Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments School trips vs. family outings

Last week I had the opportunity to observe my ds6 in two educational settings. What a marked difference!

The first was a school trip to the children's museum to learn about architecture. He has a big class-- 29 gt kids. To me, they all appeared to be listening politely to the instructor, except my ds, who was sort of rolling around slightly, staring off into space, and compulsively picking at his teeth. Not really disruptive, but it was heartbreaking to watch. He only snapped to attention at the very end when she did an interesting experiment.

The second was at the Intrepid air craft carrier museum, where I took him over the weekend. (For the umpteenth time.) He noticed there was a small group going on a guided tour, so he joined that group. It was about 20 grown-ups-- he was the only kid-- doing a free guided tour of the exhibits. I expected him to listen for awhile and then drift away, but he followed the tour for its entirety (over an hour), right up at the front, answering and asking questions, while I trailed a bit behind with the squirmy baby.

Afterward, and for the rest of the day, he seemed unusually grounded, calm and contented.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that... Seems like a very powerful argument for creating the right learning environment for the kid who reasons and thinks like an adult but won't add, subtract or write!

My son has always seemed more interested in listening to adult conversations than activities for kids. When he was seven he went with us to his dad's reunion with other former members of the Army Security Agency. These people were obviously high IQ types and very interesting to listen to. My son was on his best behavior the entire time because he was the only kid there and wanted to stay and listen to the stories these guys were telling. This was at an age when he was still very fidgety. He even went with us to an expensive restaurant with the ASA group and acted like an adult. Again, he knew if he acted up he would have to leave so he sat and listened to Vietnam vets (former ASA) tell their stories for a couple of hours.

If he was with a group of kids at that age he was bored and fidgety and acted like he wasn't listening when the adults in charge talked, but he always heard everything that was said. It just looked like he wasn't listening.

Very intereseting Bronxmom. Can you ask him what was going through his head during the school trip? Was he not interested? Did he know the info already?

My DS8 attended, along with his 9yr old friend, an otherwise all adult lecture on Paleo-Indians in our area tonight. The adults commented that he was focused and engaged for the entire lecture which was over an hour. I'm so glad they were open to the kids being there! What an experience for DS! I certainly can't get him to stay focused for more than 15-20min for math or language arts lol.