So DS (5.5, skipped K, in 1st, waiting to get ID'ed officially as gifted, and so on) has been a little bit of a roller coaster ride the last month. If you recall, a couple of weeks ago we met with the teacher in a meeting that we though was positive because the teacher is trying to do the best she can within her framework.
That said, we were definitely having some issues with the boy at home. Homework would take between 30 minutes and an hour with the average being about 45 minutes. One sheet, front and back (Math on one side, Reading on the other). It would be decorated, however, with plenty of interesting mazes and patterns. So we've been wrestling with how best deal with this because he is currently stuck in review of things he's know for quite some time (a year or more?).
We had really backed off of after school activities for a while too. Some of that is because he is only 5.5 and a full day does take a toll on him. "Brain break" (i.e. a 20 minute rest) after school has helped some. But we stumbled upon something about a week ago. We went back to doing some "math" and "biology" at the dinner table. We play games like "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100; it is odd; it's a cubed number; it's digits add up to 9" etc. Both boys just totally lit up. DS5 especially, asking for "harder puzzles."
We are a little frustrated at the pace of the class, and observing this, DW decides to give DS "enrichment" work on Monday. We have a couple of 2nd and 3rd grade math workbooks so she took one from 3rd grade (3 digit addition with carry over) and talk about a turning on a light switch. Real school's homework was done in about 15 minutes, and then DS worked on the enrichment work. On Tuesday it was done even faster (10 minutes in the car on the way to the dentist). Today it was done before DW even realized it.
Hopefully (knock on wood) we've found a stop-gap measure between now and our IEP. If anything this has made DW and I (even moreso DW!) very firmly believing that they need to replace his current math & reading work with at least a grade level higher. I'm not sure if we can make that happen or not, but you can really see a difference in his level or interest. I hate the idea of him having to do both currently grade level work (boring to him) and MORE work that actually challenges him. At least right he's not complaining about it. But we do know that he's stretching his brain because at least on these advanced math sheets he will miss a problem or two. So he has the opportunity to learn something new...
Just thought I'd share what's currently working for us.
JB
