Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments An ok school day?

I'm curious what other kids do at school. I remember school being regimented with a different colored sequential book and workbook for each subject and grade. While this was often boring, it did build and show progress.

I have trouble understanding what DS8 is learning. He's 8 and loves school. He's 2e (dyslexia/graphia/praxia)
If anyone is really up on curriculum, please take a look at this and let me know if you think it is ok.

Typical week
For math he does:
2 pages of six digit addition and subtraction (usually about 8 problems per page)
Worksheets where he has to read word problems and graphs, set up problems and solve them. Sometimes these involve time, money or fractions.

Logic problems (these are very much like what was on the LSAT if you've taken that)
Creating Venn diagrams out of random things (There must be a big book of worksheets because he's been doing these forever. They give a big word bank and a few rules and off he goes with the circles.)

Worksheets where he corrects bad spelling and punctuation.
Grammar and punctuation worksheets.

He does a spelling test. It seems normal.

His reading comp seems to be mixed with history. For example he'll get a two page passage on the war of 1812 and then answer multiple choice, fill in the blank and short answer questions.

The rest is just the extras depending on the day - music, cooking, presentations, watching documentaries, art, keyboarding, yoga, coding, and library (They use the public one down the street so he can get whatever)

I really like the school. The extras are wonderful and the teachers really care about the kids. It just all seems kind of random sometimes. The grammar worksheets for this week will look pretty much like the ones from a month ago. The addition problems are mostly the same too. I am not sure if it is just so incremental that I can hardly tell a difference or what.

DS is a big fan of easy work. When he finishes his assignments he gets to read or work on making his latest comic book or coding or science project. I think the head teacher is an unschooler at heart.

We are not putting him in the public gifted that starts next year because he is so happy there.

Thoughts?

It sounds a lot less random than my 8 year old's work. And it sounds like you have a lot more evidence of work being done.

You mention that the math involves addition, subtraction, fractions - just ensure that they are teaching multiplication and division as well. Though, I think that if your DS is good at these topics, he should be doing more challenging math work (probably be moved on to preAlgebra). I believe that in most schools, the grammar topics change more often than once a month. There should be a "Creative writing" component to LA where they should be taught to write short paragraphs, short essays, book reports etc. Also, I don't see an emphasis on science, but, I think that it is normally included in the school day at this age as is a separate History or Geography curriculum.

I do like the logic puzzles/venn diagrams that your son does every day and the freedom to read etc. The extras sound great.

KJP, have you tried asking these questions of the teachers at the school?

I can't help you with curriculum specifics, and truly, schools are going to be different when you compare, even within your own area most likely. Different doesn't necessarily equate to "less" or not the right choice. The school work you mention sounds very different than my children's elementary school day - their schools were focused on project and group work and included few worksheets. Science, social studies in particular were primarily whole-class or group work, math included group work, projects, and worksheets were only used for practicing quick math facts. There was never much repetition of addition/subtraction once the basics were learned - I'm fairly certain my kids never had more than 1-2 classes of work on adding/subtracting large numbers. Different, yes? Successful, yes. Each of my kids learned what they needed to learn, did well, and were able to move on to where their academic abilities placed them in middle/high school. Does that mean your school isn't adequate because it's different? Absolutely not There are many different ways to get from point A to point B.

Being in a school setting that a student likes, having confidence in the teachers - those are both *huge*. I wouldn't be too quick to move from that.

Best wishes,

polarbear

KJP, DD attended 1st grade at a school where it was really loosey-goosey and I was never certain what the kids were learning. Sometimes, the kids at her school surprised me with their depth of knowledge in one thing, and other times I was shocked by their lack of knowledge in an area I would think they should have mastered by then. I started asking parents that had their kids graduate from that school (school only went up to 8th grade) how their kids adjusted to their new school. Based on those answers, I was able to make the decision to move DD out of that school. Maybe the common core guidelines for the grade your DS is in will give you some idea of how their curriculum aligns with a standard. While I am not a fan of the way CC is implemented, it at least provides a baseline for comparison. http://www.corestandards.org/read-the-standards/

Thank you all for your responses. I think I will talk to the teachers about it. I don't really care about making any changes this school year but I'd like to talk to them about next year. Part of their challenge (and what also makes it a great school) is that it is very mixed grades and ability levels. His class is grade 3-8 and some kids are advanced for their age and others are delayed.

There are group learning activities but if it doesn't end in a worksheet, I don't see it. I only see what comes home in his folder. The extras take up a lot of time and they let DS do special things like read to preschoolers and help the K teacher with science presentations.

However, I'm concerned he'll get to junior high or highschool and not be prepared.

So when I go to talk to them, I'd like to have suggestions. They've been very open to our suggestions in the past. I'm thinking of providing a math and writing curriculum for him to do there.

He is interested in Beast Academy so maybe that would work. He is a chronological second grader accelerated into that class so maybe he could start with the Beast Academy third grade book in the summer at home and continue it there in the fall.

I think his neuropsych eval from two years ago recommended a certain writing program. I'll have to pull it out and see what that was.

I'm thinking about getting him a tablet/laptop for next year too. If anyone has suggestions, feel free to make them. All help appreciated.

On the one hand, don't sweat it because it's just elementary. My sister homeschooled her kids in early elementary, spending only an hour or two a day and they ended up accelerated one or two years (either side of cut-off), graduating at 16. They returned to brick and mortar school between 4th and 6th grade and was mostly fine but with noticeable weaknesses in writing compared to their cohorts. On the other hand, I would really watch his curriculum from 6th grade onward as the demands in a decent public school ramps up quickly and you don't want him left behind.

Your DS is still young so the focus should be on remediating his disabilities. The curriculum you described screams accommodations, which is great if it keeps him happy, as long as they/you are remediating his dyslexia/dysgraphia at the same time. I am assuming that he turned 8 recently so is young for 3rd grade, but the curriculum would be somewhat lacking in the reading/writing areas even if he were a second grader. In our district, third graders routinely write multi-paragraphs essays and read/analyze literature (short stories, excerpts, books) as well as science and social studies selections. At the same time, the extras sound wonderful as well as the logic problems and science project. The math curriculum is a mixed bag: it is great that he is reading word problems and graphs and studying fractions but make sure he learns to create graphs as well; it is strange that he is doing so many addition/subtraction worksheets in 3rd grade; modern curriculum also includes a lot of elementary algebra (24 - ? = 17, etc.) and elementary geometry (area, perimeter, etc.).

At this age, I would not under-emphasize happy so notwithstanding the weak areas I mentioned, the school still sounds wonderful.