Originally Posted by Dandy
Originally Posted by mommajay
... my daughter isn't complaining about boredom ...
I ran into this general issue with our son. As I worked my way through the school & district staff, I learned to preface my comments with, "I know my son is getting straight A's, is well-behaved, is adored by teachers and students, loves school and from all measures is having a grand old time... BUT... I am *not* happy with the situation."

Some PG kids pester their parents to install weapons-grade physics laboratories in their bedrooms in their thirst for learning. Others write Tolstoy-esque tomes by flashlight under their covers at night.

And then others, like my wonderful PG son, are tickled pink & purple to just endlessly coast, enjoying the frivolity along the way. My son never complained about boredom at school, and even when pressed, he was generally without complaint.

But he was sure getting addicted to those easy A's and would recoil in abject horror when faced with the slightest challenge.

The trend was clear... and having lived through the experience myself, I worked diligently to bring some gosh-darned struggle into that boy's life.

I know that the OP is currently not in favor of a full skip, so I'll not press too much in that direction... B-U-T... I will throw out the teensy possibility that if the young lady is that far advanced in Reading and Math, perhaps there exists a similar gulf in Art, Science, or ???

We had no idea that our ridiculously verbal son was also exceedingly capable in math... because he'd never been given a similar opportunity to push forward at his own pace. But good golly, when he was finally turned loose -- wow. And after his two full skips, his love for Science blossomed, and by some freak genetic mutation he also enjoyed and excelled in Social Studies.

Yes -- he was perfectly happy just tra-la-la-ing his way through school, but had we not intervened, nobody would know how capable he truly was. Most importantly HE wouldn't have known either. But he'd sure figure out something was up when/if he got to college and slammed head-first into the ol' brick wall of reality.

Oh - and about Santy Claus. DS was skipped full-time into the 5th Grade classroom just before Christmas that year, so I spilled the beans shortly after the move. I remember kids in my 4th grade GT classroom who were ardent believers of St. Nick and who were teased mercilessly by many as a result.

Originally Posted by mommajay
My daughter also doesn't complain when she has the flu. That doesn't mean she doesn't have the flu. It just means she's a wonderfully cheerful kid.
Priceless.

Dandy, beautifully said. Our ds also was, well, maybe not exactly happy, coasting along, but didn't understand there was any choice. He complied, if begrudgingly (but would only show that frustration to us). And it wasn't until he took the Explore test, a test in which he could less easily hit a ceiling, that we had any idea of his capacity. Which led to finding this site which led to...an incredible amount of life-changing information.

Last edited by KADmom; 10/15/13 02:03 PM.