I have three daughters. Two are in elementary school. While I was in gifted classes as a child, I always believed it was a mistake. (Years of hearing, "You're not as smart as you think you are." takes its toll.)
So, I assumed my daughters were not gifted. They certainly weren't doing anything I considered impressive or out of the norm.
When I got the call my oldest was placed into a pull-out math program, I responded, "But she's not the smart one."
Seriously? Can I make myself sound like a WORSE parent right now? *headdesk*
The vice-principal told me that wasn't a very nice thing to say and I agreed and told her that of course I believe their testing but my middle daughter was head and shoulders beyond my oldest in math and asked would she please give her the test again.
They did and placed my middle daughter in a pull-out program a level above.
See, the school they were in had five tracks. The middle and then two intervention tracks and two enrichment tracks. There were only pull out sessions for language arts and math and my daughters were not pulled out for language arts.
This continued for two years until we moved last November. The girls went in to their new school and were re-tested with some Scholastic test and placed into gifted classrooms. There is one per grade in the district so my 3rd grader has 27 classmates and my 4th grader has 23 classmates.
They struggled for about a month getting the hang of all this newly challenging work and I was thrilled they were meeting resistance and finally being challenged. Until my pep talks and my children's natural love of learning kicked in and now they're doing great again and back to being on "auto pilot" with two notable exceptions.
My 3rd grader's handwriting isn't great. It's not unreadable but it's not what the teacher would like. My 4th grader is getting low Cs in reading comprehension, but I'm not sure how to help her with that because the reading comprehension worksheets remind me of the LSAT and I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be getting a 4th grader an LSAT prep book to help her with 4th grade. LOL
I don't even want to go into my 5yo who isn't in Kindy yet because of her late September birthday who can do basic multiplication and stuff.
I'm also an awful mom because I haven't actively encouraged reading at all. Okay, I vascillate between thinking I'm awful and a genius to be honest. I focus on math first because I'm such an avid reader that I know they'll pick up on that part. (The older two have but it wasn't instantaneous and they were denied advanced learning for two years because of my decision so ... I still don't know if I'm making the right decision!!)
I'm here on this forum because I'm hoping it is the place where I can talk about my worries and struggles with my children without it turning into the "my kid has it worse so you should shut up" contest.
I just don't want to mess up my kids and have them thinking their only options are to cure cancer or feel like a failure.
I can't tell you how scared I am even writing all this. I mean, I just don't talk about my children like this. Usually people forget how many kids I have or if they are boys or girls because they just....don't exist in my conversations. My kids are almost invisible with regard to my online presence because how do you ask, "Is it enough to know my children are gifted or should I get them tested to see if they are highly gifted?" when you know it's an invitation to get a whole bunch of shade thrown at you?
It's nice to meet you. Thank you for having me.
Jen
