Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Starting School at 4?

It's not just USA - it happens here in South Africa too

What are some samples of busy work? My son was in k last year and didn't do too much busy work. They did some art project every day almost if art center was open. And they might color a themed picture of a topic they were studying, but most of the time as far as I can see he didn't do too much busy work. Some work was too easy for him. But once she realized just how far ahead he was in reading, I stopped seeing that he was even doing phonics papers by them millions...more like an odd one here or there.

For some reason my son's class made lots of paper planes last year. Another thing was colouring on themes that had nothing to do with the topics they were studying. There were also wordfinds related to nothing in particular and lots of watching clips from You Tube, which isn't even work, just entertainment. This year, I'm glad to say, there is less of all of that. However, I notice that the 'extension activity' in his most recent reading topic is to design a magazine cover. No discussion of what constitutes an effective cover or anything like that, so I think that's just busy work too.

So far we're pretty underwhelmed. He's happy enough socially - fits well with the girls and not so well with the boys (he likes playing tag and using the play equipment, not pretending to shoot each other or duelling beyblades). Academically he's still a mile ahead of his classmates in most areas, so there's really been no challenge yet, and the things he's met that he's never learnt before (what an adjective is, for example) he's learnt, mastered, applied, and moved on with while the other kids are still reviewing it.
The only real 'benefit' I've seen so far is that he's decided it's ok to write, and has been doing so on a daily basis - stories, non-fiction, all sorts. It's like he looked around and said, hey, I can do that too, and off he went.
I'm not sure where to next with it really, I know they'll suggest more hours soon (it's end of term this week, so I expect they'll want him another day next term) but if this is all they can do for him, I can't see it working. On the other hand, if he's there more they might spend some more time meeting needs instead of slotting him in to what's already happening.
The busy work and the waiting around is driving both of us a little mad though.

Well I'm not going to be able to share any ideas about making this sort of thing a success. We had come up with some ideas to make changes (including asking if he could attend at different times to try the topic/ inquiry type stuff instead of the basic skills work next term) but I never got a chance to ask. It seems someone from the school has read what I've posted on here and they've taken offense and asked us to leave when we arrived yesterday morning, no discussion - trial terminated, thanks for coming, don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way out.

It would have been nice if they'd given us a call instead of us driving for an hour, arriving ready for the school day and having to leave again.

Aside from the shock at the suddenness of it all we're feeling like we've had a near miss if this is the usual management style, so we're glad it's ended before DS was emotionally invested in any friendships.

Now we need to come up with another plan!

Wow! Did they actually say that is why they were asking you to leave? Or did they give no reason at all? I feel terrible for you. Though I agree better to know now than later, a near miss indeed.

It also makes me want to go and delete every post I have ever made mentioning anything about my kids ever, just in case, despite having been reasonably careful not to share too much.

Yep, they specified they were upset about what I had posted.

Goodness. You haven't said anything that remotely identifies the school and while obviously you aren't dancing around with joy you have hardly been harsh - simply talking about the difficult realities of starting school for a child that is a fast and voracious learner and out of sync with their peers.

yeah, I'm a bit confused and wondering if there's more at play than I know about, I certainly haven't said anything I wasn't prepared to say to them, so <shrug> pass. I guess if you know our situation IRL then it'd be easy to connect it to this here, but, as I said, I don't think I've said anything I wasn't preparing to discuss with them, so it all seems a little OTT to me. Still, it's saved us spending the next little while worrying and wondering and trying to work out further options, and DS is not upset by it, so at the end of the day, while I'm somewhat surprised and disappointed at how they've dealt with it, it's best that we move on.

Good grief. And they specified that this thing that offended them was posted here, Davidson Gifted, and by your userid, Trina? I can't see anything that could possibly have offended a reasonable teacher, and cling to the possibility that they've misidentified something else entirely as being by you... You really would think, though, that they'd have a conversation with you about it rather than simply throwing you out. Regardless of whether they've actually been offended by something you really said, or whether they're taking offence at something that wasn't even you, I agree with you that you've had a narrow escape if that's behaviour they think is reasonable.

If it were me, I'd write a calm letter expressing extreme disappointment at how they've chosen to handle this, and bewilderment at what can have offended them [with the URL of the page that gives links to all your posts], and see whether they came back saying that it's all a giant misunderstanding and they are terribly sorry. If they did, I'd consider cautiously whether or not to give them another chance. If they did not, I'd post the name of the school on this thread, to give future parents (whether of gifted or ND children) who are googling the school a shot at finding out what they're getting into while they still have a chance of deciding not to.