Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy "I don't like school."

So many good questions that are helping to make this whole thing come into focus for me! I'm going to answer the ones I think will make the situation more clear for everyone. I'm open to ideas to ask the teacher about to make the working part of his day more tolerable.


I did ask for specifics, in fact. He is having a hard time with exactly what is bothering him, but I sorted out that the spelling words are too easy (I knew this) and having to write them three times each on Mondays is, in his words, "wasting my time". I intend to ask he be tested out of third grade level words at least, and moved into the fourth. Hopefully, those are difficult enough that he will be challenged. Also since he only needs three or four tries at a word to learn how it's spelled, I'm going to ask he only have to write the word once to "learn" it or possibly ditch the writing part altogether and have him spell the word to the teacher privately.


His teacher asked my husband if we had discussed homeschooling with him, actually. He said we had and she suggested he was possibly saying he doesn't like school because he may have some thought that homeschooling would be more like his weekends. In other words, lots of fun time and no work like the school is asking him to do. DH assured her that I was very structured and he was under no illusion that he'd be playing his day away. I had made sure DS knew the good and bad of a choice to homeschool him. One major downside for him is no recess with the kids. I told him he would likely not see them again if we homeschooled. He also knows he'd miss out on the fun things the school does like Missoula Children's Theater and field trips, potluck lunches and last day picnic/carnival.


I read this suggestion and tried it out on him. He said if the entire day was only math and snack and lunch and recess! Of course, he knows that's not possible so when I pressed him, he came back to spelling and his phonics worksheets being a waste of his time. The questions you suggested really helped clarify for me something needs done about those two subjects-even though the school won't allow a full skip to fourth grade reading. Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll look it up.


Bingo! This is him. He's a glass-half-empty type (gets it from me). Because he seems to consistently come back to "I don't like school" comments regardless of if he says the day went well, I know this issue is more than his natural outlook on things.



He went through a bout of this in Kindergarten. I recall him crying that the kids didn't understand him. Now that he's in a school that has a mixed grade class environment (he's in the 1st-3rd room), I haven't heard him say that again. He's also interacting with the 4th-8th graders during the day, and enjoys conversations with them. In fact, I was at the school to speak with the principal (who also teaches the 7th-8th grade) and a couple of the girls commented on how smart DS was and how he was soo cute. He's well-liked, so I'm not thinking this is the problem. I think he's possibly less inclined to be a "joiner" in things unless he really wants to play.


I'm adding these to my list! Thanks, indigo.


I can't say how much it helps my husband and me to have this board's parents to consult. We have joined a local group for gifted kids, but haven't found it to be very helpful, since it's mostly focused upon politics within our state regarding gifted education, and there's few opportunities for personal interaction.