I was appalled at how easy the math seemed until I realized that for most of the class it was the right level.
This.
And: gifted kids make leaps ahead that sometimes make the pace of school (which is spot-on for other kids) not fit them either. My younger DS started first grade not really grasping place value, but suddenly, after seeing place value in class only up to the "tens," has got it figured out up to 1,000,000. I have thought he was well placed in the curriculum up to now; but the leaps are unpredictable.
Again, not the school's fault at all; it's just how the outlier children operate. I feel for the teacher who has to try to juggle all the needs. I continue to push the school to differentiate better, earlier; but I also understand why it's hard to do.
DeeDee
THIS. Yes.
It's hard enough to differentiate-- but what on earth do you do when you
have to make it up on the fly as you go? Those leaps mean that appropriate differentiation is a moving target-- one that is moving like a jackrabbit on the run.
This is evidently a hallmark of HG+ kids. It's the characteristic that our gifted-ed teachers have found almost mystically fascinating in DD. It's not exactly as though kids like this are autodidacts, because they often
aren't really spending much time thinking about it and learning-- it just, sort of...
comes to them. We call this quantum learning at our house, because it seems to be like electron spin or excitation. All or nothing, but once it happens, it is a complete transformation. No faltering, no stumbling-- mastery.
It's the reason why we've never been able to seriously consider that regular brick-and-mortar school enrollment is an option. I still don't think that she has the patience for the awkward mismatch between conventional instruction and-- well, whatever you want to call what SHE seems to need-- and she's 13. When she was younger, there was no way. She'd have been horribly disruptive to her unfortunate classmates, given her penchant for Socratic engagement with others.
LOL on the supply closet. My favorite of those activities was "go to the library and prepare a report about {your choice}. Don't come back until after recess." I was usually tasked with running the mimeograph, since I already knew how (my mom was a teacher). I later realized why I was being gotten out of the classroom in K-8, though. I had a big mouth.
