Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School So howis it going?

The hubs said,
"It's like telling a running back not to run so fast every time he gets the ball".
I feel frustrated for you and your daughter whether or not you want acceleration at this point I feel frustrated for you right now.

Twinkletoes,

I know exactly what you are going through.

My DDs were the same like yours. At least we had the skip but gifted program is a joke. We supplemented with some Maths at home and let them read whatever (although I censor the contents before they read)they want.

I tried advocating for my kids and other gifted kids at school and the principal cooperated to some extent but we don't have much support. Finally we decided to move 1 hour away to Round Rock ISD. I had to commute 75 minutes each way to work but after 2 wks in school, it is worth it.

They have Gifted pull out program both Math and language arts EVERYDAY. 6th grade TAG Math starts with middle of 7th grade level. It still may not be challanging enough for my DD8 who is a HG 4th grader but she could do 6th grade Math. We'll see how it goes.

I do not recommend moving (took some loss selling the house) but meet with the gifted teacher and present ideas such as Khan's academy (good thing about this is they don't have to teach the kid. the kid use internet and learn themselves) and Stanford online Math, etc.... Who knows, it might work out.

Good luck.

Twinkletoes, that sounds just painful. Hopefully your DD can meet some other verbally gifted girls in some other way, are there library activities like a book club, or museum type classes local to you at all?

DS5 started back at his preschool which runs through K. He likes it there and they get free play for actual portions of the day, so it was the least worst option. But it's still disappointing there isn't an ideal option, the academic side of things is not right and the kids are almost all younger, and it's more of an expense than we'd planned for K. I worry he's missing out building friendships with kids he'll be with next year. He seems happy so far.

We're doing some homeschooling which he's just great with, I'd anticipated some sort of opposition from him somewhere along the line as most anything we ask of him he refuses, but it's been weeks now and he's still a model student at home. I can see why people homeschool, it's been fun and it's cool to get to have input into what he learns. It's the first time we've chosen topics versus just following his lead.

Also taking him to a class in a nearby town with mostly 7+8 year olds, he's barely able to manage socially/emotionally, but the instructional level is just SO nice, a real relief to have reached an age he can mix into an older group class well enough to have it work. The truly attentive look in his eyes watching the teacher is awesome to see, he participates with so few objections, it's really neat. And he's going to an occasional activity at a local homeschool coop, the library, starting sports. Still he seems to have oodles of time at home.

Pretty soon we'll start to work on getting a few minor accomodations with his school, figured we'd leave it alone for a while. Getting some books he might want to read out somewhere accessible to him is the biggest one.

Polly

Its going pretty good for us.

Mr W is homeschooling - Singapore math, reading, writing, etc. Doing about a weeks work every day. He is into set game, mahjong, cards, mazes, etc. He is MUCH happier and easy to get along with - and his sleep issues are gone.

Glad it's going well Austin. How is wombraider?

How long per day are you spending homeschooling? What do you fill the day up with besides it? I'd love to plan to homeschool next year but I think I'd kill DS by a few weeks in, if he's at home too long he starts licking me out of boredom. Or worse has nearly seizure like exponential plans involving wire and Home Depot.

I had a brief talk with both kids teachers today..


ds6 (first grade).. just completed MAP testing. We don't have the compiled scores (primary MAP) but we do know his math score is extremely high (probably in the 215- 225 range). He is in a multi grade classroom (entire school is multi grade). He is in guided reading with the top 2nd graders and reading at a level 'n'. He should start the gifted pull out which is twice a week for an hour each day sometime in the next 2 weeks. He has expressed that the homework is too easy for him. We came up with a different plan for him. We can send in the work he is completing at home. He can read any book he wants as long as we use the guide to hit the talking points. For math... she wants to wait for those MAP scores.

dd8 (third grade) .. she is not working up to her ability. We brainstormed some ideas to help her. She is able to verbalize her thoughts very well but not able to get them onto paper. She is rushing through all her work (including the MAP test which she bombed!). I expressed my concerns about her being pulled from gifted services (which she has not qualified for through the school- we have private testing the school doesn't accept). but was there by teacher recommendation). The teacher is going to have her journal in a letter format written to her and then will write dd a letter back in the journal. Hopefully dd will open up a bit about her feelings and thoughts. We know she doesn't like being the 'smart girl'.

Overall I think we made progress with both kids.

Things are getting better with DD after a slow start, but we have continuing concerns that she may really have an audiory processing problem or "something else" going on. This was the first year I saw evidence of the "summer slide" that everyone talks about. She had to sort of get the gears going again. Though she read like a fiend over the summer, she did virtually no writing or math (I just didn't bother with it since she's been more than able to meet expectations) and she was rusty.

Well, I went to curriculum night. (DS7 had been complaining that the class was focused on learning multiples of two and he was bored. I told him to sit tight while we determined what the plan would be.) It turns out that the fourth grade class will be focusing on "basic fractions", which the teacher explained as halves, fourths, fifths, and tenths-- "You know, the ones that can be divided by 100"; beginning decimals (tenths followed by hundredths later); odds and ends related to figures, solids and charting; and converting back and forth between fractions and decimals for tenths... coupled with lots of drill on basic multiplication and addition. She spoke of these things during an overhead slide presentation, and mentioned the four math learning strands but failed to mention a single item that would solidly fall under the "functions and algebra" strand.

Yes, this is fourth grade in our local math Title 1 school district, afflicted with Everyday Math as well as a PhD-holding math specialist whose idea of an effective remedy is for all to spend months on drill, decreasing the time spent on new concepts and problem solving.

The educational consultant for DS7, promised to be paid by the school system and selected by my wife (a co-professor at her college) then approved by the TAT team, didn't get funded by the district. However the principal, who really seems to want to do the right thing, has promised to pay for the consultant out of his own budget.

One bright moment happened this weekend, when DS7 mentioned that his new guidance counselor, who is apparently the only person in the school with past gifted program experience, will be meeting with him one-on-one on Wednesdays to explore math in new ways. I don't know the specifics yet.

The wife and I are currently forming a plan of attack for advocacy for this year, because it doesn't seem like at least the in-class math plan will work at all. The principal did promise at the end of last year that DS could be subject-accelerated further if need be, and need seemingly be-- there's just no point in enriching him in such a classroom that's so far below his level and pace. Still, we will probably start with a request for a private meeting with the math teacher, as well as getting the consultant to sit in on a class or two to get a factual basis for helpful recommendations.

What do you think they should be doing in 4th grade, just out of curiosity? That doesn't sound terribly different than what DD's 4th grade curriculum (she is in 3rd) looks like, from a brief flip-through, though I know they started out spending a fair bit of time on place value to the hundred millions (this actually tripped up DD--things like "how many ten thousands are in a hundred million" had not been covered for her before). They are not doing addition or subtraction at all anymore, though. That's expected to be mastered. The kids are being tested on times tables and should be finished with that by October. Long division is coming soon. Perimeter and area. They do occasional very basic pre-algebra sort of stuff, but DD has always found that super easy and I consider it sort of inconsequential. As a reminder, these kids are all 130+ IQ. I don't know where your DS tested and if he is PG, but they are not at this time finding this 4th grade curriculum extremely easy in 3rd. (DD did find the 3rd grade book easier last year.) This is just for sake of comparison. I can share the name of the book with you in a PM if you like (prefer not to disclose publicly as it would ID me geographically).

This also sounds like my DD's grade four last year. I remember lots of long division. It was a 4/5 split and she was in 4 (bored with 4 & 5, wanted 6... teacher said no because she "was getting sloppy and not putting forth her best effort" ...sigh). Anyway, yes, it sounds like grade 4 to me as well.

Oh... they were also doing decimals and adding & subtracting fractions and mixed fractions (not sure if that was grade 5).

LOL I remember a conversation...

DD(then 8) "you can't do long division."
DS(then 7) "can SO!!"
DD "do you even know what it is?"
DS "no, but I can DO IT! Mama show me how?"
Me "ok buddy, after school."

I did - a very simple long division example - and it was eye opening because it made me realize all the cumulative math skills involved. DS had all the skills in place (except for memorization of the times tables: he had only a small part of them memorized). So he understood and could do the long division, but it was an arduous process involving scrap paper, pencil and lots of counting. Still, he was able to "neener neener" his sister ;p It was pretty funny. I think we'll do more of it this year in grade 3.