DS7 was moody over the weekend. So I sat him down and asked if there is something going on at school or at home that I don't know about, that is putting him in a bad mood. After avoiding the subject for a while, he said his teacher thinks he's stupid. Apparently he thinks his teacher is deliberately giving him "baby work" because she thinks he can't handle harder stuff. He was even under the impression that the other kids in the class were getting harder work, because they take longer to finish it. Then on top of it all, he begged me not to email his teacher about it! (I did anyway, but asked her not to mention it to him). Anyway, we've known he was bored in school for a while - but I didn't realize how serious it was. I don't know that he even thinks of himself as gifted - and to be honest, I'm not sure if I should bring that up with him. Right now he thinks of himself as the same as all the other kids, and I'm afraid that if I explain to him why everything seems so easy to him, he'll kind of look down his nose at the other kids. Or just feel like he doesn't fit in. Either way is not good.
Who would have thought that being GOOD at your schoolwork would make a kid feel stupid? Sigh....I always thought it would make life easier if your kid found school to be easy.
