perfectionism or a skewed sense of "smart" (and self-identity) = "just knowing it" (ie-- without study, effort, and certainly without ASKING FOR HELP... oh, the horrors...
she seems to think that "observation" is a route to mastery... and that when that fails, as it not surprisingly sometimes does in algebra and beyond, this is a clear example of a personal failing as a "smart person." )
About the procrastination; she spent last year's spring break completing <mumble-mumble> weeks of schoolwork. Okay, okay... it was about five weeks' worth. She did it in four days. With almost no discernable drop-off in quality.
. but I think that for DD, it's exhilirating to turn on the "panic mode" and drink from the firehose. Oh, sure... it may not be any more intellectually stimulating overall, but at least the RATE is more like what she's after. She would probably be perfectly happy to have taken a full year of algebra 1 in a three week "boot camp."
Not asking for help when she needs it is related to the fact that so much has, for too long, been TOO EASY for her. We've always feared this particular facet of giftedness; that she would internalize that "easy" = "smart" and translate it to the converse. She most certainly has.
Are you my mother?
To answer the original post, no, you're not alone. I have the same thing with DS8 in 3rd grade. He has reached the pinnacle of boredom with the school year already, and complains daily about everything being too easy. Except his ALEKS math, in which he has reached the pinnacle of his current knowledge at the end of the 7th grade level (he did 3rd through 6th in an average of two weeks apiece and has been in 7th since Thanksgiving weekend) where he told me the other day that he "sat and did nothing because it was too hard". He has inherited that tendency from me, the belief that "easy = smart" and therefore "hard = stupid" and your smarts must have worn off. I've fought with that all my life and try valiantly to keep him from the same path, to no avail. We're a work in progress.
