Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Is DS really that different?

I completely understand. There are times when I'm acutely aware that DD5 is different from her peers and then there are times when we doubt ourselves. I often wonder whether she's ahead of expectations simply because we, as a family, have academic hobbies / interests and read a lot for fun in general.

I know she is not being challenged in K - her teacher has told me as much. However, I'm right with you on the she's, "only in K, how much can they really do with [her] this year." The problem is my kid is bent on hothousing herself e.g. wanting to spend the entire afternoon doing math or announcing that she's planning to get to level z in her school reading program. I definitely see not being challenged in school causing issues for us down the road. She already expects everything to be incredibly easy for her and when she actually gets something wrong (this always happens at home) she can't handle it emotionally. She's not used to being challenged when it comes to learning.

All of this is terribly isolating. I don't discuss how she's doing in school with anyone. There is another mother at school who does quite a bit of after schooling with her daughter and she recently asked me what math curriculum I'm using with DD. I'm not using a curriculum at this point. We just discuss things as they come up. I even find it difficult to talk about with family. We had a party for DH's birthday and DD had written him a card. One of my in-laws saw the card and I saw her eyes go wide.

I do a lot of down playing and have never used the word gifted to describe her outside of me and DH. If DD were changing schools I don't even think I would mention the academic reasoning, I would just say she needs more support and leave it at that. People can assume whatever they want from that. They are not entitled to know my DDs academic status just as I am not entitled to know the intricate details of their children's school careers.

I totally commiserate with you Dubsyd. Hopefully some of these doubts/concerns will disappear when your DS changes schools and you encounter more parents who are dealing with similar circumstances.