Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Our "school" experiment

Nathan is PG and has a high level of intrinsic motivation. He decided he wanted to try school to see what it's really like. He is only theoretically supposed to start grade 1 next January, but since he is doing mostly grade 3/4 work with maths at grades 4/5/6 and reading at a 12 year old level I decided to try find a school that would let him spend a few days.

I managed to find one that (very rarely) offers grade skips to certain students they identify in class as needing more.

So he spent 3 days there.

First day in grade 1 was a disaster! He was horrified to realise that he had to request permission to get a tissue for a nosebleed. They trotted him out to read his favourite book (Macbeth) to the grade 7 kids, and they gave him 3 entrance exams back to back (for grades 1, 2 and 3) - without my permission.

He managed right up to the last two sections of the grade 3 paper and got tired right where they asked for immense amounts of writing (creating sums from word problems and a comprehension exercise).

The second day he attended grade 2 - and he loved it. But the other kids got upset because he was answering all the questions before the teacher could complete the questions. He enjoyed the money game they played - making change from larger cash denominations.

At break he got into a conversation with some of the grade 7 kids about a few books they had all read and he packed his bag and moved to the grade 7 class after break (recess). He joined in the coversations in class and said that he finally learnt something new AND interesting. But his favourite time was sitting at the back of their class reading a book he had taken from home.

The third day was a disaster - mixed grade 2/3 class as he could not physically keep up with all the writing. I had to fetch him two hours later.

He was rather sad to realise that school was not measuring up to his expectations. but has since settled down so nicely to just getting on with him own thing.

Just thought I'd share our experience

Hi Madoosa- our DS7 is in second and goes to a private school. What you're saying resonates with me because it's a reminder that there are many important skills that are necessary to succeed in school.
Our son is not PG, but is EG and accelerated by a few years in language and math. We struggle with homework because there are so many soft skills involved-- patience (on both our parts!), careful reading, stamina for longer problems and papers involving writing, etc.
I've had to accept that even though my child is intellectually ready for significant advancement, he is not "there" with functional skills.
We're pleased with the academics at his school allowing for self pace. I'm certain that if we could not have in him a self paced, accelerated environment, I would need to consider home schooling.
I think that wise teachers know how to work on some basic skills with gifted kids, while still providing acceleration and depth. We've been incredibly fortunate.

Thanks for sharing that; very vivid.

A fascinating story to read, Madoosa. I think it was clever of you to find a school opportunity for him to experience.

That's exactly it Cammom - and he has finally realised now that what I have been saying for the past year is true! Writing is essentially the key to being able to access higher level classes and groups around here.

A year ago he was quite willing to write - he penned elaborate stories that took over a week of daily writing to complete, with illustrations. now he is reluctant to write even two sentences. he always seeks the shortest way to express himself in writing.

He did now insist on learning to type, so that may help.

There is no way I would let him be in a grade 2 or 3 class right now - he is super sensitive and takes everything personally. It just would not work for him and now we are back on the same page as we all know it.

A great outcome that was totally unexpected, was that he came to me a few days later asking if we could sit down and design a more rigorous academic program for him. He doesn't want to do the picking and choosing daily tasks for himself anymore. so we are having the initial brainstorming session this weekend while we are away camping.