Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments High school and busy work

We checked out a second set of many of her books so she has one set in her locker at school and a second set at home. Her backpack was weighing nearly 40 lbs. when she was having to lug them back and forth daily and she is under 100 lbs herself.

I'm not sure that she will be able to do this or will try. She's convinced that it will be fruitless.

This option is working well for some gifted kids I know locally. I also know a few this age that are doing a some subjects traditional homeschooling and a couple CC classes, as a nice compromise for them.

5 hours a night sounds WAY over the top for a 12 year old, PG or no. Heck, sounds like too much for the average freshman too me. How can a kid do any extra curricular activities with this much on their plate?

Hope you come to a resolution!

Well, she did just turn 13, lol. It's still too much (and I don't know that I'd call her PG. She's more HG with tremendous focus and maturity.)

Since she is young for her grade, what about reducing her course load significantly and spending and extra year in highschool?

She could she drop both the photography and the earth sciences (and the world history if they let her). This would give her a couple of extra hours every day to work on the other courses. If she loves photography, she could take it next year, or join a photo club, or take a cc class.

Being a perfectionist myself, in her situation I can imagine feeling overwhelmed that there are not enough hours in the day to do everything as well as I want to. That can cause major anxiety.

Where I live there would be no disadvantage for college applications to spend an extra year in high school, but maybe thats not the case where you are?

That's not an option, unfortunately. Just dropping history would be enough probably enough to do it but it is a mandatory class. She is required to have 80 credits her freshman year. Study hall would be 5 credits as is photo or earth systems. She can't take more than one study hall per semester and they don't allow part-time students as far as I know.

In talking w/ dd last night and this morning, I think that she is going to wind up dropping photo. She's terribly disappointed b/c she has been looking forward to this class, she's already done about 1/2 of the work for the quarter in this class, has a 100% in the class, and will need to retake it later and re-do all of the work she's already done (can't reuse photos she took this semester). She doesn't see any alternative, though.

I really hope that one study hall in replacement of a class that didn't have a lot of homework is enough to make it worth the disappointment.

I can't help but ask "why?" If she is already a year younger, why can't they give her more time? It seems so silly. I'm sorry to hear that she will have to give up something that she loves to meet their straightjacket requirements.

Also, have you checked with CSU to see if they have any flexibility re the age requirements? I know people who have high school age students taking classes at Mines and that there is a program for coursework through CU as well, though I don't know the details re tuition.
If it doesn't work out in the long run. There is a state charter, online high school that is free to CO residents http://co.provostacademy.com/
Good luck

Most of the time, we used the lunch period to study. We'd eat lunch, then go sit in the next class and study. Sometimes if we had a big test the next hour, the teacher in that class would just let us prep.

FWIW, I talked with two of my friends from HS last night to see if my memories were off. They both reminded me I was not there for 9th grade. The Algebra teacher and the Latin teacher handed out a ton of homework in that grade. The Latin teacher was especially a major PIA. Both studied 2-4 hours a night. They both recall working until 2am one or twice a month.

One friend has a PHD in Math and is a full professor. He also works at a major nuke lab and also owns a company that does quantum computing. He told me he usually studied from 5pm until 9pm and then did six hours on the weekend. He said he hated it sometimes. But now appreciates the work ethic he developed. He said his dad encouraged him to stick with it. He gave up football his junior year to focus on his studies. I do recall him quoting aphorisms to motivate himself.

The other friend is head of the surgery department in a major metro area. She told me she often cried her 9th and 10th grade years. She also had major concert commitments outside of school as she played 2d chair in the metro orchestra and also did recitals around the country. She was in band and the band teacher would let her take a nap in her office or study there. There was a lot of trauma in her life her junior year as well due to loss of family members so schoolwork was her refuge.

I now also recall that my GF in HS cried sometimes. She is now head of pediatrics at a large hospital. She usually studied all weekend and from 2-4 hours every night during the week. She also did theater outside of school and had to give it up her junior year to focus on school. She really wanted to be a physician and that was what kept her going.

All three earned straight As, had SAT 1's over 1450, and two were NMSF.

Both friends said they felt that I did not have to work as hard as they did to get the same grade - so "easy" was not so "easy" for them.

I hope this helps provide perspective in some way.

Not super recently but I did give a call to the community college this morning. She more than meets their low requirements to waive the age limit to enroll. You only need something like 19s on the math, english, and reading parts of the ACT to be allowed to enroll in whatever you want. We would, unfortunately, have to pay full tuition at the community college if we just take her out and have her do an online high school or homeschool. If she's enrolled in the local school district, they pay the cost of the CC tuition. I don't see how she'd possibly be able to take CC classes in addition to what she's already doing there, though, and it's not an option to replace classes they offer at the high school, just to take classes that are not offered at the high school.

My strong suspicion on this is b/c they won't get full funding for her from the state if she isn't enrolled full time.

On a side note, she's actually as much as 2-3 yrs younger than some of the other freshmen for some odd reason! Her bd put her on the young end and with the grade skip I do expect that she'll be 1-2 yrs younger, but there seem to be a lot of 15-16 yr old freshmen.