Here's the thing-- you MUST be able to find a way for your EG/PG child to be challenged sufficiently, EARLY enough. This is so that the child learns to tolerate challenge, know that challenges mean "work hard" not "I should quit"....
I'm going to suggest a subtle change to this idea. I'm not sure that work
hard is what I would describe as optimal in a young child so much as
learn how to think when you don't know the answer immediately.
This idea is hitting home with me this week regarding my 8-year-old 4th grader. She makes mistakes on math problems or shrugs her shoulders and gives up when she shouldn't. IMO, part of her problem is that she's too used to underchallenge, and so doesn't know how to sit and think.
Night after night, she comes home with simplistic worksheets (e.g. 18 repetitions of [1 3/4] x [2 4/5]). Every now and then, a mixed review worksheet with some decent problems will appear and she'll give up easily when she gets stuck because she hasn't learned how to think about a difficult problem. We talked about this idea tonight and she asked me to start afterschooling her in math again. So we'll go back to that tomorrow.
IMO, the problem even extends beyond acceleration and pacing. There is also a huge problem with respect to the curricula used in this country --- especially the math curricula. I find much of the stuff my kids bring home to be simplistic and repetitive, with a dose of pointlessness at times. I can often see what the worksheets are trying to do, but also feel that they often fail and muddle things up instead.
For example, 3rd - 5th grade math worksheets may have problems like this:
n + 18 = 20. n = ____.
My impression is that the worksheet author was trying to introduce "algebra" or concepts related to variables with this kind of problem, but IMO, the problems just ask the kids to guess. The ones I've seen never,
ever show that these problems are actually subtraction problems and don't show methodology for getting the answer. The kids just have to figure it out.
I went through this stuff before Christmas with my DD and showed her how to move the 18 to the other side of the equals sign and why its sign changes when it gets there. I was trying to show her a big theme about doing the same thing to each side of the equation, and she was really starting to get it.
But worksheets with 18 problems that mirror n + 18 = 20 don't teach any of these ideas, and her textbook didn't present them either. Everyone just figures out the answer any possible and we move on.
It's like it's all really shiny and colorful and pretty, but there isn't much substance inside the wrapper. Argh.
