Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Anxious anyone?

Yes, she gave me a name and number of a parent who wanted to get together with other parents with similar kids, and I left a few messages but got no response. I think I will try again. I didn't leave any information on the message other than my name and who referred me to her. Wasn't sure what to say "Hey I heard you have a gifted kid too...let's get our kids together" That didn't seem appropriate. Anyhow, I am sure after she tests my son she will give me more information. She just told me that after I told her about him. I think I will email her too to see if she knows of anyone else in our area.

There are plenty of gifted kids around in our area I am sure. I guess I would know which playground to go to, LOL..but I live in upstate NY so playgrounds are too cold. Plus my son on a playground is mostly like every other 4yo on a playground. We could switch districts someday if needed. We are in a very middle class area...because we are very middle class. Not that gifted children can't come from middle class families (My child is a walking example of that), but in what I have read it is even less typical then the already atypical highly gifted child.

I'm not sure I follow you here. What is less typical? That an HG+ child comes from a middle class home? I don't think that's true. Most families in the U.S. are middle class, so most GT kids come from the middle class.

Or am I reading what you wrote incorrectly?

Most gifted kids come from Middle and Lower Class homes. Most of the IDENTIFIED gifted kids come from upper and upper middle class homes.

That leaves 80% or more of gifted kids hiding under the cracks.

I'll bet 95%+ of minority gifted kids will NEVER get the education they deserve.

I haven't read the whole post yet, but remember that when school starts, so does "Mom's homework" - you must get him used to working at this 'readiness level' even for 5 minutes a night, 5 nights a week.

You can look into gradeskips, skipping k or 1st, depending of if K is 1/2 day or whole day.

Can you afford a tutor? Much cheaper than private school!

Now I'll post and read to see what was said....
Smiles,
Grinity

This was exactly the approach we took, and for the same reason. It totally backfired...elementary school teacher think a kid is smart if they are doing the skills that elementary school do. So all the soul searching converstaions in the world didn't make them think DS12 was more than 'bright.'

Hey, we only did this because we grew up in the school system, and we believed the teachers when they told DH and I that reading ahead of the class was bad. But we snuck peaks into the back of the book anyway....just felt guilty about it.

Well, G3, you did one better than formal afterschooling, you provided a 'homebased gifted cluster' for your little ones. I do prefer your method, but didn't see it coming fast enough!

Dottie's method of having saving the highest LOG for last is also very effective. But last I heard, she isn't telling how she did it.

((wink))
Still for parents of onlies, or more aged-spaced kids, I think formal afterschooling helps them learn work ethic when the school doesn't provide it. I know that my younger brother got his work ethic from competing with me, but that didn't help me much.

I think starting it when school starts is about right. Since I'm in a situation of 'do what I say, and have observed worked well for others, and not what I did' I'm a little blurry on the details. I just know that by age 7 my little sweetie was singing the 'I shouldn't have to do any work that the other kids don't have to do' song. And we didn't have a leg to stand on because we had always acted up until then that 'school was school's business' because we didn't want to 'make him bored in school' as if that was in our power!

Teachers like things like telling time, reading, addition facts, so I would work on those things in kindy so that the teachers could recognise - hey! this kid knows what we feel is our duty to teach.

I'm much more anxious since DS got his testing & "label" last summer. In preschool, his teacher told me she'd only known a handful of kids to read as well in her 20+ years of teaching. When we moved out of state mid year, his new teacher told me "he could recognize some words". Another 20+ yr teacher but she obviously didn't know him well at all. He's not shy & very verbal.

Still, we just thought he was pretty bright but a typical, goofy kid. It wasn't until the school approached us at the end of the last school year to advise testing & a grade skip, that we fully understood. Since then, he has skipped, is doing extremely well but I worry wayyyyy more. Ignorance truly is bliss! lol Now I worry I've never worked with him much, will he get lazy if still not challenged, how do I make things challenging, how much should I be doing before it's too much, worries about his age, etc. and worry more about his future.

Add to that 2 older sisters (14 & 8) -1 honor student, 1 with no concern for school & grades that show. How to balance all of them, is the middle child being ignored, ack, it's a mess!!

We are thankful though that DS has a read teacher at school (PS) that is wonderful & exploring different interest areas with him. She really looks out for him & has been great about accessing resources for his benefit.

Thankfully, DS has always been drawn to the academic stuff schools will love. He was always fascinated with letters and numbers, etc. What I worry about sometimes is because I don't sit with him and correct his penmanship, that he will have a hard time changing it in a year when he gets to K because he has already been writing a couple years. He knows how to make all his uppercase and lowercase letters and can write neat if he feels like it, but often rushes through. And since he is 4 and I am not grading his papers I don't even bother with correcting him (other than commenting how it is pretty messy at times when it's really bad). He does love reading, and math, and can color in the lines (which I noticed for the first time a few weeks ago when I asked him and he showed me how good he could do). I had never noticed it because he never colors. I do answer questions when he asks...which sometimes causes me to have conversations like I did this morning at 7am about prime and composite numbers (before I even drank any coffee). But I don't think it's necessary for me to go above and beyond to teach him more because he already knows sooooo much and he has many more years to learn. kwim?

You can say "x thought that our children might enjoy each other's company. I'm looking for my son to meet a child who would enjoy the kind of games he likes." That way she might realize that the referal source was thinking gifted.