Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion End of year reflections - How did yours go?

We only have one month left but one month is a long time for DD so we shall see how it'd go. Honeymoon is over between DD and her "former" BFF. They still play together but thankfully, DD is no longer infatuated with her and DD seems to be making more efforts to establish friendship with everyone. The switch in preschool midyear was the right decision for us as we definitely went from a bad fit to a great fit.

She is still young but her main focus seems to be focusing from academics to music. With dance, there was so much she could do but with music, the sky is the limit and unlike with academics, her parents aren't telling her to not worry about it until she is older. She has a wonderful teacher who really believes in her so everything is aligned for her to take off. The interesting thing is, her progress in music seems to be lifting her up in other areas. Her handwriting has gotten very good and not just for her age, she's now a truly fluent reader, and her math fluency is catching up with her conceptual understanding. And to my surprise and joy, she's overcome with her perfectionism with art and is drawing and painting almost every day. She says she knows it's okay to be not as good as she wants to be at first because she remembers really struggling with music but she's getting much better at it because she practices everyday. See, sometimes, you can make kids drink the Kool-Aid.

MAP testing shows DS8 making more than expected growth in math and reading. Which pretty much suggests the program and skip have been a good fit. Scrambling to get a resource in place for math over the summer as he plans to spend much of his summer playing with math.

Recently discovered soccer has become "the thing" at recess which ends up being a bit socially isolating as DS can't follow the ball and field movements well. But socially doing OK in class and clubs even though not connected with a math friend yet.

This may be a misuse of the reference. "Drinking the Kool-Aid" refers to convincing someone to do something to their detriment; following blindly and unquestioning to their own demise; being gullible; "falling for something hook, line, and sinker"; etc. Here is one of many explanatory links available http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=drink+the+kool-aid

Maybe I should have used instead.

I was trying to be witty but I guess my attempt at humor failed.

It's had a split meaning where it also conveys the sense of buying into a philosophy in a more positive sense; typically with an amused wink to an initial skepticism.

First full year at Tiny Private School, 1st grade, 1 year skip. We afterschool in an interest-led way. Some is schooly stuff like Beast Academy, but most of it is what I consider the real business of education -- literature, history, science, How the World Works.

This was the year that DD discovered gymnastics, which threatened to take over our lives for a while. She has also gotten much more engaged with playing with other kids. She's actually spending less time on academic stuff than half a year ago, with my wholehearted approval, because she is spending so much time playing.

Once she masters the mechanics of reading and arithmetic, I see at least one more grade skip in the future. I'm thinking we may homeschool for middle school.

Overall, we're in a good place.

This year was the second year at a private school. My son was homeschooled for grades K-4, skipped 5th and entered the school in 6th. He skipped 7th and was in 8th this year.

We've decided to homeschool again next year, which pretty much sums up how the year went.

1.5 more months to go before school gets out. Very happy with how this year went. Dd4.5 loves her play based school and has learnt so much about plants and birds from their daily nature walks and excursions. At home, she continues to enjoy the homeschool. We have spent a lot of time doing science and have built some really cool setups. She started to read the beginning of this year and has taken off- she reads at least one book a day. It is a pure joy to watch her grow and see the twinkle in her eyes.

DS had a great year at his play based preschool! He mostly helped the cooking teacher prepare for her classes, supervised 2yo's on the play ground and tended the Butterfly garden. We are going to try Public K at the top school
In our district. I give it until Christmas before we need to pull him out and homeschool. I've already become acquainted with some people from the Homeschool group. DS can read almost anything, is several years ahead in math and spells very well. I am also flabbergasted that he has great handwriting. I think he would be very happy just taking care of Pygmy goats
Running through the fields and continuing to test the water quality of the lake.