Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Is posting a LInk allowed?

Hi! My now 6 year old, is pretty average at school...learns a lot, learns it quickly, but doesn't already know most of it...but in reading she is above grade level..she also just turned 6, and because of all the redshirting in her class, is younger than most. But she ocasionally does these things...(she has a seemingly very gifted older sister, so I have my eye on her)...things that amaze me. They are always out of the blue. Like, today, she had 10 packs of gum with 5 in each pack...she figured out all on her own (she just learned to count without skipping numbers) that there would be 100 pieces of gum if she bought 10 more packs...

So, when she was 3, she put peanuts in the window sills hoping the pesticides on the the shells would keep spiders from coming in our house.

I am posting a link of a video I took when she was 5.4. I guess I was impressed enough to take the video when it happened, but now I'm wondering if she could do this at five, how could she not be gifted. I am wondering what you think. Can a non-gifted, 5 year old child, memorize an entire chapter of a book without trying, by listening to it on CD? Maybe it is only natural to momorize something you have heard a lot...but I would like advise...:)

Here is the link..

Wow! I know I'm impressed with her memorization skills! I think it's safe to say that most kids can't memorize an entire chapter of a book word-for-word even if they'd heard it a bunch of times. With both the video and your examples of math and creative thinking, I'd be suprised if your DD6 isn't gifted. I'd be careful assuming that she's pretty average at school. Any chance she could be hiding her abilities at school so that she blends in? Has she had any testing done at all?

I was so surprised when I heard her chanting this story to herself. She deosn't even seem to know that when she does stuff, it's cool. But really, I don't think she is hiding anything at school. In fact, I am pretty amazed when she comes home speeking in spanish and explaining how the world works to me. Telling me about 'ordinal' numbers, and 'anthologies'...counting coins, telling time, telling me about famous composers and artists...and why they were famoush. She is just learning so much at school. I LOVE not having to take it all upon myself to teach her and to keep her satisfied...which is, I guess, why she seems un-gifted..or average, to above average to me. She is so happy in school (DID have to ask for harder books) and is thriving. This is how it should be.

I compare her to my dd9 and it's night and day. My DD9 already knows everything she learns at school. I have support her education at home with above grade-level material.

Gifted or not, dd6 is my gift...the child I can just sit back and enjoy. Not that I don't enjoy DD9, she just requires a little more support. Thanx for watching my long video mnmom23...:)

ps..no, no testing...should I? If it comes out high, will I do things differently? She is doing so well, I would hat to find out she is brilliant and then expect more from her and put pressure on...Then again, I would hope I don't have low expectations of her either. That can backfire as well!