Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Another teacher conference gone bad..

Crisc,

It is amazing how little many teachers "get" these kids. Glad to hear you got your skip. DS skipped first and I was actually gearing up for another grade skip...

Hugs Breakaway -
I'm not following your thoughts here. Can you get a skip right now? If they are willing, I'll bet you'd get at least 12 weeks of good behavior even if the skip wasn't 'enough.' LOL that the teacher thinks he is having 'social skills' problems given his current behavior - sucking up is a social skill!

As for DH, my guess is that he is remembering 'hating school' as a much older child - worth asking him 'exactly' which years he hated school and which not and what he sees as the difference. Hard though.

I wouldn't rule out that he might instantly change his behavior once his environment changed. My son whistled the whole year he was 9, (during inhalation and exhalation) until an interview with the Principle of a private schools asked him: 'Do you do that all the time?' and he said that he infered that if he couldn't stop himself from whistling that he couldn't attend the school. He stopped. Cool.

The part of you that thinks he really does need to behave, or really is damaged goods might think that he's 'too fried' for any school, but I don't nescessarily agree. ((wink)) Only one way to find out, yes?

Love and More Love,
Grinity

I swear, I have had nearly that exact same fantasy, with precisely those words! DS7 starts in about hating school at bedtime or first thing in the morning, and I say something about his brain, and those are the words that flash across my eyeballs next--"this is your brain on school"! LMAO!

This is an interesting thread. I can relate in a lot of ways with DS5. he is in first grade and they allowed him to start this year in first after reviewing his testing reports. Socially he tends to do well with older kids, but he still can be immature at times and tends to act ridiculous especially when he gets a reaction. He is still getting in trouble almost daily for doing "silly" things like being goofy on the rug, getting up out of his seat and walking around, and just doing little things like touching the teachers computer (one day he had to switch colors because he switched the teacher's screen to another one, and then switched it right back...he said he didn't know why he had to switch colors because he put the screen right back the way it was). Anyhow, it is frustrating. Each day I am not sure how serious the offense was for him to move colors, sometimes it seems it was justifiable and other times I am not so sure. Recently he has scribbled on his work a couple times. The teacher is confused about this since it is "challenging work" While it is work that is a few grade levels above it still isn't necessarily challenging or interesting for him. I believe it was 3 digit subtraction or something. He is doing algebra so I doubt that was too challenging. Last night he told me that sometimes he just gets bored and isn't sure what to do. He wasn't just talking about school I don't think. DS still seems to like school, but says that he wishes that it wouldn't be so easy and there "wasn't so much first grade stuff". He does get differentiated work and is doing mostly work between 3rd and 6th grade. But there is still some stuff that he has to do that is more first grade material.

Anyhow, I feel your pain. It is frustrating. I am happy that the school is working so well with him, but I wish that the behaviors were under control as it would make each day much smoother for all.

I can totally relate to this thread. We pulled DS then 6 out last year and unschooled for 6 months. Things improved. Then we signed up for virtual online. Now I am 'that' teacher and we are considering unschooling again. I guess we'll be doing school for 6 months or less every year. LOL It is soooo frustrating. Mostly for DS school is a trigger word. I say 'school' he turns into mush/brains shuts off/body goes limp. You get the idea.

Good luck Breakaway. My DH is just finally starting to come around very very slowly.

What a nightmare! At our last conference all teachers involved said DS7 would have had an easier year socially if he'd Grade skipped completely not just by Subject. We didn't push for it last year, but at least the teachers figured that it's not easy for these Gifted kids to mix with same age peers. To completely lack comprehension of this, as your DS's teacher seems to have, suggests that she/he must lack social skills themselves - empathy for instance! Good Luck with trying H.S.