I just found out from DS that his average waiting time for each subject is about 30-45 minutes . So when given an assignment , he'll be done within 15-20 minutes , ( might be longer or shorter depending on the subject or the test ) .
Once he's done with assignments or tests , he has to wait for other students to finish ( obviously ) , i just didn't think that it he had to wait that long ( in my mind before i found out about this .. i thought it'd be just like 10-15 minutes waiting )
Is this normal ?
jaylivg, re your question of "is this normal", it would not have been normal in my children's elementary schools. Up through second grade (and even beyond) it is not unusual for children to be high energy and like to move, and most of the seat work my kids teachers gave out never lasted for more than 20 minutes at a time total. The was a lot of group interaction, moving around, talking, sharing ideas, doing active project work. My kids have been in three different element arty schools and even the most traditional school where children did a lot of sitting at their desks and were expected to be quiet the assignments given out did for individual work were not intended to last for more than 20 minutes total at a time without breaks to look up, talk about something, stretch etc. the other thing that happened consistently in each school and classroom is that the teachers had some type of structure around what kids should do if they finish early.
It sounds like you have a situation where your ds has been consistently finishing his work quickly since he started school, he most likely needs more challenge, and he doesn't have a good teacher fit this year. There might be other students who are having similar issues; they might be obviously goofing off or they might be sitting quietly bored but not be the type of kid who is going to show it to the world. It might help to check around with other parents to see if this teacher in particular is causing other families stress.
I'm on my iPad..... And running out of patience for typing on the danged thing! So I'm going to. Have to finish my reply later.... but I just wanted to let you ow re your OP that no, waiting 30 minutes or longer hasn't been our experience even with my very very fast working gifted kids.
polarbear
