15 years he had never met a child like ds - smart, social, kind, etc etc etc. Always good to hear LOL
As for tying shoes - he tried a few times, but didn't have the patience - then tried agaim when he was about 6 1/2, and figured it out in about 20 minutes. Still wears velcro shoes, though - it's so much easier !

I found out yesterday that DS6's new school does reading buddies with the upper grades. This is FANTASTIC news. There was a few kids in his old school that were close, but I think having an older kid to read with will be beneficial. Now, wouldn't it be nice to have math buddies too?

JJsMom, the reading buddies sound like a good plan. We did that through our library program a few years ago, and DS loved it! The older elem kids are so good with the younger ones, too, so it's really heartwarming for everyone.

Math buddies would be great! I just learned about math circles and am considering trying to get one together. That, or an OM team. I'm going to offer it as another idea at our charter. So far they've been really great and have offered to try and start spelling bee and geography teams at my request, even though DS6 doesn't even make the regional age criteria. Unfortunately, to get anything going, I'm probably going to have to coach, and we're always close to schedule overload as it is.

I have a funny story with shoe-tying, too... DS6 learned it when he was 4, and we even made a book about the story he created to go with it. However, he always had trouble getting his tight sneakers on by himself, so all through K he wore slide on/velcro shoes. About a month ago, I realized that he had completely forgotten how to tie his shoes, and he had to learn it all over again! We also realized that his sneaker laces are too short since he can't tie as tight as you or I would, and the loops keep coming untied. We end up tying them for him so they don't come undone and double-knotting for him, which just perpetuates the can't-do-on-own-anymore cycle. Whatever did we do at that age? It just didn't seem as complicated back then, did it?? LOL

DS (6 in 4 days) had an unchallenging year in K and ultimately we decided to do k12 at home with him through the CA Virtual Academy. We're hoping this will be the fit he needs as we were getting nowhere with the school. It didn't help that his whole school structure changed - principal, 1st grade and 2nd grade teachers, etc. so we had no hope of picking a teacher and then meeting with them.

We did apply to DYS on July 1 so we'll see how that goes I guess I think k12 will be the right fit for him, whether he stays at 1st grade lvl in name or moves up he should be able to do 3rd grade math within a few weeks of starting at least.

We too won't start till September. The summer break pretty much just started and school seems so far away right now.


Same here. The only problem is that I sometimes need a few seconds to remember which grade my older one is supposed to be in

DS6 still has to learn how to tie his shoes. One of these days we will get to it.

Yeah, I have the same memory problem, LMom. LOL!

Hi All,

I've been lurking for months now, and have finally admitted to myself that we belong here, so I guess this will be a good place for us to begin. My DS6 did half a year of kindergarten last fall and was tested with the WISC-IV in October. Based on those results and his frustration with what we were trying to teach him, in January we bumped up to Year 1. We ended up tweaking as we went through the next few months because it was clear that this wasn't a good fit for him either. Though, we did continue to call it kindergarten since that's where he would be in public school based on his age.

We never schooled in any way before this, though books and natural learning were always a part of our lives. The growth that we've seen since January has been staggering. I'm a bit scared to see where he'll be this time next year, if this year's growth was a good indication.

Two months ago I spent several weeks pulling our curriculum together for the upcoming year. No sooner had I finished than he made one of those huge leaps that these children make; it made it clear that I would need to go back and change some things. So, I'm currently taking a school break and tweaking our curriculum for next year. We school year-round (or intend to), but take short breaks throughout the year.

We are currently doing an art class and swimming lessons, both of which will end on Friday. Our guitar teacher isn't going to be teaching this fall, so I'm not sure what we'll do about music. He will be taking art classes this fall, but that's all we're sure of at this point.

I think we'll be starting up with school again in a few weeks, once I'm able to finalize our schedule. To be honest, if I don't have him focused on school each day, he completely wears me out with all that his mind comes up with. My house is no longer my own. I have lost the battle it would seem. It is now a natural history museum, an engineering testing facility, and a library (to name a few). ;-)

DS6 has DYS qualifying scores, but I've yet to apply. Initially, I didn't really feel the need to do it, though that has certainly changed over the past few months. Social issues have always been our biggest 'problem' with him, so we're hoping that if we do join, we'll be able to wrangle up a few friends for him eventually, even if they aren't nearby. ;-) When having his vision checked a few months ago, and again yesterday at a physical, he engaged the doctors in a way that reminded me that it is important for him to connect with people on his level at some point, and since he's clearly much more intelligent than either of his parents, I think we're going to have to be very proactive in seeking out others.

Hope to get to know everyone throughout the year. :-)

thanks for continuing the thread JJsMom!

Nice to hear from folks, new and not-so-new.


My ds6 has been going to fun camps and we have had less time for "academics". Well, not really. He still asks plenty of questions about math, how the world works, etc. (How were you born, Mom? How was the first person in the world born? etc...)
we still do math problems at breakfast lunch and dinner. DS is also reading more.

I have tried not to think too much about 1st grade the way I obsessed over K. It is certainly nice to hear everyone's experiences. I am trying not to be GWE (green with envy) for Kriston's co-op. It sounds lovely. Hope you get the math bits figured out.

Based on the first grade open house they had last spring I am hoping 1st grade will at least be more interesting, if not more challenging. In otherwords, I have to accept that they won't be doing multiplication but at least they will have more special projects, field trips etc.

In our district 1st grade is where "the real work" begins. My (mostly likely) MG kid has been ready for it for a long time now. As Irisheyes' dd pointed out, "enough with the single digit addition already!"

I am glad we still have half the summer left. At the same time I am kind of looking forward for the school year to begin. We've always "afterschooled" so I am looking forward to putting together our own learning plan for the fall.

EW

Thanks. I hope so, too.

BTW, the place the kids go is an actual school, not a co-op. I point this out not to be nit-picky (and I hope I don't seem nit-picky!), but so that people realize that there are a wide, wide range of options possible for homeschooling kids. This school was started by a homeschooling mom because she wanted something like it for her kids. If it sounds good to other people, maybe the idea can be transplanted!

Co-ops are generally significantly less "formal" than this school. The nonprofit, secular school isn't accredited and is geared to homeschoolers, but it has its own building that is dedicated solely to the school, the teachers and full-time administrative staff are paid, they write evaluations of each kid and will give letter grades if families desire those, they assign homework, they have yearbooks and school dances. Over 150 families--most with more than one child--attend at least one class there.

It's basically college but for kids aged 3-18. Take what you want and don't take what you don't need.

I'd love to see places like this springing up wherever there is a good contingent of homeschoolers, frankly, because I think it meets so many of the needs that we homeschoolers have.

Sorry to interrupt the conversation with my clarification. Carry on!

I'd love to see this as well. I wonder if the school actually is financially sound, particularly in these tough economic times. GWE for me too!

Grinity

Hi Everyone,

DS5 will start first grade late in August at his small private school. His school combines grades 1&2 and 3&4, so he'll be in a multi-age class of 11 or 12 total kids. It's a great fit for him. Even though he was only 4 when he started kindergarten last year, some of his best friends at school were in first grade; this year they'll be classmates. The school develops an individualized curriculum for each student in all core subjects, so age isn't determinative of academics, and DS can get 5th grade language arts instruction and third grade math as a five year old in a class of first and second graders, many of whom are also working several grades ahead. I just hope DS likes his teacher, because he'll have her for the next two years!

If we had something like this in my area, I would actually consider homeschooling.

Grinity: The woman in charge isn't great with money. They are always just scraping by. Still, they moved up to a bigger building closer to the city not long ago. They also started a preschool which they expect to help with the school's finances, since they have plenty of space in the building that they're not using.

Frankly, the tuition we pay seems very low compared to accredited private schools in the area. They had a small price hike for next year, but it wasn't much. Since classes only meet 4 days a week instead of 5, it makes sense that it would be cheaper than a traditional school, but I've comparison shopped schools. This one is truly priced low, but so far it seems to be making ends meet.

The bright side to having a school that's struggling a bit financially is that it is in their interest to keep our kids.

Another great alternative that some areas are starting are the homeschool charters. We're incredibly lucky to have one in a school district near us, and we were able to get a signoff to jump the county line to join it. We have certified teachers who work closely with us (similarly to the YS consultants, but on a bi-weekly basis), and lots of optional workshops (writing, AIMS, spanish, art, etc). It's not an all-day class style like Kriston's family has, but it's a nice option because we can jump around with grade levels in the various workshops.

Since the charter is a public school, it is also free to attend. Best of all, the state $ allocated to our child gets spread much further than in a regular school, so they are able to buy us all the curriculum and special items I've asked for, including Usborne books, etc. They can also host a lot of field trips even though the regular schools no longer have the funding.

Every time I read an article where charter schools are attacked, I hold my breath. I don't know what we'd do without our charter, and it's so nice not to have to spend DSs' college savings and activity funds on private school tuition. I think California is leading the way on these. They're such a blessing for us that if you see one come up in your area, I encourage you to check them out!

I wish we had something free like that. As cheap as our school is, it's more expensive than free!

Thanks JJsmom for starting this thread back up. It's great to hear so many of you have such good plans. Welcome to the new folks!

We haven't been too focused on worrying about school for DS6 -- mostly because he got into the magnet program for grade 1. Lots of parents in the area have great things to say about the school and it's equipped to both give DS a peer group and accelerate him where he needs. I'm still kind of shocked that he ended the school year reading at 4th grade level, according to his teacher. He seems to have slowed down a bit for the summer, which is fine -- and probably means he'll make some massive leap at some point soon, sigh.

He did INSIST on buying tie sneakers so he could learn to tie them. We're now over the frustration phase (mostly mine b/c he would patiently keep trying to tie the laces, making me wait for an hour or more until he got it ... and he WOULD NOT let me show him how to do it.) And his swimming has grown by leaps and bounds.

Our bigger issues have been in figuring out what will happen next year with DS8. We're trying to get him into a different school for the fall that would be a good fit. Our fingers are crossed that the county approves the application. Our district does a bunch of testing at the end of 2nd grade, and it turned out that he tested in the 99th percentile for quantitative in both the InView and Raven -- well, Raven, he was in the 99th percentile for a 9 1/2 yr old and he was exactly 8 when he took it. We've never tested the kids, and while I've always known that he's a math-focused kid, the scores surprised me.

He's been getting math 1 yr accelerated since 1st grade, but could probably go a bit faster if given the material. He asked in June to do 4th grade math over the summer, but we've been so busy that there hasn't been much time for him to do the workbooks. Plus, unlike DS6, he isn't really a self-motivated kid, particularly if the material comes from mom.

Thanks for the clarification. I don't mind at all. In fact, I am a big fan of being precise. Feel free to continue being as descriptive and nit-picky as you like.

And... Now I am even MORE jealous. LOL

- EW

I'm not sure I knew this... maybe I did and just forgot (I'm good at losing my mind), but that's fantastic news!!!

Hello Everyone! Summer is just getting started here so I am not thinking about fall too much yet...we don't start until after Labor day and just got out 2 weeks ago. ; ) DS6 is going into 2nd grade in our local public school. He is excited about going to second with some of the same kids from school...although not sure what class he will be in yet. We are hopeful that he will get a good teacher that will differentiate like last year. They are going to skype him into a 4th grade math class for the year, at least that is the plan for now. They acknowledge he is above 4th grade math curriculum for the most part...so not sure how this will work as he moves through things at such a quick pace. I can't imagine him going at the same pace as the rest of the class. I am excited that they are going to give him a curriculum though, this past year they just gave him some enrichment and random math sheets from anywhere between 3rd - 6th grade and that was it. And he will continue with the enrichment next year too, which he loves. We are still working on getting him the reading acceleration that he desperately needs. Hopefully he will get accelerated a few grades for that as well.

Regarding the questions, that still happens. DS used to always tell people he skipped K when they would ask him if he was in K. I kept telling him that he didn't need to say that and could just say "I am in first." But it was true that usually there were more questions. This week we were at the dentist he said to DS "so you are going to be going into first" and DS said "no, second" The dentist was confused and looked at his chart and back at DS and said "I am confused, am I doing this right?" and I responded with "yup, your math is correct...but he is going into second." He didn't say anything else about it. So yes, there are still some questions and it is still annoying sometimes...but DS knows what is going on so it's not that hard to just say that that is what he needs.

AND he doesn't know how to tie his shoes yet either. We have only showed him once so we need to get on that. I just don't want it to be something that makes him stand out or makes others tease him about it...so we will have to buckle down....or tie down, whatever. : )

LOL! Last summer I made sure to teach DS how to tie his shoes before he started school, and he learned how. But, during the school year he ended up slipping on his shoes without untying them and so, over the course of the year, he has forgotten. I think I've told him 10 times this summer that he's going to have to relearn how to tie his shoes before school starts, but we haven't quite gotten to that yet! So, add us to the list of needing to buckle/tie down!

I was actually pleasantly surprised this past year when dd's kindergarten teacher sent home a rotating kit with practice puzzles for tying your shoes. You got to keep the kit for one night - brought it back the next day - and had an opportunity to tie for the teacher. If you succeeded, you got your name on the wall of fame.

This approach might be stressful for some kids (it was stressful for this mom) - but my dd found it very motivating. She really wanted her name on that wall so she learned how to do it in one night.

If the teacher hadn't sent the kit home, I probably wouldn't have even thought about tying shoes (we are a velcro/slip-on kind of family).

School starts here the latter part of August. GD6 had a rough year in full day Kindergarten last year largely due to boredom but also because of her very high intensity/anxiety. She will be in 1st grade this fall but at least she is to be in a GT classroom all day - not sure if the entire class will be GT or not (or what LOG). They are also supposed to be ability grouped for at least reading and math. I hope there are some other kids that are close to her level of reading (4th grade). We won't meet the teacher until the Thurs or Fri before classes start but we are hoping for a better teacher fit this year. She also has an IEP & BIP (due to "general anxiety disorder" and will have a 30 minute "social skills" class 1st thing each morning & a Sp. Ed teacher assigned to be called first if she has anxiety or behavior issues.

So we are hoping this year will be better but only time will tell. DD is willing to give it a chance before pursuing other school options.

GD has not learned to tie her shoes yet but we haven't really worked on it either. She only has one pair of tennis shoes with laces but I guess we should work on that too!

Our kindergarten asked that kids wear lace-up shoes so that they got practice tying shoes.

DS6 is such a highly emotional perfectionist that shoe-tying was a source of many tears this past spring. I held firm. He needed to *try* to tie them every day (assuming we weren't in a hurry). If he made a good-faith effort and still couldn't do it, then I would help him.

He's quite good at it now. The biggest problem for him was that he likes to have his shoes tied very tightly, and a new shoe-tyer simply can't get the laces that tight. There were times when he would tie them just fine but would be unhappy with how loose they were, and then I would redo them for him, showing him how I got them to be tight. That was just fine with me: he got the practice that he needed and that's all I cared about. I think the fact that I was willing to redo them for him also helped him to get past his perfectionism about it. He wasn't going to be stuck with his imperfect tying if he didn't want to be.

I almost never tie his shoes for him anymore. He does prefer flip-flops, but he ties his own shoes when tennies are needed.

Hi! - I Hope it isn't too late for me to join in. My DS6 will be starting first grade in September. We were living in Sydney AU for two years, and just moved back to the US. It is a new school for DS, and big changes. We met with the school a few weeks ago and they mentioned a pullout for reading, but nothing else. I don't want to be "that parent" but after reading so many stories on this board I realize that we do have to advocate when necessary. We're more interested in finding a teacher that "gets" DS and will work with him. DS isn't very motivated academically unless it is something that he is interested in, so we haven't really felt the need to advocate. Maybe that will change this year.

JJsmom: Tx! By the way, got the letter TODAY that DS8 got into the school we wanted. Woo-hoo!

Kriston: Gotta love those perfectionists, huh? At least your DS would let you tie them for him. Mine wouldn't have it. He had tremendous fits anytime I'd try to help him. It drives me crazy sometimes.

GM5: Keeping my fingers crossed for you that the year goes well.

Venture: Welcome!

M22B: I got really good at reasoning him out of his fits. Also, I would never help unless he asked me to OR unless we had somewhere to be and we were late. Multiple warnings helped him to let go and allow me to do it in the latter case.

If he had really wanted to tie his shoes, he'd have probably fought me harder. Since I was requiring that he try to do it whether he wanted to or not, he wasn't as invested. It was sort of a judo move, I think. I used his own natural tendencies against him.

Congrats on getting DS8 into the school you wanted! That's great!

Hi All,

Is anyone else seeing a big leap in abilities and interests right now? My ds is 6-1/2 and while he's made huge leaps since he started K last fall (and Year 1 in January), what I've seen in the past two months is scary! I know that right around 7 most children enter a new phase in their development, so I'm wondering if that's what's going on here. We homeschool and didn't start doing so until last fall, so I'm not sure if what we're seeing has been sparked by the richer environment or if this is normal for these children. I'm really just curious if anyone else is experiencing this right now, too.

Mom2MrQ - If you had asked me this six months ago I'd totally agree, but lately it's the exact opposite. My DS is 6.5 (Dec baby) and in the last three months his enthusiasm has dropped. Although I tend to think it has more to do with our move back to the US (We lived abroad for two years), and the changes that go along with coming back home. He used to love to play guitar, and now he fights not to play or practice. He was enrolled in a pottery class in AU that he loved so we enrolled him in a pottery camp here. I had to agree to stay with him the entire first class just to get him to agree to go. He had confidence and perfection issues beforehand, but it has taken a real nosedive since we returned. We're hoping we can improve the situation before starting school in September, we're considering seeing a counselor even for a few sessions to assist with the transition.

Mom2MrQ - I wish that this was the case. Originally I had planned to homeschool during the summer (very casual, just a bit in the AM, beach in the afternoons) but 3 days ago I declared that we were all officially on summer vacation because I thought that my head was going to implode. Since then my DD6 has been cutting up fashion mags obsessively. Fashion magazines!!!! She found a pile for sale at our local library! It's making me crazy but my lips are sealed. She hasn't even been reading, which is very very out of character. Unless you consider the "top ten beauty tips for the fall of 2008" reading. She's 6 did I mention that? She's on some sort of learning/academic strike.

Annaliisa

Yikes!!! Teacher Meet-N-Greet is NEXT Tuesday!!! Man this school year is fast approaching for us!!!

My ds is 6.5 and a December baby, too.


That's quite a transition. A counselor would probably be a good idea just to help him along.

I did the same thing! This is where I've seen the most growth in him, really. I decided that we would take a break for a week. "No, two weeks. Okay, three, but that's it." Here we are going into August and we're probably not going to get going again for two more weeks.


My ds did this same sort of thing right after we stopped schooling at the end of June. He cut paper and crafted for two weeks, and then he moved on to building structures and making several "inventions" per day. He's now made his reentry into the world of books and has been reading a lot this week.

As I watched him cut, paste, color, and glue those first two weeks after we stopped school, and then later move on to the inventions, I realized that he really did need that time down to do whatever his mind could come up with each day. I could see his elation at being free to create whatever he wanted to create. A lot of learning took place this past month doing seemingly mindless activities. So, it's possible that this is really something that your daughter needs right now. Maybe she'll perk up again in a few weeks.

I just want to amen that! This summer has gone by faster than any other that I can recall.

Aww, mine too!

This is what happened with us this summer, too. I intended to do some kind of math and other subject review a few hours a week, but dropped this idea because DS's time has been filled with "unschooling" types of learning. He's doing fabulous creative writing with all of his Harry Potter "wizard camp" ideas, inventing new things with his Legos, and constantly figuring out higher level math problems simply out of curiosity (how many hours in a week? How many days old is his brother? How many years ago was the Declaration of Independence signed?). After we've thrown in taekwondo/soccer/swimming (all using brainpower while learning new gross motor skills), 2 rounds of vacation bible school (character/friends), art camp (fine motor), science camp, and traveling, we've inadvertently filled the summer with lots of engaging activities without the tv/computer (yay!) or workbooks (double-yay!).

Hello! I thought I'd join up and introduce us.

We have DD6 who did K last year through our K12 charter school. Our plan initially was for her to do it for one year then go to the same school her older sister went to. K12 worked out really well for us so not only is DD6 sticking with it, but DD9 opted to leave her private school to school at home as well. We're taking it year by year at this point with both girls.


DD6 finished K and 1st grade math, reading and phonics last year. She is aware that she is doing mostly 2nd grade work so when asked what grade she is in she will say "1st and 2nd". I let her go with it and deal with any possible responses because she is just stating a fact. We've had to deal with some issues similar to this with our older DD. DD9 is coming from a very egalitarian schooling environment with an emphasis on educational political correctness. It was literally, "Don't say X,Y or Z because you might hurt someones feelings.". We had to sit down and gauge which was worse: dealing with people's possible negative responses to a stated fact or dealing with the possible emotional and developmental consequences to our child when we downplayed the truth. We decided that our first priority was to our children. We can not control how people may react to a simple statement of fact but we can control how we model dealing with these situations to our children. This is still a hot-button issue for me though as I am just now coming out of that environment that said we basically needed to hide our DD's intelligence for fear of hurting the feelings of others. It did have an impact on DD9 who was convinced that no one knew she was smart and she lost faith in her educational environment because of it. Because of that experience we stick to the facts and let our kiddos choose how they identify.

Another 6.5 yr old here (early Jan. b-day)!

DS also seems to be a bit on strike. He's been much more interested in drawing and cutting this summer and his creations have been way more intricate, like many multi-headed Hydra, so I suppose it's just something he was ready to do. He's barely reading; he just wants us to read to him. I haven't been pushing it; I'm hoping that he'll get back to reading himself when he's ready.

He is in a full-day camp right now with tons of really cool stuff, so I'm guessing that's part of it.

This may be a little off-topic, because people are really talking more about academics ... but my dd who is only just 6 (summer birthday) has really surprised me this summer with her physical development. While not really delayed, I would previously have considered her average or slightly below in terms of coordination. She's been about on par with her highly athletic 4.5 yo sister.

However, this summer she has really clicked on so many physical things. I hope it doesn't sound like bragging, but I find it really exciting! She learned to ride a bike without training wheels, learned to swim across the deep end, jump and dive off the diving board and hit a tennis ball over the net. She couldn't do any of those things 3 months ago.

Her more cerebral passions (reading, legos, math) don't seem to have suffered, though we haven't seen any major leaps this summer. She did teach herself her multiplication tables because she said she's hoping, "we'll get to move on to some hard math this year in first grade." Fingers crossed...

My DD6 definitely made some major leaps in her physical development this year. After refusing to get on a bike since birth, she is now riding (with training wheels, but she's on it!!!). Two days ago she figured out how to swing without being pushed. I know that these may sound like minor accomplishments but for her this development is HUGE!

She's still cutting up fashion magazines, however, just before she fell asleep tonight she said, 'I think I'm almost done with the magazines'. And yesterday she wrote a short book (that did involve a fairy in a fashion show). Usually she just writes a couple of sentences per page, but this one was full pages of text. So, thanks Seventeen Magazine, your summer romance and beauty advice have somehow dramatically improved my DD's writing skills. I wonder what Cosmo could do?

And... DD is 6.5 early Jan baby

Irisheyes - I noticed this spring season in baseball, that DS6.5 has really improved physically. He has always been coordinated and average to above average compared to his age peers, but he is now what I would consider above average.

I hear that 6-7 is really when children really fit into their own skin and bones.

That really makes sense, JJsMom. I'm going to remember that...

Annaliisa, congrats on all of the physical development of your dd. I think those things are great!

I don't know about you, but I have found it very enlightening to have a child who is slower in the athletic/coordination department. When I would see a younger child swimming across the pool, I would think, "Wow! It's possible for a 3-year-old to do that?" I'm sure that's how people must have felt hearing my dd read things. Like when then 3-year-old dd looked at a sample tube of tooth paste and said, "Look mom! This has 100% cavity protection!" Her dentist still talks about that one...

I love this. Just a couple of weeks ago, DS5's tae kwon do instructor told me he needs to work on his push ups, and I actually asked him "Can most 5 year olds really DO push ups?"

I'll be looking forward to that physical leap in a year or so. DS5 still won't go near a bike.

Our DS6 isn't very physical either. He hates his bike, along with most sports, because he's not very good at physical stuff. He's very cautious about everything and likes to spend a good deal of time watching before participating. But he wants to try soccer this fall. I had to get special permission to have him play with the K-1 group instead of the grade 2-6 group. I was disappointed to learn that our local Y offers sports by grade, rather than age. We are in a smallish town, so the Y dominates the sports activities outside of school. Luckily, they bent their policy when they learned the facts. It just made me think that there may be a lot of special permissions we'll have to get in the next several years. Sigh.

Re: push ups -- The gymnastics coach told us that DS-then-5 needed to do push ups to get some arm strength. I thought she was joking at first. We never could get him to do it.

Last night one of our adult friends asked DS6 if he was going into first grade. DS responded with glee that he was skipping first and going into second. I'm wondering if any of you with kids who have been accelerated have found something for your kids to say instead of the bragging "I'm skipping!" In this case, it led to a bunch of adults asking DS math questions, which we haven't experienced before.

So, um, I'm NOT at all impressed with DS6.5's new school or his new teacher... I mean, she had a lot to deal with yesterday, BUT without mentioning specifics, I'm just going to wait the first week (two days this week & a full week next week) to see if I need to step in.

Oh, I'm just hoping it was just MY OWN anxiety issues beating me down and not anything more than that.

I'm a mess this morning. DS6.5 got on the bus to go to school. He didn't want me to take him. DH checked in on him though (to ease MY worries). I'm pretty proud of him going to a new school, not knowing anyone but one 5th grader, all by himself.

But inside, I'm a total disaster! LOL

JJs Mom, I know how you feel! The fact that he was feeling so independent ia a great sign, though. That sounds like he was excited and ready to go this morning. Plus, I've discovered that nobody makes friends faster than 6 year old boys!. They're nonjudgmental, sweet, and they speak the universal "boy" language when it comes to things like Legos, Star Wars, HP, and those kinds of areas.

I'm sure he'll have a wonderful first day, and please let us know how he enjoys it. ((Hugs))

I will and thanks!

JJsMom -- That all sounds so stressful!

First of all, just embarking on a new school is a big deal. And then you had the negative vibes from yesterday. Just remember, your son's experience and impressions will not necessarily be the same as yours ... and he may be having an awesome time. If it's anything like your experience last year, hopefully the teacher will notice his gifts and talents all on her own.

Please, like gratefulmom says, keep us posted..

I'm sure he's having a fantastic time! He was so ready to go back! I'm much calmer now. ha.

For the record, he had a GREAT first day. He also, oddly enough, has a girl in his class at the new school that went to his old school last year. Now, of course, they didn't do much instruction yesterday, so we'll see how next week works out.

Glad all went well !! I'm a bit nervous about this year - school starts on the 16th - ds7 will be in a familiar teachers class in 2nd grade (he went to her for math when he was in 1st grade) - but I don't know her at all. After having a wonderful 1st grade teacher who did so much for him, I'm afraid I've been spoiled and will have to be more "that parent" this year. Hope not !

NCPMom - that's MY fear. Last year DS6's teachers were GREAT. I just hope I don't have to push much this year.

I was looking for something else, and came across my notes from last year's Meet The Teacher night (a few days after school starts, the teacher meets with all the parents to talk about her plans for the coming year). We'd had a great kindergarten teacher, and I was a bit nervous about first grade. My notes say I didn't like DD's new first grade teacher at all - and it turned out that she was a wonderful teacher for DD.

Ours is next week - the open house. I actually can't wait. Hid excitement has calmed my anxieties greatly.

I'm so glad your DS liked his first day of school and your stress has subsided! (And I still can't believe he's started school already! Still a month left before school starts here.)

We are getting excited about the start of 2nd grade, too! Meet the teacher in 1 1/2 weeks, then school starts in 2 weeks! My son is very very excited. Last year at meet the teacher, the first thing out of his mouth was, "Are you a nice teacher?" We will see what pops out this time around.... Nan

JJsmom: So glad DS is happy so far and calming your fears! Think positively. This year's GOT to be better than last year.

Can't believe you guys have already started. My boys are counting down the days. School starts Aug. 30 here. Still dealing with the whole switching school thing. Got back to school paperwork from the wrong school for DS8. Still trying to make sure his records are at the new school and that THEY send me back to school paperwork. Am worried about what teacher he'll get as they apparently haven't yet looked at his file. Sigh.

Encountered something today I haven't really faced before. Wondering how you guys would have handled it:

DS6 and I were at the aquarium. Now all kids have their expertise and DS6's happens to be many different kinds of creatures (sea creatures, frogs, cheetahs, etc.) He was really excited to see the Electric Eel and proceeded to tell me all sorts of things about it excitedly, including that it's not an eel and why. He had read a book about electric fish last year.

Well, this just didn't sit well with the many other kids around him. Kids were trying to correct him. He was getting irate with them, explaining exactly WHY the Electric Eel is a fish and not an eel. These kids ranged from 10 on down and just kept arguing with him. One parent called it an eel loudly to her kids, clearly perturbed at my son. I prompted him quietly to explain how he knew what he was saying, and he said he read it in a book. Eventually, the crowd broke and we moved on.

But really, how do you handle it when your kid is being a know-it-all ... even if he is right?

I think I would have been perturbed with the parent who felt the need to proclaim eel loudly. I suspect that parent went home and looked it up only to find that they were in the wrong. But I do understand your concern about 'know-it-all' attitude and the knocks he will get along the way. Today might be a good experience for you to discuss with him. That it isn't necessarily the facts but how we present it that can change the outcome. Perhaps he could have listened to the arguments of the other kids and found something positive to respond to without giving in to them?

I have a hard time with this one too... and when DS is WRONG, it's even harder to deal with. He does not like to be wrong (must've gotten that one from me). I'm not sure how I would've handled it in public. I haven't had to experience that yet.

Oh, and DS got on the bus Friday instead of going straight into ASP (After School Program). SIGH... back to anxiety issues. And of course, it was DS who convinced everyone he needed to ride the bus. I sent him with a note today that stated that no matter what HE says, he is in ASP. Sigh.

It may be time to teach him the art of insincerity. If he says "It's not an eel," and the other kids say "Yes it is," and don't seem interested in discussing the whys and wherefores, it's time for a polite, non-committal "mmm" or "oh." You can teach him that this doesn't mean "You're right," it means "I understand that you think that."

Do you really think he was being a know-it-all? I'm not sure that I would have felt that way. (Perhaps because I am that way!) It is extremely difficult for these children to just let these kinds of things go. I've always been very much like this and it still causes a little friction in my life. For me, it's not about me being right, so much as it's about keeping error and falsehoods from contaminating things.

As far as being insincere and letting the person think they are right, I agree that there is definitely a time to just let it go. We usually allow two --three at the most --volleys before we drop the issue. However, we don't ever allow ds to say anything that isn't fully truthful (as far as we know it to be truthful). False flattery, "white" lies, shading the truth... none of these are allowed. So, simply saying something like "We'll have to agree to disagree" is the best we can do when someone wants to argue to the point where things begin to heat up.

Perhaps you can just teach him, as someone else suggested, that he can calmly try to present his point, then drop it if things seem to be going in a bad direction. Teach him to stand on his own, being confident in his own knowledge that he's right, because he will often find himself in this place due to his knowledge and inborn potential.

Mom2MrQ: Tx for the perspective. I don't really think he was being a know-it-all, but that was the only way I could think of to get my point across. You have some great advice. I'll try that next time (as I'm sure there WILL be a next time).

JJsmom: I have the SAME problem with DS when he's wrong. He just INSISTS that he's right, even when I prove to him otherwise. By the next day, though, he often reverts to what I proved to him and we're over the hump. It's too bad you don't live close by. I suspect our kids would either love each other or happily constantly argue with each other! ;-)

This is DS for sure. And I think you're right. If they did argue the whole time, at least it wouldn't be with us!!!

We had Open House at ds's school last night - met his 2nd grade teacher (who he went to for math last year), and also went to his 3rd grade (math) teachers room. I was excited to see that she had a seat at a table with ds's name on, so he feels like he belongs when he's there for math ! I guess it's the little things in life that make me happy He'll go to 3rd grade for math 4 days a week - the 5th day they couldn't get math scheduled at the same time, due to specials conflicts.
Ds also started playing soccer with the 9 year old program on MOnday (he turned 7 in June) - so a busy week for my little guy - he will be SO tired next week when they start school !

Aww, I bet he was excited to see his name!!!

I'm going to join the list of 1st/2nd here.

Our dd starts first next week. She'll be the youngest in her class, since we avoided the cut-off with private K. She'll be 6 in September.

It sounds like the school is changing their schedule to make easier to accommodate ability grouping in Language Arts. Yay! They've already done a reading assessment, and they re-assess each child at the beginning of the year.

She gets to meet her new teacher tomorrow. I've heard good things.

So DS had his first day of Target (ALP pullout) yesterday. Interestingly enough, the only kids in his Target class were kids in his regular classroom. He said "almost all" of the kids in his class went... I'm guessing about half - 3/4s from what he was saying... I at first thought, hmmm, maybe they have more than one Target class for 2nd grade, but in reality there are only about 10-20 kids in Target in each grade level at most schools. So, then I thought how cool that he is in a regular classroom with these kids, so his regular 2nd grade teacher can really challenge them as opposed to do the normal curriculum.

So things might be just great!!!

Oh, and I'm actually really impressed with the school. I had my doubts because it's not a top rated school in the county, BUT he has to bring home an agenda and behavior chart each day that needs to be signed by me (the latter is already helping him behave during class - whereas last year, he wouldn't see the good days on paper, just the bad ones), and he also brings home a weekly status report, which is a portion of his report card (they are matrix report cards), and I have to sign. He got all S's (Successful) and was so proud of himself!

So now I'm back to happy with the school and excited about his opportunities!

Wow! that sounds great. I bet it's nice for the classroom teacher to have a small class during pull-out too. They can probably do some great projects appropriate to the remaining students. Suddenly the value of differentiation for everyone becomes apparent.

my thoughts exactly.

I just learned of a local (to my work, not to our house) Charter school that is math/science based. I have NO idea why I have not heard of it before... I'm shaking my head (at myself). I have requested more information, as well as requested a tour. And I have already put DC on the waiting list for next year (DD will start K, and it will be easier to drive them both instead of having one go one place and the other go farther away).

Anyway, I'm excited and mad (at myself) all in one!

Hi guys. I forgot my username and had to re-register so I'm not new but my username is

I'll try to keep this brief:
Last year DS was at a Montessori school registered in K but finished the year in 1st for reading and 2nd for math.

We moved to a new district but before we bought the house I spoke with the principal of the new school and she said she'd start working to get DS skipped to 2nd for this school year. She said that per the district there they aren't allowed to give out of grade level work so if he's in 1st he's not allowed to go to another grade for any subject or do any other work in class.

Things seemed to be going well until one day I called to check on the progress of getting him skipped and the principal informed me that she took another job and that I'd have to speak to the new principal to do the skip and he wouldn't be in until the day before school started. She had never filed the paperwork to get him moved up.

I wasn't happy. I was under the impression that all would be taken care of before school started. I called plenty of people at the school board but they said there is nothing they can do for me because a grade skip must be requested by the principal.

On the first day of school we found out that he was in a 2nd grade classroom. When we walked in I talked to the teacher about what was going on with him and she told me that she didn't think it was a good idea for him to be in 2nd grade. This was all before he even said a word. Before 9:30 that morning they had moved him to 1st grade.

The new principal called me yesterday and told me that there is no way they are skipping him to 2nd grade. That until they know him, which could take a few years, they won't even consider it. He wouldn't even listen to anything I had to say.

I talked to his teacher and she said that she felt he needed to be in 1st because of his handwriting and because he acts like a 1st grader. She said that she did send home some more difficult homework for him but it was stuff that he's known how to do since he was a baby. For math he had to count blocks and write how many there were.

I don't know where to go from here. The school board won't help me. The principal won't help me. The only thing that I can think to do at this point is to try and work with the teacher. The bad thing is I know that if DS is bored he's going to act out in class and that's going to make it harder for me to get anything done.

Last night he was reading over the homework sheet that the teacher sent the parents. He'd read what they'd be doing in each subject and would just put his head down and shake it. He told me that he feels like he'll be doing this until he's in 11th grade. I feel so bad for him. He was so excited to be in 2nd grade on the first day.

Sorry this turned out so long. I look forward to hearing how the year is going for everybody. I'm going to try and go back and read the thread now

Kriston - you sent me some homeschooling links through email a few weeks ago, I'm still reading those and hoping that I'll be able to convince everybody that's what needs to happen soon.

That's great that they did this so that he knows he belongs there!

I'm so glad things are going so well with the new school year!

DS6 started back with his homeschool charter this week. They are very supportive of my new gifted curriculum requests. They agreed to pay for DS6's EPGY OE tuition, purchase many new materials, and are enrolling in the Scripps Bee contest at my request. So far, so good!

For what it's worth, we tried both ALEKS and EPGY this week, and DS prefers EPGY. He found it more difficult to line the curser up with the "little blue boxes" on Aleks, and found the explanations dry and textbook-like. He likes the A-V on EPGY much more, and really gets into the competition on the math races. The grammar isn't too bad, either, 'though my first impression of the literature (LAW) is that we can do much better offline.

We're focusing mainly on standards during these first few weeks because when September comes, he'll be in hands-on co-ops and workshops for half of the school week.

I hope those who haven't started yet are having fun with the end of their summer vacation!

Be excited. I understand where you're coming from, believe me, but don't be mad at yourself. You can't know everything there is to know.

Aren't we telling our kids that all day long? We need to model it too! (I'm saying this at least partially to remind myself!)

I'm so sorry to hear that this happened to your son. It had to be a great disappointment to him.

I know that there is a lot of literature about working positively with the schools. See if you can find something that will help.

However if you've exhausted the more positive routes, you may want to talk to the principal and make it clear you are considering pulling your child from the school. My Mom (a Professor of education) pointed out to me that in this day and age of test scores being so important many schools are willing to jump through hoops to keep high scoring kids in their school.

At this point they may be trying to game the test scores by what grade your child is in. The Principal may also be of the opinion that you have no options. In this case letting them know what you are considering may help them decide to help you (and keep you at the school). You may also see if your state requires that Gifted Services be offered to homeschooled and private schooled children. That could be a good way of opening the conversation.

I'm sorry it's still not going well! I hope you get it worked out. If I can help with anything, let me know. It's a rotten position they've put you in.

Thanks for the reminder!

So glad things are going so well! It's nice to hear about differentiation done right!

Well it seems to be going well so far. I'm not sure what DS is actually doing in class but he still claims to love school and his teacher is sending home different homework assignments for him so I'm hopeful that she's giving him different work in class (even though it's against policy). I'm planning on meeting with her maybe next week to see how it's going.

JJsMom,
Did anything pan out with the Charter School?
Grinity

Somehow the school had to have some paperwork to move him up to 2nd grade before school started. Is there any way you can insist on seeing it? How about requesting a meeting with his teacher from last year, the principal and the school counselor?

Is there any way you can get them to assess DS with whatever end of 1st grade indicators there are? And maybe an independent education psychologist could help?

Also, is there any layer between the principal and the school board where you can make your case? We have community superintendents here.

I know, lots and lots of questions. I'm so sorry things have become so difficult. Hang in there and keep fighting for what you know is right. Another thing: Have you talked with the principal about his/her theories about grade skipping? That may help you arm yourself with the information you need to get what he needs. The principal at my former school was extremely against it. When my husband and I moved the conversation to the fact that he grade skipped 1st grade and still went to an Ivy League school on scholarship, that changed the conversation. (Husband, by the way, said 2nd grade was the worst b/c his teacher believed that children shouldn't skip grades and his handwriting was horrible. It still is!)

I know a parent who got a grade skip in the early grades here by proving her daughter's abilities. She went up to the next grade for part of the day and the school counselor watched her interactions in the new grade. The school finally agreed to move the child fully in Feb. The child is now thriving both socially and academically in a magnet middle school.

I haven't heard back yet. I was told it would be about 2 weeks before I was contacted. And I have been busy at work (too busy) to go over for a tour. But I WILL get over there at some point!

Well we can't meet with anybody from last year because we're in a different school district.

The principal is new and started the same day as the kids so I don't think that he really has a clue about what's going on. I want to talk to him but I feel like I need to wait a few weeks until the stress of the new school and new school year has worn off.

I have no idea if there's a lawyer or not. How would I find that out?

They said the move to 2nd was a mistake.

As far as I know there are no school counselors in this district and they don't allow them to move to another grade for part of the day for any reason so they wouldn't be able to observe him there. That's how we got him moved up last year though.

Not a lawyer, a layer. District administration who are above the principal, but still paid administrators (rather than the elected school board). In our district, that person would be the superintendent.

Oops I was reading too fast.

We do have a superintendent here. I wonder if he'd even take my call. I was thinking about trying him next.

Our district has a Director of Gifted Services and a Director of Student Services. You may want to check there.

I talked to the director of gifted services and other than offering enrichment an hour a week there's nothing she can do. She said they don't deal with grade skips or anything like that. I think they just focus on enrichment.

Today he came home with a pretty bad conduct grade. He told me that he has to do all of the work that the class does and then an extra worksheet. He's not too happy about having to do more work than the rest of the kids.

Well, ds7 started 2nd grade on Monday - and my reluctant reader (he can read very well, just chose not to read anything for most of the summer) - informed me that he was already on the 12th chapter of his book (he had taken in a pile of books I just bought). I asked him when he had time to read it - and he said that he read after he had finished his work and the others were still working. He also came home, picked up a book that had been laying around all summer, and read all through snack time at my daycare. I think going back to school has turned on his "oh, it IS fun to read" switch
I discovered a new source of cheap books - our local "Once Upon a Child" has tons of chapter books of all kinds for about $1 each !

that's great news NCPMom!

That's great news! We have a friends of the library bookstore here where we can get just about anything for 50 cents. Cheap books are the best things, aren't they?

By the way, another set of cheap, really good books are by Thornton Burgess. They're so old that they are in the public domain, but they still hold up really well. I've found the books are perfect for DS6, who's farther along academically but is still emotionally his own age. You can get them on Amazon for $2/$3 in book form. Or you can find them online and print them up for free and staple them in book form.

So sorry it's been so hard. That response really sounds like a cop-out to me. It's times like these that we, as parents, ought to be able to create an IEP gifted plan.

Is there anyone with some clout who can help you navigate the system?

That's so great to hear!

I'm not sure. I'm still looking. I hope to at least meet with the director of gifted soon about enrichment and bring this up again. I'm sure I'll get the same answers but it'd be great to talk face to face.

I'm sorry you've gotten this crummy response. Does your state have a gifted services coordinator? I have found our state's director very helpful. She deals with all the state's programs and she knows the laws, so she always has good advice.

Just got this e-mail from ds7's 2nd grade teacher - ""Nathaniel will be bringing home his advanced list tonight. He is telling me the words are fine. But please if he is really struggling or you think they are too hard, please let me know :)"" - mmmm - I can't wait to see what the words are :):)

Oh, do share how the word list went!

We just got notice of who DS6's 2nd grade teacher will be. It seems it's a new teacher (at least new to our district), so I won't be able to get any info ahead of time. Probably for the best! Still waiting to set up a meeting with the new principal and the new gifted coordinator too. And just 2 weeks left of summer.

On a happy note, our sports-hating boy just had his first day of soccer camp, and he loved it! Yay!

Glad to hear soccer camp went well - my kid just can't get enough of the game !! The spelling list - well, I hate to get back to the teacher and tell her it's too easy, but.... "Grandma, Clifford, happened, splash, iguana, igloo, picture, kitten, travel, magnificent..". What to do ? He got them all right this morning when I went over them with him - he just got them yesterday.

We've been trying different things with spelling lists too because I'm wondering if the point is actually to challenge them with words they can't spell, or more to add to their vocab or learn spelling "rules". DS6 is in 5th grade spelling this year, and can already spell nearly every word on the lists (as he could with the 4th grade one last semester). However, we more often run into words that he can spell but not easily define.

I've decided to move out of "spelling" and into root words and etymology studies. There seem to be good study lists on the Scripps spelling bee websites. At our request, our charter agreed to sign up for the bee, which means they'll get access to study materials for us. You may want to see if your school is enrolled and see if you can get some of those materials? http://www.spellingbee.com/resources-students

*

You guys don't even want to get me started on the whole spelling words thing. DS8 (was in 2nd grade last yr) is more of a phonic reader. Last yr, he'd get words like "beautiful" and "heirloom", etc. one week and the next week he'd get words like "junk" and "jump". What he needed was something in the middle.

B/c I was often testing DS8 on his words, DS6 got a large dose of 2nd grade (and higher) spelling in K. He's much more of a memorization kid. So, DS6 would learn DS8's words within a day or two and DS8 would be taking all week to learn them and then forget them as soon as the test was over. I became fantastic at creating funny ways to remember the words. It didn't help when there were words like heirloom that he'd never heard before and he has no reason to use.

It really drives me crazy. I can't tell what the point of spelling tests have in the early grades. It's as though the teachers give spelling just because they are supposed to, with no rhyme or reason. It was horrible last year because DS8 would have random words and then be told to write a story or create a cartoon using his spelling words.

Ultramarina: In terms of spelling lists, this site seems to have a good list: http://www.all-about-spelling.com/free-spelling-lists.html

Hello all -

How are things shaping up for 1st and 2nd graders in school, homeschoolers and everyone?

This year I have somewhat high hopes my ds6 will have a better time in 1st than in K. Remember my post last winter "vent-kindergarten cookie cutter curriculum"? lol

In first grade they should have more interesting projects, science, field trips, music, etc. I know I am looking forward to those as much as my ds.

And apparently my ds' K teacher told his new teacher that ds is "very smart". We'll see how her interpretation of plays out in the classroom. Don't want to get my hopes up too high but it is reassuring they are aware of his smartness (without my input even!) In one of his old preschools, they were completely clueless even with my input.

Back to school night is in a few weeks. I am curious to see what assessments they do between now and then.

All the best,

EW


p.s. JJsMom - thanks again for the thread

EW - That is promising that there is communication between last year's teachers and this year's. Sounds like good news to me! I hope this year goes better for your DS too.

School starts in a week, and we our first meeting with the new GC tomorrow, plus open house tomorrow night where we'll first meet the teacher. I'm hoping all goes smoothly despite the new school/new teachers/feeling of starting over. I'll update after tomorrow...

SPG -

Thanks for the good wishes! What is a GC?

looking forward to your update.

- EW

oh wait. gifted coordinator? took me a minute!

Sorry - yes, GC is Gifted Coordinator in my head - not sure if that's a common acronym or not!

Open house update - I'll start with the funny parts. I figured that his age wouldn't really come up when he started school, but right when we got to the open house, the girl behind the 4-H info table asked Simon how old he was and what grade he was going into, which of course he promptly told her. So much for that theory! Then when we went inside, the first person we saw was the new receptionist, who knows DS's age because he was just in kindergarten at the same time her son was. I know it's just a sterotype of receptionist's are gossipy, but I thought it was funny how it was becoming impossible for us to fly under the radar. And my final and funniest story: The previous GC, who DS loved and who basically tutored him in math last year, is now a FT 4th grade teacher at the new school that DS is attending this year. So we visited her at the open house, and she said she'd save a seat for him when he got to 4th grade. DS6 (who is just skipping 1st) said, "Maybe I'll can skip 3rd next year and go straight to Mrs. X's 4th grade class!"

The new GC seems to totally get gifted, and she's even familiar with HG kids. So we're excited about that. The new classroom teacher seems great too, and does reading programs at each kid's level, so that might work. We have a few kinks to work out since the plan from last year got changed last minute and some of the details never made it to the new school, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

Hi -

Thanks for sharing the update. Sounds like a good start, cautious optimism and all.

Maybe you should start a thread,

"Just when I thought we were going to fly under the radar..." lol

terrific that that the new GC "gets it" and the old GC is close by (as well as a potential future teacher for your ds!)

Here's to a great year with the new teacher!

ultramarina -

A belated welcome! How has the first week been for your DD?

EW

SPG: Glad to hear the open house update. Sounds promising.

I can relate. That was us last year in first grade for DS6 (then 5). He had his own special words that the teacher did every week and so I give her much credit. But he always got 100% weekly and almost always knew how to spell the words before he got them. He never studied the words or anything. Also, some of the words were very odd and he had to use them in sentences so that took lots of time as he often didn't know what some of the words meant. He had words like: viscous, loafer, abode, ecosytem, lancet, biome. He had harder words but those were just some examples of ones he didn't really know about. LIke I said, I knew she was trying and it was his first year of school so I just let it go. We will see how things go this year for spelling. good luck!

I had hoped DS6 could fly under the radar this year, at least for a little while, since instead of skipping a grade like he did last year he's just subject accelerated. But tonight at his open house his teacher was talking in a normal tone of voice and volume(!) to DS about meeting his two other teachers, which the other parents -- including a parent who is competitive and often brags about her DS -- could hear. Oh well.

OTOH, the open house went great. DS6 was feeling a bit nervous about having to go to two other teachers besides his main teacher, but when he met the teachers tonight they were all so wonderful with him and truly excited to have him in their classes. Yea! And, this is the first year that DD8's teacher doesn't know that she's younger than the rest of the class, as far as I know. I'm looking forward to her being a "normal" student. Besides, her teacher, too, was really wonderful talking with her. AND, we bumped into the GC who told us about the really great projects they have planned for the pull-out program which actually expand upon topics covered more generally in the regular classroom.

I'm excited to see what this year brings. Crossing my fingers that DS6 can live up to the challenge both academically (which I'm quite sure he can) and behaviorally.

It sounds as if everyone is off to a decent start this year. That's always good to hear. This is our first week of school. We dabbled with school two weeks ago, but this was our first official week. (We homeschool.) On Monday we started our school year with a trip to a safari park and a few other special things. We jumped into things on Tuesday. So far, so good. He's not made one of his leaps in the past two months, so I'm on the lookout. Last year was full of surprises and I had to revamp our curriculum three times. I think we'll be okay this year, but one never knows.

Our big issue right now is that DS is really beginning to appear quirky to everyone. I don't mean funny quirky either, but eccentric quirky. I felt like I finally understood the "whys" of his actions last October when we got his WISC scores. Everything finally made sense to us. What a relief it was even though it took me several months to accept it.

DS has changed so much this past year (from 5.5 to 6.5), and he really appears to be very different than his age peers. We've always dealt with this issue, but now adults are commenting on it and DS is becoming aware of his differentness. He's had to deal with some bullying this summer.

I've had a couple of people mention Asperger's to us over the past five or six months. I did read a book on Asperger's that was offered to me. It was surprising to see how many of his quirks were labeled as AS issues. (I also saw many of my own issues, so...) I think that the unsettling part was when I would read phrases that parents of AS children find themselves saying a lot; I say many of these same things, and they are very specific things, not just general ones. Gifted issues? AS issues?

Do any of you get the Asperger's possibility brought up to you? Do you see that your child is really different from his/her age peers? Has that differentness become more obvious at six or seven? *sigh* I'm just so tired of dealing with these issues. Just when I think I have it all figured out, he changes and I begin to doubt everything.

On a positive note, I do think that I'm seeing an improvement in his fine motor skills. His handwriting has improved, but he still can't do a high-five without being spastic and missing your hand. We're working on it. (He'll be 7 in a few months. )

Hi Mom2MrQ

I want to send a virtual *hug* your way.

Would you feel comfortable sharing more about these "quirks"?

While my dd6 does not have Asperger's, she has two very good friends (both 7 and soon to turn 8) who do. They were both diagnosed in the 1st Grade Year. While I am no expert, I may be able to provide some insight about what I see in my dd (giftedness) that is different from these other children who are both gifted with Asperger's.

I also know there are several more experienced parents who frequent this board who could probably provide even better information.

Mine is 2E with Asperger's. What are you and others seeing that makes you suspicious?

You might want to visit the website and discussion forum at http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/ -- there are a lot of expert parents over there, including some parents of gifted kids.

DeeDee

Mom2MrQ: I don't have any advice for you, but sending a virtual *hug* to you as well.

We just finished our first week w/both boys in new schools. Going into the change DS6 was psyched and DS8 was happy, but more nervous.

So, at the end of week 1 ... DS8 had a fabulous week. Loves his teachers, is in a homeroom for the morning that's entirely kids doing math 1 yr ahead. And he loves his afternoon language arts teacher. I always felt that he could do much more than our old school pushed him to do, but he's not a kid who EVER asks for more than he's given. This new school simply expects more and it seems to work for him so far. It's nice to see him naturally step up.

DS6 meanwhile, has been really whiny all week. He likes his teacher, as do I, so that's good. She's been teaching for 25 years. She's going to start implementing an integrated curriculum where reading, writing, science and social studies units are all working together. Logical, I know, but not what our county has been doing the past few years. I think that will be good for DS6. She plays music in the class all day, which I think is pretty cool.

Don't yet know if this is good or bad, but he got placed w/the same child he was paired w/at our old school last year. The two of them were a bit too uppity about being the smart kids -- hence my nervousness about it. He's been pretty glued to her all week. I'm still waiting for the school to set the reading and math groups and am hoping that his reading group is more than just the two of them this year.

I'm not sure if this is the place to post - we are unschoolers and if my DS6 was in school he would be in reception (kindergarten) but I think he would be better suited to grade 1 or 2...

Having finally cottoned on (admitted) to the fact that my son is most likely gifted I've been doing lots of reading (here and elsewhere) and realised just how much my child has been bored. So I'm incorporating a little more schoolly type stuff into our day and he is clearly thriving with it.

I showed him how to do double and triple digit addition last week and he absolutely clicked with it. Kept asking for more and more difficult questions. He called carrying the ten "stealing the ten)LOL. We also pulled out some old mental maths books that I bought him about a year ago that were hidden under other books and he really enjoyed doing a few units from that, which had lots of new concepts in it.

He's reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, out loud to me and to himself in his head. He's about half way after 2 weeks.

We made a trip to the library and got some documentaries on Antarctica and The Galapagos Islands out. He also chose a Maths Dictionary and another book called Cool Stuff Exploded, which related to the How Cool Stuff Works book that we borrowed about a year ago.

The most wonderful thing about all of this is that both of us are enjoying his learning so much more now. Many of the activities he is doing are enjoyable for me as well as him. I am creating a list of different resources and materials I am going to find for him, such as an atlas, times tables chart, concrete maths materials etc.

Nothing too much to report here. We just started this week. I am still trying to figure our homeschooling schedule, mostly our afteschool activities. This is our first year without any big changes, which I hope will make for a peaceful start. Two years ago I started homeschooling DS8 and last year DS6 joined in.

I am happy to report 2 great weeks in the new gifted school for DS7! His new teacher LOVES him unabashedly and has already said she will be his advocate for finding appropriate teachers for the next couple of years! This is a first! Usually his teachers do not understand him or at best tolerate him. His challenging questioning argumentative behavior can be so draining, but she knows how to nip it in the bud. She said that he is not the student taking up all her time (which he always has been in the past). The best part is that he loves it! The strangest part is that his handwriting is beautiful!! I think he was previously so bored that he rushed through his work to get to read his book or play on the computer. Now he calmly takes the tests, does the worksheets, and completes the homework neatly. Amazing and unexpected side effect! Nan

Hi again, so sorry not to get back sooner. We've had lots of weekend activities going on and I couldn't get back here.

I feel that my son's issues are related to being on the higher end of the gifted scale. When the suggestion is made about him having AS, by multiple people, and when I read so many "symptoms" that I thought were due to being gifted, I have to stop and think that perhaps I have written off AS symptoms as gifted issues.

I know that there is no way to really know for sure without having someone who knows about these things to evaluate him. But to answer some questions, I do think he is very loving and empathetic. He makes eye contact, though does have a tendency to look away a lot during conversation. (I do this, too.) One of the things that I read in the book that AS parents often say to others about their child is "He/she is very literal." I have said that since he was three! He has intense interests, but they aren't super specific or what I would call obsessive.

I did let him take the Sally and Anne Test. He didn't answer the way that he should have. He also took two other similar tests that were listed in the book that I referenced above in my op. He didn't answer those correctly either. Needless to say, my dh and I were concerned. Then, later in the day after the last two tests, he came to me and told me that he had thought about it and he thought that he should have answered the other way. He explained to me why he said what he did at first, and it amounted to him reading too much into the stories. I am terrible about doing this too. I was never able to do well on multiple choice or T/F tests because of this issue. That said, I have to ask myself if I'm dismissing this and trying to see things the way that I want them to be.

I don't think that I mentioned it in my op, but we are in a very rural area. Anything "different" really stands out. I'm from here so I can say that. I have the same issues, but I think it's a bit easier to deal with as an adult. Anyway, I so much appreciate the kind words and offers to chat. I will likely take you up on that when I have time.

Okay, I'll drop this for now. Thanks!

Congrats to everyone else who has started the year off in a good way. Sounds to me like things are going well for many. That's so good to hear.

Well, back to school and after a week not really sure how it is going to go. DS6 (7, this weekend) will certainly be more challenged this year in the magnet program than he was in his home school last year. He is in a "higher reading" homeroom, so there should be more kids at his level. Last year there was only one other kid schoolwide in his reading group. The teacher, a male (which DS tends to do better with), taught 2nd last year and seems to be enthusiastic.

DCDad: How'd you figure out that DS is in a "higher reading" homeroom? I can't at all tell what the level of the other kids in DS6's class are at the moment, other than the 1 girl he was paired w/last year who's in his class again this year.

Happy birthday to your DS!

Oops, forgot that you know my son's secret identity and school, "mom2boys". I'll PM you.

So DS6.5 is doing great work wise... maybe even needs a bit more. He's enjoying Target (ALP), BUT he can't keep his mouth shut. He was great for the first 2 weeks, but now he's taking a nose dive. Sigh... we are working on it, but it's very frustrating.

Ds7 and I were going over his spelling words this morning, and for some reason he was struggling (never had a problem before, he has always got 100% on his spelling tests - he gets his own, advanced list - last week, he got 2 wrong - silly mistakes). I asked him why he was having a hard time, and he told me it was my fault ! He said it was because I hadn't given him any math to do lately - during the summer, I DID make him do some daily math, telling him that if he didn't, his brain would "turn to mush". Since school started mid-August, he hasn't done any math at home. I guess we need to start working on that mush brain at home again to get it back to normal

We just finished 4 weeks of school. DD6 is really enjoying her class and her teacher.

Last week, we received our first written eval from the teacher. DD's teacher noted that she's advanced verbally & in reading and that she will need to be "challenged" in Math.

DD's reading group is reading above grade level, but probably .5 to .75 years behind DD's current level. I'm seeing lots more independent reading from her at home, so we're not going to push that right now.

I'm planning on writing a thank you note to the principal for the placement (both in 1st and with this teacher).

Screening for GT services starts this month. Pull-out doesn't happen until January, but once identified the GT educators are tasked with helping the classroom teachers work with kids who need help/challenge.

Overall I'm happy with the current placement and hopeful that we'll get services in the classroom. I'll keep everyone updated.

Just checking in. I am feeling discouraged about even trying to get differentiation for DD, but on the other hand she seems to enjoying first and does a good job challenging herself at home. She has been bringing books from home to read in class, which seems to be fine. I got a chance to see her spelling and phonics books, which are going to be very, very easy for her. I'm trying to decide whether or not to just let that go. I am 90% sure they are not going to be receptive to anything special in math.

The school has other aspects which she enjoys a lot, and so far her behavior seems to have been great, which was not the case last year in K. However, last year we started out well and then began a long downward spiral of complaints. I'm trying to decide whether to try to get myself motivated to go in and ask for more or whether to just wait and see how she does a while longer. It seems like everyone in my life is telling me to let it go when it comes to DD and school, and I'm feeling tired and not willing to try. She IS only 6. Maybe it doesn't matter for now.

I could not be happier! I have to say that there have been some ups and downs over the past year, but things are now going amazing and I am thankful for the services our school is providing. Starting next week DS6 will be starting a 4th grade math class and the school will transport him to another school for the class and then back to his home school for 2nd grade. He is excited about it. Also, we had a big meeting with everyone today to discuss the logistics and they had created an "advanced learning plan" for DS6 that outlines some of his modifications for his file and everyone signed to agree to this plan for the year (which includes regular reviews of the plan every 2 months). The plan is all centered around math since the math superintendent initiated this, but it is still an awesome start and the teacher is doing much differentiation in the class for him for other subjects too. So, we are very hopeful that this will be a great move and shocked with all the changes that the school has put in place for him. We live in NY and they have no gifted mandates and no gifted programming in our school district. And the first meeting we had with the school they said "we are not required to meet the needs of a profoundly gifted individual." How amazing how things have changed in just one year!! So for all of you struggling with schools, there is hope yet and I hope and pray that your schools support your children.

That is great news, Shellymos! I am so happy for your ds to be challenged!

I want to report in with cautious optimism for the beginning of dd6's 1st grade year in her private, gifted school.

I feel relieved that she was once again appropriately placed in her reading and math groups (I only know this based on a certain "wicked smart" boy with whom I feel she should always be placed). I was pleased that when the teacher screened the top kids for math placement, she gave them timed tests in addition, subtraction and multiplication (dd taught herself all her multiplication tables up through 12 this summer). I'm hoping that bodes well for more challenging math to be offered this year (see my daughter's 0+0 comment about kindergarten math from earlier in this thread). Personally, I want to see the different ability groups really doing different work.

I'm not sure reading will prove much of a challenge (dd finished kindergarten testing at the 4th grade level - not sure where she is now). However in "language arts" dd is learning quite a bit about writing and spelling, both subjects in which she has much room to grow.

My biggest happiness, so far this year is in seeing how comfortable and accepted dd6 feels at school. She is a quirky kid, but there, I know she is well liked. I used to feel that we were making this private school financial sacrifice simply so that dd could be subject accelerated while staying in the same grade (she is an early summer birthday). Now, I feel that the peer group is as just as big of a factor as to why we will stay.

Shellymos and irisheyes - wow! Great news! Irisheyes - I especially like the part about dd feeling comfortable and accepted. Awesome!

Along those same lines, I'm thinking that our DS6's acceleration can already be counted as a success because he also feels comfortable and happier with school in general. We just had an education plan meeting today, where we found out that DS6 has no troubles sharing information in class and doesn't seem shy at all. Last year, he did not want to speak up.

In addition to DS6 seeming happier, we are happier as parents after hearing what they are planning. For reading, the classroom teacher has lots of experience working with kids at their own level, and he even said we could send in any books DS6 likes to read and he can use those for class. Also, they placed several kids in this class who are higher lever readers, so DS will not be alone (and in fact, they are pretty ahead in writing, so he'll have some catching up to do there!). For math, they plan to do end-of-unit tests before starting new units, and if DS shows mastery, then he goes to the gifted teacher for math. If there are any gaps, he will join his class when they're covering that material. DS6 has lots of catching up to do in handwriting (mechanics) and writing (conveying thoughts), but it sounds like even though he's behind, it's still within the range of 2nd graders and everyone's confident he'll catch up.

So, happy news here as well!

I'm happy to hear that from all of you. That emotional aspect is very important. We've always struggled with that part, and it seems to be getting worse, but it makes me very happy when I hear that others are overcoming these issues.

And totally unrelated....

What kinds of things are your children studying in first and second grades? We are all over the place because we homeschool and have that freedom, but I am curious about what others study. Do they teach science in first and second grades in most schools? Geography? Social studies? Or, do those things come later? Just curious really about how the school day is filled.

Off to catch some much-needed rest. Hope you all have a good week/end.

Yay for Irisheyes and st.pauli girl too!! It is great to hear good news sometimes. It really seems like you don't hear it too much out there. DS6 seems to be very happy, but he still has had one day where he talked to me about not feeling like he fits in. It's not that unusual though and he has been very positive about things for the most part. So yes in 2nd grade DS has social studies and science. I think some geography in social studies possibly. He did have science last year, but not formal social studies...just some topics from time to time that could be related to social studies. They have "writers workshop" silent reading time, group reading time, a special each day (gym 2x weekly, music, library and art once a week. Recess, lunch, morning meeting, computer lab, science lab 2x weekly, etc. I am sure there is more but that is the stuff that I know about at least. He is going to be going to Math at a different school and then go back to his class but the nice thing is that his regular 2nd grade teacher will be doing math at the time (and maybe some of the easier stuff that he is not as interested in like morning meeting) and then he will get back to his 2nd grade class in time for snack and other stuff that they do during the day. Sounds great to us and hopefully it works as well as it sounds!

Mom2MrQ - DS7 is in 2nd grade at a specialised "Math, Science and Technology" school, so they incorporate the 3 things into all aspects of the school day. I tend to forget that most schools are not like that ! In science at the moment each student has their own mealworm, and are learning all about them. They do alot of stuff on Smartboards - I discovered the other day that in the morning, they use the Smartboard to sign in and put in whether they will have hot or cold lunch ! They do so much more, of course. They have specials throughout the week - art, music, gym, library and computer (they do computer in their own room - they each get a laptop to use). I know they all got a new gadget the other day on which they will learn to type correctly - no idea what it is - can't wait for conferences ! I'm pretty sure they do social studies, but ds is really bad at telling me what they do during the day

Yay for all the good reports (shellymos, irisheyes, stpauligirl)!

Mom2MrQ: We have a mixture of science and social studies in all grades here. (Some units they get social studies instruction; some they get science instruction) In 1st, DS8 did fossils, rocks, etc., continents and bean plant growing for part of the science curriculum. Don't know if DS6 will have the same curriculum, as our county's been changing it all around the past two years. I'm skeptical about the changes only b/c DS6 didn't get to watch tadpoles grow into frogs last year, which his older brother had done in K. Our school also has a weekly science special (only a couple of schools here offer that). DS6's teacher mentioned that the reading/writing/science curriculums will be more tied together this year. They might do something on bugs, for instance, and read, write and do hands-on as the unit.

I'm happy to hear that many people seem to be having a great start to the school year!



Our DD6 is schooling at home through a k12 charter and they do science and history/geo. Here's the description from their first science unit to give you an idea: "Learn the tools and techniques for measuring length, mass, volume, and temperature in standard metric units. Use the scientific process to make predictions, record results, and draw conclusions. Gather and communicate information by compiling data in a table and drawing and interpreting a bar graph." They also have units on matter, weather/water cycle, light, animal adaptations... Both our DD's love science, I think I just need to give them a day to focus on it because they would spend hours taking the experiments and projects wider. I recall DD9 studying light in first at her B&M school, as well as oceans.

They also do history/geo. This year first grade seems to focus on ancient civilizations while last year was about world geo and US history. DD6 got sucked into the revolutionary war in K and still hasn't come out of that little obsession. She's excited about ancient Egypt this year though.

Wow! That sounds great. I don't recall doing these kinds of things until middle school, and even then it rarely happened that we did anything really fun. I loved school, but I would have loved it a lot more had I been able to raise mealworms, grow plants, study geology, etc.

I love all of the science activities. We are really science heavy at our house; we too could spend the majority of our time on it. I have to schedule it as the last thing in our school day because we are so prone to "disappearing" into it and losing an hour or more.

Thanks so much for sharing!

My DS6 is also doing a k12 charter. He's really enjoying it so far - especially since he can do as much science as he wants, lol. The history seems to be getting his attention since he gets to learn about ancient Egypt.

What he really loves is math though and they moved him up to the 3rd grade math - and it's still too easy but I think it'll be good review for him for now.

I'm just happy that he is enjoying school and will tell anybody who asks what he is learning and how much he loves it!

Given the science curriculum discussion, I thought I'd update you with an idea. DS6's science teacher is teaching the kids about paper. They talked about paper coming from trees and how it can be made from recycling used paper. They made pulp and got to feel it last week. Next week, they'll be making they're own paper. DS6 is so excited about it; he's mentioned it every day this week. And he now talks about how he LOVES science.

Yay! I think this is what we all want -- our kids to be excited about something - anything - at school. As for science in DS6's 2nd grade, their class will be learning about trees and planting apple trees at the school. I asked DS6 about science class, and he said he hasn't had any science yet. He has, but it's not the science he was expecting.

Although we're really happy with the school -- the classroom teacher, principal, and gifted coordinator all seem to be supportive of whatever DS needs -- at home we're finding that things are still not quite challenging enough. The grade acceleration was completely necessary, but we're hoping things fall into place in the next few weeks. DS6 said the other day that "Math is as hard as finding a needle in a needle stack." DS6 did 3/4th of the 2nd grade math book in kindergarten last year (getting 100% on most unit tests), and now the plan is to just leave him in the class for things he misses on pretests and go to the gifted coordinator for other math, such as Zaccaro's challenge math. I'm a bit concerned that this is just pushing the problem off another year - he should be in 3rd grade math now, IMO. He's just missing things like strategies other than counting. My DH says I need to put some trust in the school, so I'm trying.

And in reading, DS6 let it slip that he was picking easy books and just flipping them over and reading them again during silent reading. Happily, when I told the teacher, he made DS6 pick a more appropriate book. So I'm not as worried about reading. And DS's spelling and writing is age-appropriate, so he does need to work on that.

I have general worries about the other everyday stuff not being challenging (like science/social studies/computer). But it seems like they might be giving him keyboarding lessons in computers, which would be great. The biggest issue is that I'm pretty sure that if DS6 is given a choice between something easy and something a bit more challenging at school, he'll take the easy route. DS6 does not ever want to make waves, either, so I worry that his teachers will just say "He's happy and doesn't need more." But at home we get comments like, "My teacher is taking school to a whole new level of boring." Of course, he could just be pulling my leg. I'm just rambling now. Thanks for letting me vent!

So, last night DD6 (first grade) got bored with her homework and made up answers in some "trial based" math work (counting the number of heads and tails). We had a long talk about honesty and we redid the fake trials. I then worked with her to extend the lesson by graphing her trials and the looking at the distribution of permutations.

I've emailed her teacher for guidance on extending the lessons at home so this doesn't happen again.

On the flip side, she also got really into the book she brought home for reading. I let her stay up a bit late to read.

Thoughts?

Maryann

Maryann,

I think what you did was the right thing. Let us know what the teacher says.

The teacher was really good about it and made some suggestions for extending stuff at home. She said that maybe she (the teacher) hadn't explained the lesson well enough so the kids would understand why they were doing it. She also pointed out that if DD "really" got the lesson, we wouldn't have known the trials were made up. She had come up with the same possible, but *least* likely answers for all 8 trials.

I agreed with this last point but, as I told the teacher, I was loathe to tell my daughter how to hide things from me. The graph we made did show that her made-up answers never happened in actual trials. That was as close as I could get.

The teacher also used the opportunity to ask other things about DD and her other areas of strength & weakness. Specifically she asked if I had any ideas why DD avoids writing and focuses on drawing pictures to convey her thoughts.

Maybe, just Maybe this new school will actually work out! DS came home w/a second list of spelling words this week. I e-mailed the teacher who told me that b/c he's been acing his spelling test, she thought he could use more challenging words. ;-) ...

I think the new list is still too easy for him, but at least the teacher is noticing!

Excellent! I hope you emailed a positive word (or smilie!) in return, so the teacher realises you're with her, not complaining about him getting extra work.

We're meeting the head of DS6's school this afternoon - at his request, so not completely sure what's on the agenda. More later... ETA: since I'm still last in thread, I'll put it here: turns out the main point on the agenda was to explain why they don't think he should skip - which is fine, we don't either, on the whole, although we're glad to see it's something they're thinking about. Also, yay, that the head will take DS and another very mathy child for challenging maths with him. All is good, I think. DS is happy so far.

I went to DS6's 4th grade school for a presentation today (he is part in 2nd and part in 4th at 2 different schools). On the way in I felt a little weird because I almost felt that staff was treating me like my DS6 was a celebrity. The principal told me that she loves him and wishes she could take him home with her, and then acknowledged that she knows that may be a little weird for me to hear (lol). Then his math teacher came and talked about how great he is doing and showed me his first math test with a 96%. And his math coordinator sat next to DS during this math presentation and was telling him how proud she was of him because of his test grade. At one point DS6 whined to me and said he was thirsty and I told him "wait til it's over and you can get a drink from the fountain." The math coordinator got up and went accross the room and got a bottle of water out of her bag and gave it to him! Then my favorite part, was after the whole presentation was over he was leaving to go back to his other school and one of the students in his class said by to him and then he gave DS6 a high five. Then DS6 kept his hand out and every student in the class said bye to him by name and gave him a high five. And all seemed genuine in the whole thing. It was a strange thing to see, but kind of cool. You can tell they all like eachother. He has only been in this class for 2 weeks now and the teacher says they have really accepted him and treat him normal. Although the whole high 5 thing may say otherwise, LOL. Anyhow, strange but kind of cool. Still a little worried that it may not be challenging enough in 4th grade, but he seems to be enjoying it as the first unit was some new geometry stuff for him that he had not been exposed to...and he loved using his compass and protractor.

shellymos - That's awesome news! It amazes me how mature your DS6 is. That's so wonderful that he's fitting in so well with the 4th graders.

colinsmum - any updates on the meeting?

Not since the ETA I put in my post, but maybe you didn't see that? He's not going up (yet), but he is going to get maths problem solving with the head and another mathy child, which is excellent. And he's happy, and not apparently bored, and learning a fair bit of maths and science recreationally at home. So we're in the "for now it's going really well and let's be grateful we have a good school" pile!

Thanks! Lol about the mature part. He is quite mature in some aspects, but he still can be quite a goofball and act quite immature in other settings. I think him being with older kids helps him to not act as crazy because I think he knows that 4th graders wouldn't think it was funny. But you should see him with his 3yo sister, she is generally much more mature then him when they get together.

Great news, ColinsMum and shellymos!

I am so happy to read about both of your sons doing so well!

My DYS-DS6 is in 1st grade, public school language immersion, with no acceleration or differentiation (so far) that we can tell... and he is happy as a clam! It is sort of freaky to see him hop out of the car with a wave and a cheerful "See you this afternoon!" (he was NEVER like this in preschool or K), but by golly the boy seems to be having a good time. The math is ridiculously basic; other parents besides me have been complaining about that; so we will keep our eyes on it and supplement as needed. It jarred my nerves to see phonics work coming home at the beginning of the year (he was reading the newspaper before he started K) -- but when I ask if it's boring, he says no. He does other reading in class, it seems, and all in the second language. So: academically he might not progress a lot except in 2nd language fluency (which is not a small thing), but socially he is doing GREAT (also not a small thing for our DS).

Just wanted to post that there is at least one very gifted kid out there who is doing well in public school without any special accommodations, besides the new language.

Oh, and the school's gifted coordinator knows all about him, and I have no doubt she will be a big help if we need to do something about the academics going forward. If nothing else, she is very good at reassuring anxious parents of HG-PG kids. <grin>

My ds7 (2nd grade) isn't DYS, but he's another one who just loves school, and doesn't get bored with the easy work. He does go to 3rd grade math 4 times a week, and to the gifted program for a few hours one day a week, but otherwise, he is quite happy plodding along doing whatever the teacher asks of him. Long may it last !!!!

Do you have concerns that he will begin to feel like a "superstar" at school and expect or come to 'need' the attention from others? If they really do treat him like one of their own, then maybe you won't have that issue.

My ds 6 has recently started reacting differently to this special treatment that people give him. I've noticed that he has a tendency now to share his knowledge with others in a way that seems to me to be for the purpose of impressing them. This new reaction is very subtle and no one else would probably notice it, but I see it as a big change and it concerns me. Then again, maybe he's doing it because he believes that people are genuinely interested in hearing about his natural history museum.


That's really great! Good for him. I would love to see that happen with mine... though we are still working on him actually making contact with the other person's hand when doing a high-five!

Shellymos and NCPMom: Great to hear how well things are going.

Shellymos: DS had a similar experience at camp over the summer. He was in a bball camp with all older kids. They treated him like a superstar and he TOTALLY loved it!

Greetings!

Okay, I just had to come over here and share our big news today. Nothing academic, but 'big' all the same.

*drumroll*

My almost-7-y/o son learned to swing today. Ta-da!

I noticed last week that he almost had it, and I was impressed with his progress. Afterward, he commented that the 5 y/o next to him was able to swing. That was the first time that he seemed concerned that someone, esp. a younger someone!, was doing something that he was unable to do.

Maybe last week's incident spurred him on or something. Today he was swinging with two female friends and he was suddenly able to start off, get himself going, and keep himself going...

Well, at least until he let go and fell off backward. He got up whimpering and he stated that "some invisible force" had pulled him off. LOL I said, "Yes, that invisible force is called gravity!" He insisted that it was some other force that he didn't know existed until just then.

Okay, that's my praise for the day. Bicycle, here we come!

That's great! It amazes me how much just getting over that first hesitation with our perfectionists clears the path to much greater things!

Let us know how the bike goes !! My 7 year old hasn't ridden his bike since he finally got it figured out a couple of months ago, so we're probably back to square one with him - maybe this weekend we'll get a chance to get him back on the wheels and see what happens !!

I let my son's 2nd grade teacher know that I have started him on EPGY math at home to supplement his 3rd grade math. She e-mailed me back asking about it, so I tried to explain why we're doing it, but think I failed miserably. We have conferences at the end of the month, should I print out some of the reports from EPGY to take along ? I don't know if his 3rd grade math teacher will even be there - she has a baby a couple of weeks ago who is still sick in the NICU, so I haven't even mentioned it to her. Maybe I shouldn't have even mentioned it ?

Not really worried about that, but you never know. We will bring him back down if he gets too high and mighty, Lol. He is confident, but doesn't at all try to stand out with his gifts and talents. He would rather blend in. I wouldn't say he is hiding things completely, but doesn't at all willingly share or bring things up. I think the kids treat him normal. Most of the adults do too...but the water bottle thing did annoy me. He should wait to get a drink just like everybody else does. He needs special services for Math and some other subjects. But doesn't need special seats and special water, etc. ; ) But I am not complaining though because he is getting the services he needs.

I don't think it was a mistake to mention it at all. It shouldn't be a big deal. I would bring the reports along but not show it to her unless she asks. Schools generally like to do their own testing and assessments. Do you feel the 3rd grade curriculum is challenging enough for him in school? What I mean is, are you asking for something different or are you just supplementing with that at home?

Shelly... I swear they're related! My DS7 has to carry a water bottle at his school because he's too little to reach the drinking fountains. Heads up, it could happen to you! LOL

I agree w/Shellymos. There's no reason not to mention it.

No, I don't think the 3rd grade math is challenging enough - but I'm happy that he gets to go to 3rd grade, and don't mind afterschooling to supplement. I heard back from his 2nd grade teacher - she said to let her know how far he goes with the EPGY, as she's interested to see what is is capable of - so I've relaxed a little bit now

I just met with DD6's first grade teacher regarding their fall benchmarking assessments (AIMSweb). These assessments seem to be about catching the underperforming kids, but not the outperforming ones.

During our conversation I was asking her about DD and math. She said that she seems to be average and doesn't want to show her work, so the teacher has a hard idea pinpointing where she's really at. Since I know she was working on multiplication last year, it's hard for me to believe that she's regressed.

Since DD seems to be a reluctant writer, I'm not going to push the math part (at school) until we get her writing. She's reading well above grade level (her teacher agrees there) so they're having a hard time reconciling that with her reluctance to write. It seems to me that she doesn't want to spell words wrong, so she just doesn't write if she doesn't know for sure how to spell something. I just ordered two copies of the "Spelling Dictionary for Beginning Writers," one for home and one for school. We'll see how that goes. Any other suggestions?

At home we started EPGY math as an optional "free-time treat". Last night she was really excited and wanted to spend an hour on the system. I expect that she could be finished with the first grade curriculum in a week or two, depending on how often she has time. I expect that it will take her longer to finish higher grades where she's actually getting new concepts.

P.S. I haven't mentioned EPGY to her teacher. I'm planning on working on one issue at a time with the school.

Right now it's LA.

As a side note, DD recently checked out Paul Zelinsky's Rapunzel from the library. It's a great book, with beautiful artwork. (Zelinsky also includes the research he did on the story at the end... neat!)

At one point during the story the sorceress finds out that Rapunzel is pregnant and kicks her out of the tower. (In this story there's a private wedding prior to this point.) DD was confused, because the story didn't explicitly say that sex happened, so therefore it didn't. Right? We had a great discussion about discretion and reading between the lines.

Maryann: In terms of the reluctant writer (My older one is one of those...)

Some things you may have tried already, but if not:

1. Have her dictate something to you and you can write it. Just get her really used to the process. The writing itself will come with time when she's ready. The most important thing is the thought process anyways.
2. Have her draw a picture before starting to write and then have her describe the picture and why she drew it. Then see if she'll write what she just told you.
3. Tell her over and over and over again that it's okay if she doesn't yet spell the words right. The most important thing is expressing what's in her head. She may not listen till the 1000th time, however.
4. Let her type her story on the computer, where she can see the red underlines to find the words she doesn't know how to spell.
5. If she likes the mail, she might be interested in a pen pal and less worried about the spelling if she's just writing a letter to another kid.

lol, I wasn't even thinking about that. I hope DS can reach the water fountain at his school. The kids at his school are only 2-6 years older so he should be able to reach it. We have to buy him a new water bottle soon. We are only buying cheap ones since I am sure he won't be able to keep track of them.

This made me chuckle. DS6.5 is the same... and that's how I feel about sweatshirts. Only cheap ones b/c he loses those too!

Mom2twoboys,

Thanks for the response. those are some great ideas. I'm thinking a pen pal might be really good for her. She really wants to get mail, and is disappointed when there's none for her. Maybe some friends who live 5+ hours away will be game for it.

We've (at home and at school) tried to get her to caption her pictures. She's so verbal that she'd rather just tell everyone what's in the picture rather than write it. I think it's frustrating for her teacher, because DD is reading at a 3rd grade level, but will hardly write more than a sentence at a time. If we ask her to draw a picture, she will spend all her time on the picture, (seemingly) purposely not writing about it.

We've tried to reinforce the idea that spelling isn't important, but she really seems focused on it. My hope is that with a spelling dictionary she'll still have to spend time on sounding out the word (in order to find it) and she'll be able to be independently writing because she'll have the words in her book (since she can already read them). We were going to set up a word wall in our dining room. She started asking for more words than would fit (even if I papered all the walls).

Soon we're going to be taking a weekend trip out of town. I'm hoping to have her journal about it. Perhaps letting her do it on the computer will help.

Thanks again for the feedback. I'll let you know how it goes.

My DS6 went to a 3 day circus camp (daytime only) last week. I had given him the choice to attend for as many or as few days as he liked and he chose all three. It was the first time he has spent all day away from me with complete strangers so I was a bit nervous. He was very very shy and clingy when we arrived on the first day but once I was able to remove myself from his grip and sit on the edge of the room he relaxed and started chatting enthusiastically with the trainer and was happy for me to leave. He LOVED it. At the end of the first day he was just beaming and told me about all of the brave things he had tried. At the end of the second day there were tears but only because he had missed me, he was still keen to go back. On the third day he was beaming again. In the days since the camp he has shown a completely new attitude to physical challenge. He has been nervous about risk taking at the playground since he was about 3 so this is no small thing. He has been so brave, climbing higher than ever, trying again and again when things are hard.
I'm hoping like mad that he gets a place in this term's weekly classes as the environment obviously works so well for him.

That's exciting and encouraging news. We don't live close enough to a large city to do anything like a circus camp, but your post has made me think about what we might do that would help build confidence in the same sort way. I wonder if gymnastics might do that. The only time my ds will not do what I urge him to do is when it comes to taking any kind of (perceived) physical risk.

So glad to hear that good report. Thanks for sharing.

lol, our DS6 has misplaced many sweatshirts too...but eventually they come back. The worst last year was definitely winter gloves. He went through several pairs of gloves. This year for school I am only buying those really cheap magic gloves that I can live without and won't break the bank everytime he loses a pair.

GreenGully - The circus camp sounds really great! I wish we had something like that closer to us. The grade skip into second meant that out not-very-athletic DS6 had to participate in the presidential fitness challenge, including running a mile! I'm so proud that he did it, but he was not too happy to be among the last to finish.

He was very proud of himself for being able to do the reaching/stretching better than everyone (legs out straight, reach forward on the floor with arms)-- he said he figured his legs were shorter so it was easier. I think really he gained flexibility from gymnastics. (Unfortunately, he outgrew the fun gymnastics that he loved when he was younger and now there's just the more serious gymnastics, which is too much for him.)


shellymos - one idea for the lost gloves problem: lost mitten program

eta: link

What a cute idea St Pauli Girl... We're in the south, so it's rare that the kids where gloves (other than if they are playing).

I learned to buy cheap sweatshirts myself, after DS lost a N I K E one (thankfully that I did not buy, but still). We found several in the lost n found, but not that N I K E one. Sigh.

Both my kids do circus classes at a local circus school. My 9 year old is doing 3 classes this year he loves it so much. I cannot say enough how much this has done for him in particular in terms of physically and in terms of confidence. He has always been a bit of a weakling. Both kids have never been one for physical challenges or taking risks and this has been wonderful for that. It's also non-competitive. The groups of kids really work together to help each other. My 6 year is spending the year working with a partner on a low trapeze.

St. Pauli - I know how to hook you up with Circus Camp next summer if you're willing to drive a bit.

I think I'll take you up on your offer next summer, kimck. This summer DS just wasn't quite ready. But I still wish it was closer!

I know! There are people who drive from Hudson, Northfield, Osseo, etc (to St. Paul) year round for their programs and I think they're a little nuts.

Okay, folks. Need to see if any of you have kids who do this:

We've been struggling w/the new school as they placed DS6 at a reading level of what he was doing 2 summers ago and many levels below what previous school assessed him at. So far, teacher and I have been communicating via e-mail, though I've asked for a mtg w/her and the reading specialist.

First, she said the reason was his comprehension. Her latest concern is that DS6 skips words when he reads. She thinks that he's trying to read too fast. Do any of your kids do this? I've asked DS about the fact that he skips the words, and his response: "If what I read doesn't make sense I go back and see why." From the times he actually reads with me (those are few and far between now), he usually skips words like "and," "or," etc.

My DH is a fast reader and this is something he's done his whole life. He often can't really tell you character names b/c if they aren't simple names, he reads them by a letter or two and somehow manages to follow the character. He also grade skipped 1st grade completely. So, I'm wondering if this is a trait that others of you have seen as well and how you deal with it. Given that DH still does this, I suspect it would be very difficult to change in DS6.

Thoughts?

I see this with my ds5 and wonder if it's just a matter of rushing and not wanting to take time with detail.

This is totally off topic but I had to chuckle at your screenname.:)

We homeschool and this is an issue that has come up for years in my online groups. It seems that many children do this very thing. My own ds 6 is a very advanced reader and reads very quickly too. He often misses words when he's reading out loud to me, but it's obvious that his eyes are moving faster than his mouth. I don't worry about it unless it changes the meaning of what he's reading.

I think that this is normal, esp. for fast/advanced readers, and I'm surprised that she's mentioning it to you. If he's skipping things and not comprehending what he's reading, that's one thing, but to miss small words really isn't a big deal. Did she give you some examples of what she's taking issue with? I would ask for specific examples.

Have him read with the page upside down, it will slow him down.


I am often surprised when I look carefully at words I've only ever read, like the first time I heard someone say detritus. I'd always read it as detrius. And I do the same thing as your husband with names.

I actually do this too when reading silently. DS6 NEVER skips words (in fact when we read together he always corrects me if I say one thing wrong)...but we have had the same issue about the "comprehension" piece. I don't now why I put that word in quotes but I guess it is because it always annoys me when teachers say how well kids can read but that they don't do as well with comprehension when they really do fine with it. Some kids do struggle with it, but I don't think my DS is one of those kids. My DS6 skipped K and is in 2nd now. He is reading some more challenging books as far as I know, but they are giving him mostly 2nd grade work for reading and say that he is advanced in comprehension but that they can still keep him challenged in 2nd. For Math he is advanced 2-3+ years and they really get his abilities and are meeting his needs by challenging him. I am not sure why they can't see it for reading. I will bring it up at the next conference, but his ELA homework this year is killing me. It takes him like 1 minute to complete. He definitely needs something more challenging. He actually does his morning work with the 4th grade and some of his activities have been on comprehension and he gets those right....so I don't get why they can't challenge him more.

I've been reading these updates but haven't had a chance to post.

After attending public school kindergarten last year, DS6 is homeschooling this year, though he attends a very hands-on school-for-homeschoolers (more formal than a co-op, more hands-on then most traditional schools) much of the week. It has been a nearly ideal fit for him, with the exception of math.

The math teacher does pre-testing--HUZZAH for her!--and he tested out of Math 1 with a 100%. No problem there. So I requested the Math 2 pre-test, and to her credit, she gave it to me, though she was not convinced that it was a good idea to skip him two levels. I said we'd see what we saw before we decided what he needed.

Testing out of Math 2 required an 80%, and he got an 86%. Most of the points he missed were for taking too long to give an answer or for an arithmetic error because he did 3-digit subtraction in his head. In terms of concepts, he only missed a point or two out of some 160+ points.

Still, he was nervous about testing out of two grades, and I didn't see the point in advocating to do so if he wasn't excited about it. I was pretty sure Math 2 was not going to work for him for long, particularly since there was quite a lot of homework for the class, all stuff that DS6 had mastered years before.

I was right. He was bored.

We had some other schedule problems related to carpooling and my not having enough time at home. Ultimately, the fact that math wasn't working well for him was just another reason to drop his morning classes and do those subjects (reading/writing in addition to the math) at home.

So far, so good. The up-side of his having been underchallenged and over-homeworked in math is that he appreciates the level of difficulty I'm giving him and the general lack of busy work, so he works hard for me. I was not sure he would work well for me given our personalities, so it's going far better than I had expected, frankly. Yay!

He's challenged, he loves his classes, especially his science and TaeKwonDo classes, and he's happy. He hangs out with DS9 and his 10-12yo friends playing Pokemon and other imaginative play games. That isn't my ideal for him. I wish he were playing more with kids closer to his age and weren't in his brother's shadow so much. (He doesn't seem to feel that way, but it's what I worry about.) But given a choice of what to do, he does choose to play imaginative games, and these older boys are the kids who play those. I have watched him at recess, and he seems to be truly included, so I'm not going to let it bother me. DS9 looks out for him, and that helps.

To be clear, he *does* have classmates he likes and talks about, so it's not like he's completely with the older kids. But he doesn't usually choose to play with similarly-aged peers at recess yet because they don't want to pretend to be Pokemon trainers. Maybe eventually he'll convert some of them.

So to summarize, homeschooling with the addition of the school-for-homeschoolers is going even better than I anticipated. I'm pleased.

Tallulah: Funny you mentioned reading upside down. DS6 often holds books sideways and reads that way. If I try to move the book back to right-side up, he gets angry with me.

Today is our parent/teacher conference with DS6.5's teacher. His biggest issue has been behavior. I totally believe he's now trying to fit in with the boys (he was always that boy that played with the more mature girls), so he's acting like they are but getting caught. I also believe that he is a bit bored and that he wants to "teach" the other kids in his class when they are learning something he knows.

His teacher and I have been in contact and have worked on some ideas to help him. So far, so good... he has moments, but nothing major. So that is good. But I still will be VERY sad that he will have a few Ps (P=progressing, S=Successful) on his report card.

Do you think it's wrong to "bribe" him with his behavior? Right now, it's how he earns his computer/video game time, which I think is appropriate. But I'm trying to make a big goal - like so many weeks = a new video game or something, so he can see the "light" at the end of the tunnel (so there's no "boredom" with earning a certain amount of time each week). On one hand I feel he should behave because that is what is expected, but on the other, I want him to actually behave and can see where having a prize might help even moreso!

Anyway, wish me luck. I don't know why I get nervous about these things!

This morning on the news they had a piece about a kid in middle school who is just now comprehending. All the kids in the piece were talking about how reading words is the focus in earlier grades, not what they are actually reading.

DS6.5 has AR tests on what he reads. He has to complete 15 per each 9 weeks. I think that is HUGE when it comes to comprehension. He used to be in a habit of skipping words, but because of these tests he is being "forced" to read them all. Comprehension & vocabulary (hand in hand? I think so!) were always my weak points growing up, and I think that is why. I learned to read words, but not what the words meant. I am glad he is learning the vocabulary too!

Thought I would share ds7's spelling words for the week.

biographies; construction; catastrophe; stretcher; machinery; expectation; advertisement; principal; straightened and multiplication. Plus, the 2nd grade high frequency words - made, school, sister, these and after

Hi JJsmom,

As for "bribing" (rewarding) to get the behavior you want-- in our experience rewards that come at home won't work that well. It's much better if the teachers can be on board with positive praise and/or rewards whenever they see the behavior they want to see. Reward delivered on the spot is much better than reward delivered later. And school-delivered rewards/praise for school behavior will be more effective in changing the behavior.

DeeDee

sounds like they are expecting him to write a report on an accident at the school involving his sister and the principle!!! LOL

So without going into all the FABULOUS conference details, DS6.5 apparently cannot even be recorded on the regular report card. His reading level is 4th grade, and the report card only goes up to the end of 3rd.

On our report cards, they only put "above grade level". Grrrr.

They have A-P listed on ours b/c the system they use (matrix grading) is for K-3. They are supposed to circle the letter. 4th grade starts the A, B, C grading.

DS in K got two separate ones, the K and the graded. Maybe you could ask for one?

The entire district goes by this Rubric (they use 1-3+ scale, with 1 being "isn't progressing" and 3+ being "exceeds")... so there are no physical grades to report. Their papers are even "graded" that way.

I wish they weren't graded like that though. In Art, he got a 2, which is progressing towards meeting the standards. So I questioned it because even though he's not Picasso, it seemed based on the Rubrics, he would at least meet the standards. The problem was that the TEACHER didn't get to finish the standards for the first 9 weeks, so she couldn't record 3s for anyone. So on one hand I understand the 2, but on the other hand, it isn't DS6.5's fault, like the 2 suggests.

I was going to mention it higher up the food chain at the school, but a 2 in Art is the least of my concerns. DS6.5 tested out of the water in math and language arts as well. It seems that he should be accelerated again (or subject accelerated), but he fits so well socially that I'm at a loss as to what to do next.

Time to visit that Charter school with "evidence" that he needs to be there.

I just got to see ds7's report card this morning - they have 3 choices in each section - N (needs help), I (improving), and P (proficient). In the specials, they also have E - (exceeds expectations). Ds got all P's, of course. One surprise - he got an "E" in art !! Oh - and an "I" in music, which if you've ever heard him sing, comes as no surprise LOL
Also - he told me yesterday that the last thing they will do in ULE this year (that's the gifted pull-out program) - is "cutting up a frog". He for some reason thinks that will be the coolest thing ever !

NCPMom: Yay! I must say, though, that I'm glad my DS6 isn't cutting up frogs. Tree frogs have been his favorite animal since he was 2. He'd be distraught!

Had to comment on the frog. My mom dropped my DS6 off at my work a few weeks ago, and he rode the bus with me to the faraway parking lot. A coworker saw him, snuggled up on my lap, and said hi and asked him if he was in kindergarten. DS said, indignantly, no, I'm in 2nd grade! She then asked how old he was, he said 6, and she said, being funny, "Really, oh, so are you doing dissection in school now?" DS immediately responded, "I hope we dissect a dog. I would really like to see what it looks like inside a dog." I was equally surprised that he knew what dissection was, and that he wanted to cut up a dog (his favorite animal).

No grades here... I tried to get DS6 to remember his MAP scores when he took them last week, since they pop up on the bottom of the screen when you're done, but he couldn't remember.

That's funny about the dissection, DS6 may know about it..but not sure yet. We haven't gotten report cards yet, but ours are on a number system as well. 1= below avg, 2 = slightly below standard, 3 = at standard, 4 = above standard. Last year all his grades were 4, except in all of the areas of organization and behavior hwere they were mostly 2's and 3's. There are more areas on organizational skills and behavior then there were academics...it's pretty amusing. This year at one of our meetings they were debating how to grade his math since he is taking 4th grade math and weren't sure whether to grade it as a 4th grader or a 2nd. I thought it was a silly argument. I am pretty certain either way he will get a 4 so not sure why it matters. Maybe I am a weird mom but I am looking forward to some 3's someday in the academics (and dreaming of 4's in the organization and behavior areas).

another funny thing about grading. Frequently they have to start students as lower to make them improve. If you started everything high and they stayed the same that would imply they learned nothing, right? So that is the dilemma of teachers (which I find ridiculous). Ironically same thing happened to me in my job when I was rated by my supervisor working in schools. I had to laugh as they explained to me that even though I was doing great in every area they had to give me 3's so that I could progress to 4's over the first couple years. They have to show growth

I forgot to mention that on ds7's report card, the only "black" mark was under "talks at appropriate times". He has a blurting problem - had the same problem in 1st grade, but as soon as I heard about it and talked with him about it, he stopped. I have heard NOTHING this year, until seeing his report card. I asked his teacher about it - and she said it was the sole reason he was not this quarter's "Top Dog" in his class (they choose a child from each class in each grade to be "Top Dog" - have a special assembly to announce it etc). To my son it is a very big deal (he was Top Dog one quarter in 1st grade). In one way, I wish his teacher had told me about the blurting so I could nip it in the bud - and he would've had a chance at Top Dog. On the other hand, I'm kind of pleased she didn't - this way, he'll go out of his way to quit the blurting so he can be Top Dog next time
On the grading - I just realised that in 3rd grade they get letter grades - and he goes to 3rd grade for math - so not sure what will happen with that. Guess I'm slow on the uptake this year LOL

If you're weird, then at least you have company. I have the same dreams. They are accompanied by visions of a huge smile on DS's face for his sense of accomplishment, and because he knows where his homework is in the morning.

DS got all S's (Satisfactory) on his behavior for the week (title 1 school, so they have to report weekly progress). Anyway, he's had so many issues with P's (progressing) over the past 9 weeks. I was in tears I was so happy to see the S's!!! So, you are definitely NOT alone.

I was shocked at the 2 (progressing) in Art based on what the standards were for the first quarter... The standards change each quarter. DS got all 3s, which is the meets and less 3+s (exceeds) this year than last. But I'm not sure if that's because of the teacher or because of him... ya know? Letter grades at least give you a score based on individual test scores, etc... I think the meets & exceeds can be subjective depending on the teacher. If someone gets all the answers right on a math test, it's a 3. But the teacher can give a 3+ too.

I am rambling now... carry on.

DS got in to the circus school and has his first class today He is very very excited (and I am looking forward to having coffee alone for an hour while he does it lol). His fearlessness has remained, as has his determination to keep trying physical stuff until he gets it. I'm really happy for him as his hesitance has held him back for so long. I remember being quite similar as young child, not very physical, but once I reached 8 or so I developed a drive that seemed unstoppable. I'm happy to see it happening for him now.
I am really enjoying homeschooling at the moment. I like the little discussions we have while driving or shopping or walking. He seems to constantly think about numbers. He often says things like "Mum, half of 300 is 150!", which blows me away because we really have only touched on most of the things he comes out with and he hasn't really done any formal maths other than the occasional workbook page/online maths program. I'm pretty grateful to Khan Academy right now! This unschooling gig really seems a good fit for him.

Last year our cat went into renal failure and died. She was with us for 15 years and I was devastated. On the way home from the vet with her body, my 5 y/o ds told me that he would like to see her. I prepared him for what she might look like (she was very bloated) and told him that he could see her. Once we were home I unwrapped her for him to see.

He touched her fur and petted her and I stood there and wept. Then he looked at me and asked, "Can I dissect her?" I was horrified! I said, "No! You can't DISSECT her!" I was horrified! He looked shocked by my reaction to his request. (I would normally already be running for the dissection kit at such a request.) He then stated, "Well, didn't you say that her body is just a shell and that *she* isn't really in there anymore?" Errr... yes, I DID say that, but...

After telling myself that I was pretty sure that he showed no signs of turning criminal, I did for a moment consider allowing him to dissect her, but I knew that *I* wouldn't be able to handle dissecting her. I had known her too long. Anyway, that's when I began to suspect that there might be something just a little bit different about my son's brand of 5 y/o curiosity.
[b][/b]

My DS desperately wanted to dig up the dead guinea pigs a few days after their burial under the apple tree to see how their decomposition was going.

Morning!
I first thought about sending this in a pm, but then I thought that others might benefit from reading it as well.

For some reason this morning, I was thinking about shellymos's son in a 4th grade math class (which I think you mentioned was still too easy). I was wondering, what sort of math is he doing?

In fact, I'd be interested in knowing about any of your children who are doing math acceleration -- specifically the grade level and the topics they're studying.

My dd6 is in a private gifted school where supposedly all the kids work one year ahead ... and then she is in the most accelerated math group. All the kids are true 1st graders, though, and I'm just curious how the work they are doing stacks up to a more traditional school environment.

Thanks!

Irisheyes

From what I can drag out of ds7, in 3rd grade math they have been working on multiplication and place values recently Though it's hard to get him to tell me what's going on - all their math is hands on, so I rarely get to see worksheets, and they don't have homework. Thankfully, it's conferences next week, so I'll find out exactly what they're doing, as the 3rd grade teacher will be at his conference. It all seems very simple to me so far !

DS6 is in 2nd and math accelerated to 3rd.

In math so far this year he has gone over fact extensions, parts-and-total number stories, the partial-sums addition method, three or more addends, measurement, and maximums, minimums, medians, and range, and will soon go over perimeter and area, circumference and diameter, multiplication number stories, divison with counters and in number stories, arrays and area, and multiplication triangles. They use (grrr) Everyday Math.

Since I'm here posting (and enjoying reading everyone else's posts !) I thought I'd update how my DS6 is doing.

As background, DS skipped K last year. This year he is in 2nd with math acceleration to 3rd.

Because of scheduling issues, DS starts the morning in his 2nd grade class, goes to 3rd grade for an hour, comes back to his regular class, and then has to go to another 2nd grade class for an hour at the end of the day. All the teachers were so concerned about him having three different teachers and his ability to transition well between the classes. We (my DH and I) weren't so nervous about it because we figured that, since school was basically fairly new to him, it wouldn't seem all that out of the ordinary to him. Still everyone at school was nervous about it.

Well, I'm happy to say that everything is going great! His math teacher has told us several times that he is so mature and comes right in and sits down and gets started with his math. She also says that he is among the middle of the class math-wise, which we think is wonderful right now (given that he is being taught math formally for the first time and that he's still getting all A's). He's also transitioning well when he gets back from math and when he goes to the other class in the afternoon. He's remembering completely on his own and gets right to work.

Unfortunately, while math is at the right level for him, almost everything else is still quite easy for him (save writing, which is grade appropriate; his teacher says he has great handwriting, though!). Luckily, I feel like he gets enough reading and discussion at home, and also we do enough fun things during his time at home that he's exposed to more in-depth science and social studies topics than he gets at school. Also, we tend to turn his easy spelling words into opportunities to alphabetize and look things up in the dictionaries he bought with his own money last year. And, eventhough he has some good friends he's making in 3rd grade, we still feel like 2nd grade is a great social fit for him.

So, all in all, a great start to the year!

Irish,

DS7 is accelerated 6 years in math to pre-algebra. He adores all things numbers and it has worked well for him. One interesting note is that he gets scored 90% on all of his homework because he doesn't show his work. He is all about mental math and doesn't see the point. His teacher knows that he is doing the work as he tested him a couple of times the first week. He told my son that he would lose 10% on his homework for not showing his work and DS seems OK with that.

Shari,

I think it's great you are able to step back and let your DS make that decision for himself.

Sometimes things like that are tough for me -- but I'm working on it!

Shari, interesting approach. We did it differently: we decided DS needed the skill of showing his work (he's a mental math person too).

Once we taught him how to do it and why it was important, he didn't mind doing it any more; I think in his case it was really that he couldn't see why anyone would need to see "shown" what sprang to his mind instantly. But it's a good skill for later, both because computation does get more complicated and harder to hold in your head, and because for things like geometry you can't even pass without showing all the steps in a proof.

DeeDee

I am not exactly sure what they are doing this unit. they are using everday math and I know the first unit was geometry. Angles, rays, line segments, polygons, word problems related to these things. I know he is doing something entirely different this unit but has been out sick for most of this week so not sure. They also pull him aside in the classroom as the work is still pretty easy for him and he doesn't need the repetition after the lesson. So he does more complex stuff with the math coordinator who goes into his class with him almost every day. For enrichment he does whatever he has on his mind or whatever interesting things she thinks of. He has been doing calcudoku puzzles, they convert binary numbers, all sorts of things like that. He loves that stuff. And he seems to really like the math olympiad stuff as well. I am shocked at how quick he does those puzzles. I gave him his first one last night and it was timed at 4 minutes. I didn't want to time him because it was just practice and he asked me to time him. He figured it out in a minute and a half...but since he didn't really show his work I had no clue how he got his answer. He had written out an equation that I didn't get though....so I proceeded to spend 5 minutes doing it the way I would and writing out this complex thing only to end up with his answer. I ask him how he got it and he shows me and it was this strange way I would NEVER have thought of. Pretty cool though.

About the showing work he is funny. He does when he needs to, but he usually does most of it in his head and then goes back and does all the work to show how he came to that, sometimes the work is abbreviated just to give someone an idea. As the steps get harder I think he may need to show some of the work as the brain can only hold so many steps in it. Although clearly his brain holds more steps than mine.

DS will have to make the adjustment when he startsa geometry. That is scheduled for next semester. He does show his work when he needs to do something on paper but it is simply amazing what he can do in his head.

We had ds7's 2nd grade conference last night, and all went well. His teacher just gushes over him, and apparently the other kids in his class think he's the best thing since sliced bread. She gave an example of how she tried to explain something to the kids, and they just weren't getting it, so ds offered to explain - he explained it almost exactly the same way that she had, but the kids "got it" coming from ds. Apparently they view him as some kind of deity LOL. His 3rd grade math teacher was also there (he scored 96% for the 1st quarter). She said he's in the top group, along with 3 third graders. Apparently, if he doesn't show up on time for math, they're all asking where he is I told her about his EPGY math, but of course forgot to take in the printouts All in all, a good conference - they are trying hard to accomodate him, and he is happy in all respects, so can't complain too much

That is a great report. Glad that your deity is doing so well and is so appreciated.

That's awesome NCPMom!

Sigh. Had P-T conference yesterday and then had a follow-up e-mail exchange with DS6's math teacher tonight. Turns out, he's not finishing the bulk of his work. Homeroom teacher had mentioned this weeks ago, and I asked her to send work home for homework so I could enforce the importance of finishing what he starts. Nothing came home, until tonight. What I saw:

An entire packet (10-15 papers) not finished b/c he wanted to finish coloring or drawing a picture (the actual work was done). And a bunch of work that was really rote that he simply didn't do (like writing a line of letters or simple words over and over again).

It's no wonder he's finding the conversations going on around him so much more interesting. When I had him do some of the work tonight, he finished 6 worksheets in a 1/2 hour.

And the math testing showed him completely done w/2nd and 3rd grade math computation. But the teacher marked his grade slightly down b/c he's slow to finish his work ... not b/c he actually gets any of the answers wrong.

Are any of you finding speed to be an issue even though your kids know the material?

I homeschool my ds 6. I learned early this year that I had to move him along as soon as I knew he knew the material. If I ever lingered for a few days on something, he would become bored and lose focus... and become quite slow about getting it done.

Maybe your son is just bored since he knows the material.

Don't we have quite a few Nov/Dec birthdays? My ds will be 7 in two four weeks. Happy birthday to all holiday babies (who are not really babies any longer, of course)!

DS6 will also be 7 in three weeks. And he's my youngest. How are they growing up so fast?

I'll add my Happy Birthday to all the other holiday babies!

My DS6 will be 7 next week, and he's my youngest, too. So, happy birthday to him and all the November/December kids!!

DS6 will be 7 in 3 weeks. He's my oldest. So yes Happy Birthday to the holiday babies!

3 weeks for mine also (but he will be 8!!!!) And he's talking about how he is now "mature" and "going into 3rd grade." This is a first for us; an interest and excitement about his age. It's making me happy Happy Birthday to the rest of the holiday babies...it's a crazy fun time of year!

Happy birthday to all the upcoming birthday kids!

Mom2twoboys - I sigh with you. We don't have an issue with speed, but with legibility. DS's handwriting is atrocious, and after our recent conference, his teacher is sending home practice sheets.

Speaking of recent conference, it was awful. Well, the conference with the classroom teacher was OK, but the one with the gifted teacher was horrible. We thought that DS would be getting more advanced math this year, since last spring he did most of the 2nd grade curriculum. But no, he's pretty much doing it over again. I'm pretty sure that none of the gifted books say anything about how it's a really good idea for gifted kids to repeat classes. Grrr. And then we learned that the plan all along was for DS not to do 3rd grade math this year at all! They have been giving pretests and if DS "shows mastery" then he gets to go to the gifted coordinator. But he's getting enrichment there, not progressing. And if he doesn't "show mastery" he goes to the class for the whole unit. But he gets it right away (he just needs a little review - it was last year after all), and then he gets enrichment that comes with the curriculum. Which, did I mention, he also did last year.

But the good news is that DS is still at the top of his class even after his grade skip. So I feel good that we did the right thing with the skip.

Another December birthday here - my DS will be 7 in four weeks! Where DID the time go? Happy birthday to all the Holiday kids!

SPG: So sorry to hear about the conference and what's happening with math. It is so frustrating when you know your child should be getting taught something and school isn't providing it.

The best thing I can say so far about DS6's school move is that it meant that I could move DS8 into the paired school. DS8 had been doing fine, top of his class, in math, but no one was bothering to teach him to his potential. At his P-T conference at this new school, teacher told us that she's giving him 2 years of math and he's getting it right away. Presuming that he keeps going at the rate he has been, he'll be going to 6th grade math next year (he's currently in grade 3, but grade 4 math).

I've seen a huge change in him. He's SOOOO excited about school and math, in particular. I hope you can eventually get your school to do this. (That was a long way of saying that it really is worth it to keep pursuing!)

Hang in there.

DS will be 8 in a couple of weeks, can't believe how time flies!

At times. For some reason journal writing takes DS a long time at school. He has great handwriting and spelling and gets most of everything right the first time. At PT conference the teacher said that she has to really work with him on doing a rough and a final draft because he thinks his rough should be his final. She did say that they looked almost identical but she is trying to get him to revise and add more content and ideas. His thinking is "I got it right the first time, why am I doing it all over again" LOL. Anyhow, I think he goes slow because of that. Generally he is quick unless distracted or uninterested.

Happy B-day to all the holiday babies! My DS6 is a summer baby : )

I'm not sure how it is with DS, but *I* was this way. I hated doing a final draft b/c my rough draft was "perfect"...

I'm going to have to watch it with DS now!

Shellymos: That made me chuckle. DS6 had one page of unfinished work where he was supposed to use an outline page to put his thoughts down and then turn that into several sentences. He wrote the outline as the sentences and couldn't understand why he'd do the same thing again and what she was asking for.

Ah, those perfectionists!

Happy birthday to all the holiday babes. DS is turning 7 at the beginning of Jan!

That was totally me growing up. I just couldn't understand why I needed to make an outline first, and so I didn't, much to my parents' chagrin. I felt like I just needed to write down my thoughts, and my thoughts were generally in a logical order.

Too, the only time in my life (when I was in college) that I ever took the time to write a rough draft, I ended up with a D on my final copy. Every other time I'd ever written anything I'd gotten an A.

Oh, and I turned out to be a professional writer and editor, so I guess it didn't hurt me too much!

I always wrote the outline after I wrote the paper - kind of useless. In college computer language courses I wrote the flowchart after the program.

>>I'm not sure how it is with DS, but *I* was this way. I hated doing a final draft b/c my rough draft was "perfect"... <<

Me too! LOL

Same here.

I'll be interested to see what grade ds7 gets from his 3rd grade math teacher this quarter. On Monday he didn't go to math (he's in a regular 2nd grade class, just goes to 3rd grade for math). So yesterday - the last day of school, when they had SO much to do, including an all school field trip, a class party and a school assembly - his 3rd grade teacher had him do his test. He started it first thing in the morning (in his 2nd grade classroom while the other kids were doing other stuff), did a bit more at afternoon quiet time, and finished it after school (which led to me having to call the school in major panic mode when he didn't get home after school, as no-one told me what was going on - but that's a whole other story !). Grrrr.

That's crazy!

DS7 got his report card yesterday. All 3s & 3+s (meets & exceeds). Well, except for that one 2 (progressing) in handwriting. He did NOT like me telling him that was the reason I always remind him to write legibly (that and well, you just can't read it!!!!). At least we have something to work on this next 9 weeks.

JJsMom, that's a great report card!

I'm so glad you mentioned DSs handwriting! This year, I hadn't focused as much on DS6's handwriting, and just in the last 2 weeks as we're about to finish the 2nd grade HWOT book, I've discovered that he forgot how to make several of his letters correctly....Ys above the lines, Ms with 3 humps, you name it. He writes ALL.THE.TIME., but I think that since we weren't focusing on handwriting per se, he's gotten sloppier and picked up bad habits.

Mine is dying to do cursive since that's the next book, plus the rest of his curriculum is now 4th grade so he thinks this should be too, but I'm seriously considering geting another K-level HWOT book and starting again. Just like yours, mine also gets very irked w/ me about the reminders. Maybe it's a boy thing??

Oh, and I'm just like everyone else here with the outlining, too. It seems like it might help for students who have trouble conceptualizing what they want to write about, but for natural writers, it's such a chore.

I haven't been around much in a while, but I'm so glad to hear all the great news!

Hi again.

DS6 is trying a new class today, and I'm a little mommy-stressed. Our homeschooling group found 2 teachers to teach a core academic class one morning a week. The kids are broken into 2 classes: 10 2nd-3rd graders, and 8 4th-5th graders. The teachers have been teaching at the local Phoenix schools for 20 years (1 was principal), and they teach at a charter now. They seem top-knotch, and have really great lesson plans centered around the Jungle Book, writing for publication, math salon, science, geography, etc.

My stress is because we're going to place DS6 in the upper class. He's been friends with this crowd for a year, doing less-academic things like LEGO Robotics, drama, etc. Since the next age-level kids are 2nd and 3rd, and he'll be jumping over them to the 4th-5th class, I'm wondering what the social reaction will be. Plus, DS6 likes to be the funny guy to impress the older kids, and I'm really hoping he can put his "mature" hat on and not stand out behavior-wise as the 6 year old that he is amongst 9-10 year olds.

I know lots of you have gone through this, so it helps to read what you've all written. This is our biggest jump, and the fact that it's with kids he already knows but who don't realize where he academically falls has me a little worried. It wouldn't be a big deal to move him back down to the 2nd/3rd grade class. The teachers have agreed that he's academically able to participate at the upper level, though, and I really want him to be challenged in a class situation.

I guess we'll know in a few hours how it goes!

The first day of school when DS7 walked through the door into a 7th grade classroom, I was a wreak! I totally understand what you are feeling. We had a few bumps the first week as DS tried to determine how he fit but now I find that he adapts his behavior quite well when he is with the older kids.

Hopefully it will be the same for your little.... Best of luck!

I'm pretty sure with the weather conditions down here, DS7 (and DD5 for that matter) won't finish THIS year until the start of NEXT year!!! Grrr.

Shari, thanks! DS did great with his Wednesday class! What a relief to have found a good fit!! He said one 9 yr old asked him his age when they split into groups, but he just used the line I prepped him with: "I'm 6 and technically in 4th grade." Another 9 year old quickly came to his defense, saying, "well, that wouldn't be impossible, you know" and that settled the whole discussion. DS reports that he quickly earned "cred" by being the only one who could find India on the map (thank you, SOTW!). Then. they studied the childhood of Rudyard Kipling and discovered the stories he wrote at 6. DS6 loves to write, too, so he now tells everyone "Never underestimate a 6 year old!" LOL!

Love it! I'm so glad the radical acceleration worked out well. Sounds like a good fit.

We have some big news here. We visited a school for HG kids this fall, just exploring the possibility for next year. We all loved it, even DS7. Well, we got a call yesterday that there was an opening this year, because a student was moving. He can start anytime! We are probably going to have him switch in 2 weeks, at the end of a quarter. This school works a year ahead, plus works faster so they have time for other cool units. Since DS skipped a year, he'll fit right in this year, since he's more like 2 years ahead. The school also does a lot of ability grouping within the classroom. I'm probably more excited than he is at this point, because it's a little scary for him to leave his friend. I reminded him that he still sees his best friend from kindergarten, who is at a different school because of DS's grade skip, and I assured him we'd set up all kind of play dates with new friend too.

It was a hard decision to move him mid-year, but we really feel that getting him in with this group of kids in the first year of the program (it goes 2-5 grade) will be a better fit, and he'll hopefully be more likely to stay there without another grade skip for awhile. (It also was a hard decision because it will be a long drive for DS- I'm used to it because the school is near my work.) At his current local school, they are really doing a great job of being flexible and accommodating DS, but it's a lot of work for them, and most of the time, it's not gifted programming. But because of the grade skip, it has been OK.

It will be very hard to go in and tell the local school that we're pulling our DS, especially after the history we've had of some pretty contentious meetings that ended up with them coming up with a great solution for our DS. I still feel bad about that. We're not pulling our DS because we were upset with some of the things the school did, but really we want DS to have intellectual peers his own age. We don't want to burn any bridges - we might need to come back. Or want to come back (the HS here has a lot of different options that would probably work for DS). So, wish me luck on Monday when I go report the pullout.

Wow! Good luck, St Pauli Girl! It sounds like a wonderful opportunity.

We, too, pulled dd 6.5 out of school mid-year to switch to a full-time gifted school, so I know the type of stress that can cause a parent (granted, ours was during the pre-school years, so I know yours is certainly heightened). If it makes you feel any better, dd loved the switch and never looked back. I think, if nothing else, you're trading up in terms of peer group for your ds.

I hope this school lives up to all expectations and your son thrives there.

Please, keep us posted!

St Pauli, and Irish too, your GT schools sound like wonderful resources! My YS FC confirmed that there don't seem to be any in our metropolitan area, which is how we moved to homeschooling. I love what we're doing now, but I have visions of starting a GT charter someday to fill that void. We could really use age-academic peers for our older son.

We pulled out of school at the mid-point last year, and I too was concerned about maintaining a relationship with his first school. All of the teachers and principal were extremely understanding, and I hope yours will be, too. It's very reassuring when the teachers themselves recognize that these children need more than what a traditional class can offer.

I agree...let us know how it goes!

I just got an email from the Charter School I have been trying to get DS7 (and DD5 for next year) in. The lottery for next school year will be held in two weeks. Oh how this would be the best news EVER!!!!

They invite you to come to the lottery drawing. I am wondering, if it is a true lottery, why they would invite you. I mean do they let you, if you don't get a spot, a chance to give a good reason to let your kid(s) in? Or does showing up give your child a better shot?

Either way, I'm going, but still...

Ooh, good luck with the lottery! Don't you wish they would just pick the best fit, though, instead of leaving it to chance? I think I'd be a nervous wreck for the next two weeks. Hopefully nviting you to come must have some additional benefit. Good luck!!!

unforunately your chances should not be effected whether you go or not. I think they just invite you to prove that it is a true lottery and people don't complain later that it wasn't fair. This way they can prove to the public that it was done at random in front of witnesses.

Good luck Monday!!! Excellent news about the opening - what a stroke of luck! So glad the school is near your job - that's nice. I think the current school will understand your perspective, afterall, 'social and emotional needs come first at school.' I'm pretty sure you'll be able to filter the sarcasm out better than I can.

Great news that he has a friend he likes well enough to miss, too!

Yippee and More Yippee!
Grinity

Thanks Grinity -

Things went very well on Monday. The classroom teacher and the gifted teacher both thought it was great news for DS7, even though they would miss him - they felt it would be a better fit. So I was relieved.

The principal did give her opinion that the acceleration went well, especially DS has "come so far socially." So, yes, social needs were big at the current school, which is fine with me so long as the academic needs are also recognized. (Well, I'm of the opinion that if you meet the academic needs, the social needs will also be met.)

I'll let you know how things go next week at the new school. I have a feeling there will be a bit of a learning curve, and also DS and I will both be extra tired, having to get up an hour earlier....

JJsmom - good luck with the lottery!

Great news SPG. I hope the commute isn't awful. No chance of taking a train or bus?
Ren

But... but... but... but he HAS to get in!!!

You're picturing me, the person who cannot carry a tune, crying and screaming and whatnot to the judges (on any random "talent" show) just begging to be let through, aren't you?

Wonderful news! I tend to agree with you, but I suppose it's best to treat every individual situation, individually. Good luck with the 'early bird!'

JJ'smom - good luck!
Grinity

lol, well I guess even if you are there and he doesn't get picked you could yell "that's not fair!!...I DEMAND a redo" that may go over well. Or maybe you can convince them that they did say your kids name (and spread some random friends through the crowd agreeing that they heard it as well). Make them think it is them, not you. : )

That's great SPG! I am sure they realize it is a better fit, which is wonderful. I hope next week goes well! Definitely keep us updated. Maybe he could sleep more in the car on the way there. Of course my son NEVER does that even when we have gotten up really early for road trips. He either stares out the window, sings, reads, or talks a lot about random bits of information. But we have had a lot of good quality conversations in the car actually. Hope the transition is smooth for all of you : )

We just have to get our kids together sometime. This is my DS, exactly! All this talk about the kid getting enough sleep - I'm starting to get worried for myself (I hate getting up early!)

Thanks for the well wishes. He is starting to get excited now, too, because we told him some upcoming activities that the new teacher posted on his website. (Which, by the way, is already a huge improvement - we never knew what was going on at old school. I love, love, love that new teacher posts what's coming in the week ahead.)

When I picked up DS's stuff after school, his teacher said that there were quite a few tears when the kids found out that DS was leaving. He said he's been teaching quite a while, and had kids leave before, but this was the first time he's seen the classmates crying over it. I got a little teary-eyed myself hearing that! I will miss his current classroom teacher- he's a cool guy, and really did a lot to differentiate for DS.

And here's a funny: My mom picked up DS from school, and she said the first thing out of his mouth was, "Don't even think of hugging me. I've had quite enough of that today."

Today is D Day... Come on 6pm.

Fingers crossed for you, JJsMom!

good luck!

Thanks.

Oh SPG - bittersweet, but I hope things are going well!

DS7 himself wasn't too torn up about it! I finally got him to write a thank you to the pretty little girl who gave him a special gift and "I hope you don't forget me" note.

Things are going well at the new school. The teacher is doing all these great things to make it fun, and because they work faster, they have time to do some fun extra units. DS does say it's hard sometimes, and he liked it when it was easy, but his parents are quite happy! I've noticed a couple of things that I can now blame on lack of challenge. For instance, DS has never been the best speller in the world, up to now, but now that he's got more challenging words he's doing much better. Also, he has gotten excited about reading (maybe it's the fact that he's captive during our long car ride). He's devouring the Simon Basher science series.

And I don't know if you remember the beef we had with the old school, where he was supposed to start in 3rd grade math at the beginning of the year, but they had him basically re-do the same 2nd grade math he had done the year before. They said he wasn't passing the pretests. Well, he was dropped right in the middle of 3rd grade math at the new school (same curriculum) and has been perfectly comfortable with it, even though he missed the first half of the year. So it makes me a little irritated with the old school, but I know they meant well so I'll try not to be.

JJsmom - any news?

SPG - I do remember. It's hard not to be irritated, but, I'll do a few deep breaths in the directions of 'healing vision' for your old school. People can see just so far ahead of what they know and understand, and no more, at least in the moment.

JJsmom - good luck.
grinity

JJs Mom,

Woke up today and thought about you and your son. I'm hoping "no news" isn't "bad news." Perhaps you were off celebrating and did not have time to update your 1st/2nd Grade amigos (hoping)?

Sending good thoughts your way.

Irish Eyes

No news = I was sick for the past two days (and even today) and completely away from the computer!

Oh, and of course,

THEY GOT IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They went from 6th - K (one of the few elementary schools in the area to offer 6th grade - here it's in middle school generally). If DS7 got in, DD5 would automatically get a spot. If DS did not get in, but DD did, DS would be bumped up on the waiting list. So thankfully they did it backwards because K had 101 spots (5 classes). 3rd had 19 spots & 8 waiting list spots... DS7 was 15/19!!! And let me tell you, everyone going into 3rd has a name that begins with J... it was KILLING ME!!! LOL.

Because DS7 was called, DD5 was in (she was like 5th), but her name was also called within the 101 spots, so she would've gotten in anyway.

PHEW.

Congrats JJsMom!

Wonderful news, JJsMom! I hope the new school turns out to be a great fit for both kids!

I hope so too. I will know that having a permanent place will help them (we moved last year, and we will be moving again this year. Same county, different school district). This way they will always be able to attend this school, regardless of where we live in the county.

Yay JJsmom! That's great news that both kids got in. The (knock-on-wood) permanent place is why we chose to move our kid mid-year, when there was a spot in the HG school.

Just wanted to report that the school change has gone well so far, a month in. DS7 hasn't complained, but when asked he still sometimes says that things are too hard (because he has to think), and that he liked all the pullouts in the old school because he got out of classroom projects. But all in all, I think he likes it, and he's making friends. He just started chess club after school too, which he loves, and that wasn't an option at the old school.

As for me, I feel a huge sense of relief, like we finally have a break from advocating for awhile. I feel that DS7 is consistently challenged and is doing a lot more interesting work at the new school. Hooray!

That's awesome! Your DS sounds like mine with the "hard" work. DS7 has been so conditioned to have things come easy already too. He hates having to think, especially if it's a subject he doesn't like. I'm so glad, as I'm sure you are, that we are catching this now instead of when DS7 gets to college and gets overwhelmed with having to think (like his mom).

This will be the one down side to the new school for DS7. They do not offer chess. BUT they do have a science club among other things that are not offered to him at his current school at his grade level!

So now we've reached a difficult decision... because it may involve moving, it's more than just a choice between two schools.

DS7's current school is a Title I school with half the population being ESOL. BUT, he is on a gifted track, with about 12 other students and would follow this track through 5th grade, which would include his Target (ALP) classes. The benefits could be huge being clustered like this.

The charter school just broke away from the Imagine Charter system. That's a plus, but I have now been told that a counselor at DS7's current school pulled her two kids from this school, and the other gifted teacher at DS7's current school was hired for the gifted spot at the charter for the 2010-11 year, but in the end turned it down. We couldn't try it and decide to pull DC if we didn't like it because we'd basically have to move (we rent) closer to the charter. The charter, to give it its props, has a waiting list. If it was awful, it wouldn't right? It now governs itself with a board (instead of Imagine), and it's about to move into a new building. It boasts high test scores, and one of the main complaints I have read is that if your child isn't gifted, you do not want him/her to go there (which is a plus for us).

I am on a mission now to talk to both the counselor and the other gifted teacher at DS7's current school. We have until the 24th to claim our spots at the charter. I hate decisions like this!

JJsMom,

I think you are definitely on the right track. I think the best way to get answers is to talk to people directly. Their responses/reasoning may surprise you.

I remember feeling very concerned when my dc's school announced a change in headmaster only weeks after we switched there. Abrupt change can be unnerving, to say the least.

I had to empower myself to call several people I barely knew (board members, etc) to get what I considered "the real scoop." I felt I owed it to my children. I have a feeling that if you talk to these mothers/teachers, you will find it enlightening.

My one caveat would be that if either of these parties feel disgruntled or bitter towards the school/administration, that will probably filter heavily into their comments. That's the part you'll need your mommy gut to suss out.

Please let us know what you discover!

Irish Eyes

Thanks! It's funny because I woke up this morning with the "just do it" feeling. I mean, afterall, I play it safe in most things. I rarely take risks. What's the worst thing that can happen? We hate the charter, and we can't get back into the current school? Well, it's not like the rest of the county schools (including the one DS went to for 1st - heck they are the ones that tested him to skip K, which is rare, so they must be ok too) are so bad.

I was driving home yesterday next to a lady with a bumper sticker for the charter... unfortunately we were never stopped long enough for me to flag her down! But I thought about it!

JJsmom -any news re: the charter?

I have some good news. DS7 has been at his new school for HG kids for about a month and a half. He has complained a bit since he started, telling us he liked the easy school and he doesn't like to have to think. Well, yesterday, I asked again if he was liking his new school. I finally got a yes!

I think this might be related to the fact that now he's having a lot of fun with math. At the school we transferred from, if you recall, we begged and pleaded for DS7 to get 3rd grade math, because he was ready for it. Well, at the new school, he was dropped right into the middle of 3rd grade math, and he's been doing fine. The teacher posted that the kids would be working on fractions, which DS7 has never done. I asked him in the car, "I hear you're working on adding and subtracting fractions with the same demoninator." He said he could do them with different demoninators too, and he proceeded to do one in his head for me. I waa so amazed that he learned this new concept so quickly, and I'm so happy that he now loves math again. Just put the kid at the right level, and he thrives.

That's great!!!

I have no additional news other than we are still trying to decide 100%. The plusses & minuses are about equal right now. I have to enroll them on the 24th if we go with the Charter for sure. So I suppose I will know in a week.

Good luck with your decision. It's bad and good that the pros and cons are equal - hard to make a decision, but also hard to make a bad decision (since they're both equally good).

That's so great SPG! So glad that DS is liking his school, from what you said about I assumed he would love it. It really is amazing how quick they pick up math concepts sometimes. DS6 has been into Khan academy and really enjoys that. Has your DS tried that site? Maybe not so much during the school year but during the summer some. DS only really looks at it on weekends as the weeks are so busy! But Math Olympiads is over in a couple weeks so that will free up some time. Last week we had yet another snow day and DS somehow learned multiplying and dividing fractions and got up to the linear equations. He was really into it, and trying hard to improve his streak and get badges. Kids are funny sometimes.

DS7 brought his report card home last week. His reading level went up to officially an "S" (top of the 4th grade level), even though his teacher says it's probably early-middle 5th grade, but she can't put it b/c the tests he's taken only go up to the 4th grade level. I wonder what they will do when he is actually in 4th or 5th!!! He brought home a 7th grade level book to read for his AR reading (on Daniel Boone) over the weekend and said that the library only holds books up to an 8th grade level. He also received all 3s & 3+s (Meets/Exceeds Requirements on the Rubric).

But I was most proud of his behavior!!!! He got all S's (Successful) instead of the 1-2 P's (Progressing) he brought home the previous two times - he's a little too chatty. Yay!

Oh, and FYI - there's a big to do about Charter Schools & Funding happening in my state. I found all this out the day AFTER I was supposed to sign DC up for the Charter in my area. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad I did not!

Just a quickie Got ds7's report cards this week - I had to laugh at the 2nd grade reading section - he has always been marked as "above grade level" - but on this on, it says "at grade level". He's had a sub, as his teacher is on maternity leave, and the sub is actually a library assistant, so I'm sure she just didn't know there was an "above grade level" to select. Ah well, I think we'll survive. He also gets a 3rd grade report card for math only - and he got 99%. As well as going to math, he has been going to 3rd grade to work on a "Dream Clubhouse" project every day, which sounds like fun ! His 2nd grade class have been on field trips the past 3 days - Friday they went to the National Weather Service office, yesterday to the "Outdoor Campus" (nature oriented), and today to the washington Pavilion (science center). School sounds like SUCH hard work these days ! Oh - and he was also named his class "Top Dog" a couple of weeks ago (they choose one child from each class each quarter) - so he was pretty excited about that

NCPMom: Sounds great! Funny about the report card.

Glad to hear so many good reports about everyone's kids.

Question for you guys: Do your kids make some of their work harder than it needs to be if the work is too easy? I had to make DS redo math homework tonight b/c:

1. Homework was about capacity in containers and how much liquid was in them. There were two identical looking containers, one with a capacity of 4, one with 9. DS decided that b/c they were identical looking, every number on the one with 9 must have been a half and gave all answers based on the halfs.

2. Simple measurement in grams. DS decided to explain all his answers in pounds. Only no one has told him how many g = a pound, so he simply guessed that 100 grams must equal a pound. I asked him questions before explaining what he did wrong and he totally got that the scales were measuring in g, he just felt like converting them. ... He now knows what the g to pound conversion table is ;-)

NCP - oh to have so much fun during a work week!!!! ha!

mom2twoboys - it's amazing how muchy your DS sounds like mine... like he's bored, so he'll make the questions/answers even more of a challenge than what they are asking!

JJsmom: It's always nice to know there are others like him. He had to write a small thing about goals in school. He listed: Reading goal: To read longer books (Note: He's reading the 5th Percy Jackson book right now.) Math: To learn devision [sic] tables.

I do worry a little b/c he's starting to separate himself. We hosted a neighborhood party this weekend with lots of kids. I thought he was playing with the other kids, including one who he's been good friends with his whole life. It was only at bedtime that I discovered he'd been up in his bedroom reading all night. It's not the first time he's avoided playing with other kids. A couple of months ago, he spent an hour at a friend's house avoiding the kids and reading on someone's kindle.

Maybe he's just going through a learning spurt...

Since we are at the end of the school year (5 weeks left for us). I was wondering how everyone's kids did this year. I am kicking myself for not insisting on the math acceleration back in the fall. First grade math (everyday math at that) has been less then thrilling. Frannie's homework is completed in 5 minutes. We may work on second and third grade math over the summer. She will finish the year reading at a mid third grade level. We are MAP testing this week. She did not get into the gifted program (just missed). She scored no points on the non verbal section of the CogAT.. which I don't understand how that happened.

We are hoping they will skip our ds5 into first grade. He will MAP test sometime in late June early July. He will need to score 90% of the end of year kindergarten in both math and reading. If he doesn't .. we will at least have an idea of where he is and look at subject acceleration in at least math. (He completes first grade enrichment math now).

DD8, who is bright but not necessarily gifted, has been asking for more challenging math to work on at home. She has a tendency to rush through her work at school and often makes silly mistakes. Also, although she's reading at a fourth grade level, she sometimes struggles with reading comprehension. So, I ordered the Life of Fred - Fractions book for her. I'm hoping that it will combine reading practice with some fun math.

I can hardly believe that school is almost done - 18 May is the last day !! I just peeked online at ds7's 2nd grade math district testing results - 96.9%. Hope missing a couple of multiple choice questions doesn't affect his going to 4th grade for math in the fall They did the district reading tests last week - don't know when the results will be in, though. I also peeked at his end of year report card - it isn't filled out yet, but in the reading section, he started out at level 40, and end of year says 40+ - guess the teacher couldn't be bothered to test his ACTUAL level. Grrrr. ( his 1st grade teacher tested him up to level 50, right at the end of 1st grade, but that didn't make it onto his report card for some reason) !

I asked his teacher how many questions were on the math test - 64, and he missed 2 - one of which, is a very poorly written word problem. The district average for the test - 78% !

I only have a brief moment to post. We are done with 2nd grade... amazing. DS got 11 3+s (exceeds - usually he gets one or two) on his report card and qualified to do Target (ALP) next year. I cannot believe he will be a 3rd grader in a few months!!!!

guess it's time for a 2nd/3rd grade thread! DS7.5 starts 3rd on Monday! Wow.