Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments My Plan

To be specific were a 2.8 9 months later 3.1 and I have found 3 other moms who are in our grade who have similar #'s and are also concerned with the lack of growth.
We are all planning on discussing this matter with our teachers at our upcoming portfolio meetings.
And we are hoping that our comments will get changes made for next years 1st graders.

I do think that is the best approach to help my child as an individual, and I may end up on that road, but first I want to focus on bigger picture, What changes need to be made at my school to help kids like mine? What can we do to promote these changes?

As for typing and writing I love it! Our school psycologist had reccommended typing as the best FREE summer enrichment project...after reading

Wish I had learned to type properly

It is sooo funny you mentioned Harry Potter because she asked me last week if she could try it. I traded for it on swaptree and should have it any day now.
However my DD suffers from a very active imagination and is prone to have intense fears, so I told her I had to read it first.

It is too intense for some children, but many don't. Good luck!

I would strongly urge you to 'compartmentalize' when it comes to this tricky and delicate territory. In your daughter's classroom just keep your nose to the 'this is who she is and what she needs' grindstone. Then, in other contexts, you can chain yourself to a tree or whatever. Seriously. It's hard enough for the teacher to 'get' our kids. Don't confuse the issue by 'fighting for the bigger picture' at the same time.

You may be curious why I urge this so strongly. I'm not really sure why, just that this is what I've seen work and this is what I've seen fail. But if I was to go on a limb and speculate, I would say that most of these gifted children have parents who were once children who needed a lot more than we got. So when we fight for 'the greater good' a bit of our own personal struggles gets dreged up along with it. And since no one can go back in the past and give you what you needed back then, there tends to be a extra dash of emotion that really clouds the situation. I'm one of those parents who went to great lengths not to make the same mistakes that were made with me. It made me feel better, but I'm not sure how much it helped my son. Each child is individual, and has individual needs that change over time. Wow is it ever difficult to truly experience another human, but that is what we as parents are being asked to do. So, that's my best guess as to 'why' we see over and over again that one must seperate our 'political' struggles from our advocacy.

Really, why not open a school yourself and do things right? Or run for the school board? Or get involved in State politics? But leave the individual teachers at your daughter's school out of it.

Hope that's not 'Too Much Information' - and of course we want to hear how things are going no matter what you decide, but part of my picture of 'what a friend is' is someone who will stand our at the lighthouse and ring the warning bell.

Love and More Love,
Grinity