Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Good school year so far?

2016/2017 is going well for us so far. How's everyone else doing?

DS5 is really doing well in K. For math he is working on three digit addition and subtraction, multiplication, time, money, measurement, and even a little geometry. His reading is really progressing too.

DS9 (2e) is consistently getting his work done and really enjoying some of his assignments this year. This is a nice change from previous years.

It's going great for us. This is year 2 for DS8 at a nearby gifted school, and he loves it even more than last year. He continues to astound with his ability to express himself and understand complex writing. The math facts could be more autonomous but his teachers aren't terribly concerned at this point. Great teachers and a great environment leave him with a great experience, I think.

KJP, I have total school envy for your DS5. It sounds like he and my same-aged son would hit it off!

My DS5 is attending half-day kindergarten, purely for social purposes. So far, so good. Thankfully, the play-based "curriculum" is so light on content that I don't have to worry about DS being subjected to inappropriate material because apparently nothing is taught. Outside of school, DS is thriving, and we're considering options for next year.

Our son's school year began mid-September and went downhill quickly.

He was at a charter that allowed movement up or down in level depending upon need. He had been attending for the past three years and last year things became dicey. I told him his fourth grade year would be better because he'd be mostly learning in place and wouldn't need to walk from classroom to classroom. While that was true, other problems surfaced.

Since he was straddling three different levels, he had five different teachers at once. Two of those teachers were new to the school and often the instruction given to him contradicted. He began coming home with stress headaches and started to lose weight. The icing on the cake was when his math teacher, who also is the principal, "lost" his completed math work and seemed unconcerned we wanted to review it. Even though she gave him a B grade on his progress report, she insisted he was too young for algebra anyway. When she went off on a tangent about our son's mental health, we pulled him.

Upon switching schools, he received a grade-skip that should remedy a lot of what had gone wrong at the charter. He's now in fifth grade with one teacher and is receiving challenge in his math through giftedandtalented.com in the classroom.

We hope the change is going to go well for him. If not, it's back to school searching.

Our year is going pretty well, all things considered. DS8 has a super teacher, with many years experience but not so many she is burnt out on teaching, and she has a gifted certification. She was the one who brought up possible giftedness to us, instead of past years when teachers have only brought up weaknesses. He is in Special Ed for social skills (both kids have autism), and he is succeeding there, too.

DD12 struggles more in middle school. We are still working on finding a medication regime for her that works. But she seems to be enjoying her classes, and she is finding some challenge in HS Geometry and in Drama, so those are plusses. I'm happy that we put her in this school, as they are very willing to work with her (and around her as necessary).

I am optimistic for DS8, and even cautiously optimistic for DD12, which I think is about as good as it's going to get.

The school year is going OK so far for us.

We were not able to get DS7 (in 2nd grade)to take the third grade advanced math in the gifted program (starts in 3rd grade) because the district thinks that it won't work logistically and in-class differentiation and extended math program half an hour a week will help to provide challenge.

We have a very good and experienced teacher this year. All the parents that I talked to who knew her told me that it's great that my DS7 is having her this year (actually my DS9 was in her 2nd grade glass two years ago but I didn't notice that because DS9 had no issues with school). She actually gets my DS. She was the only teacher that ever said that my DS7 is a good kid, smart and have a sense of humor :-). She allows DS to work on Front Row and Beast Academy worksheets in class. She also gives him 3rd/4th grade math materials to challenge him. DS seems to enjoy doing it.

The school started the math extension program a few weeks ago. Did not hear DS talk about it much so it's probably not that eventful. However, to my surprise, just last week, the school communicated to us about a new program that runs an hour after school Monday-Thursday for six weeks. This is a free program and transportation is even provided after the program. Kids who qualify for this program will be learning from computer/ipad programs and teacher led reading and math activities. Today is the first day and DS was so excited this morning and said he can't wait to go to the program. Hopefully this is something he'll enjoy.

Socially DS seems have no problem making friends this year. He may talk too much or space out due to boredom but for the most part he's behaving in school.

So far we are quite happy.
DS10 has started fifth grade in a gifted program across town. The commute had been a major concern for us but currently it works out alright if one of us takes him as far as the second bus he has to take, which shaves off half an hour of his normally hour long commute and 20 minute of the commute are in a warm car with a parent and only 10 on the city bus. On two days someone can pick him up at the bus stop, too, but on the other days he's fine coming home on the city bus.
His classroom has only 16 kids, and the teachers are raving about what a wonderful class it is - every single child nice and well behaved, and everyone a quiet and assiduous worker. They couldn't shut up about it actually, and did say that normally the gifted classes are QUITE different and much more problematic. DS has mentioned how much he enjoys being in an environment without jerks and know it alls for once, and being right in the middle age wise because about half the class has been accelerated before! The class will stay together until 10th grade, though they are being mixed up for PE and religious ed, and later will be for languages and electives. The college prep curriculum which is already accelerated is taught at an telescoped pace, with one MINT and one humanities enrichment period In the time that is being freed up. I wish I could say it is all good but the EF demands of middle school are really biting him, and he has been having meltdowns about it. The good news is that so far, he's only lost his new phone (we decided he needed one on the bus) once, and that was in the house, so we found it again. Looking forward to our first parents night at a restaurant larger this month.
DD6 has been enjoying her split grade classroom which ended up being 5 first graders and 24 second graders very much, though she has been exhausted. On parent teacher night, the teacher (after spending about two hours quelling second graders parents fear about how much attention the first graders were taking away) mentioned that all her first graders were doing exceedingly well, with excellent work habits, better than a number of second graders, and that she would have to group some the first graders who were reading better than a lot of her second graders with second graders for reading, and struggling second graders with first graders, which was going to benefit everyone. So that was reassuring to hear, particularly as I happen to know how the others first graders read, and it was just DD she was talking about.
Again, there are no academic issues interfering: DD has been having headaches for several weeks now, right through fall break, so I know it's not school, and the only thing the ped and pediatric ophthalmologist could find after extensive examinations and blood work was that she needed glasses. She's had them for a few days now and it appears they are slowly getting better but it really has slowed her down a lot. I kept her home from school for a week before fall break after they had phoned us that we needed to pick her up.
DS4, severely disabled, has been kept in special ed preschool for another year even though he started talking and walking, and and we were right to do it, the tiny classrooms and lots of adult attention are good for him. Now that he's not working so hard on walking and talking any more, he is asking about letters and numbers, learning the alphabet and counting to a hundred with a bit of help.
With being behind so much in s language development until this year, all they would ever say about his cognition has been "probably not a concern" and "probably even above average" and we are content to wait and be surprised. We will probably have to finally mainstream next year, with most children at his current preschool being multiply disabled and no one that I know of having as much language as he has, but it remains to be seen how well they can accomodate his physical and emotional needs at the mainstream school. He will be almost five then, so fingers crossed things will be mostly stable for him.
All in all, DH and I have told one another we have made good choices for this year.

That's great! DS4 would thrive with that kind of math support. Right now he's still in preschool two days per week and we're having trouble getting the staff to let him do math at his level. I'm torn between just giving up because it's only preschool or pushing the matter.

DS17 is having a mostly good but stressful/busy senior year. He is in the middle of collage apps. Marching Band season just ended. Finishing college apps has been very stressful.

AP Comp Sci is going great, honestly getting A+ in that class. It's the same teacher he took H. Geometry in 8th grade from that he loved. Decided he wants to major in CS in college.

He told me in the fall that HE would talk with his English teacher and work something out with her about his essay writing. And he did. His teacher was asking all the kids to journal for the first 10 minutes every period. This doesn't work for him, and but she is fine with him just sitting quietly thinking about the prompt rather than writing it as long as he joins in on the class discussions.

The biggest problem has been Physics. Tons & tons of physics homework that takes him a long time. At his 504 meeting a few weeks ago, Physics teacher told he SHOULD take more time for tests if he needs them. He just needs to talk with him about it. We should have brought up how long the homework is taking. I don't think the material is difficult, just there is a lot of time consuming problem sets. (It's a fast paced class they are doing Physics I & Physics II in one year.)

Working on the best fit for university for him.

Our school does the two AP Physics in a year, too. You have to sign up for the Physics II test separately though, at our school, not online. It's odd. They all do fine on the exams, though. (Even DS, who was failing so switched to Audit for the 2nd semester. Still got 5 and 4 on the Phy I and II exams.)