Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion The ultimate brag thread

This is a brag on the people on this board. There are so many good suggestions here and invariably each is either a hit with Mr W or helps DW and I make things work better.

I am going to brag about my adult daughter--a smart, pretty girl who didn't get good grades in high school, who got in trouble for talking too much and spending too much time socializing and not enough time doing homework. The combination of good social skills and intelligence allow her to be very successful in sales and marketing. I wish those teachers who called me regularly to complain about her could see her now.

My daughter, despite being raised by a mother with social anxiety issues, is not intimidated by anyone. When she perceives a problem with the way someone is treating her she does not worry about it, she takes action. She somehow always knows what to say so that she resolves the conflict and everyone is happy.

Now she is advocating for her 13-year-old brother who is being homeschooled by me and trying to help find solutions to problems that we are having. She calls her little brother daily to provide moral support. She knows that he is going through a difficult time living in a small town with a lot of sanctimonious Bible thumpers, living in pain from a brace 14 hours a day, a brace that makes it difficult for him to do anything with other kids except for the 2 hours he is allowed to take it off for musical theater rehearsals, and homeschooling in chaos.

Okay, I'm sorry to brag about the same thing yet again, but holy crap, my DS4 is blowing my mind a little bit. He's gone from going slowly through The Cat in the Hat to being mostly able to tackle what have got to be 4th grade level nonfiction science books in a couple of weeks. He does need help sometimes, and he doesn't read for long periods, but still. I'm just stunned by the speed of his progress, and I have no one else to talk to about it.

My daughter (just turned 3) is very shy. She has gone mute for as much as an hour in new situations, and usually cries when forced to interact with new people... but in the last 2 weeks she:

Behaved absolutely perfectly at the dentist, accommodating every request without hesitation, and prompting the dentist to say that she's very mature for her age.

Behaved similarly for her doctor's appointment.

Started going to preschool, and didn't cry or go mute once. She looked a little anxious as I was leaving on the first day, but the teacher distracted her. (Thank you, teacher!)

Stood up for herself at the playground, telling a little boy who kept getting in her way that "Actually, I'm going to use the slide now."

She's like a whole new girl. I never knew she had it in her. I'm so proud of her.

...

Oh, and she started reading familiar words without sounding out every single letter anymore. For most kids I guess that would be a bigger feat. For her, that accomplishment pales in comparison to dealing with her shy nature.

Another "cute" brag.  Un-likeliest homonym ever.  My 4.5 said, there's all kinds of sicks.  There's the kind of sick where you get old and die.  There's the kind of sick where you sneeze.  There's the kind of sick where you cough.  There's the number six.  Sicks six.   That's a homonym.  I've never heard "sicks" as a word, but he pulled it off.  

So Wolf ended up with 4th Place in K-3 Zoology for the county fair. There were 470 students participating. I'm really proud of him!

I'm also proud of Bear for going to the awards ceremony in a new place, full of people, where the lights went down and not only surviving it, but being quiet and polite for the whole event! He did meltdown for about 40 minutes afterwards, but still it was a HUGE accomplishment.

Thanks to you, hip, and Colinsmum for your kind words. Our son does go to the Math Club http://www.themathclub.com/ , where he participates in MOEMS.

My first grader just completed the reading "contest" at our local public school. He read 400 books or chapters in books in 4 months!
You could choose to read the books to your child, but he wanted to try to read them himself. He actually read 107 books, mostly chapter books. They were all at a second and now third grade level. The school gave little prizes at each 50 book increment. At the 400 level, you get a special medal and a party with the principal.
He still hasn't caught on to reading for pleasure but maybe next year. He read 45 minutes a day to get there!

So my DS8 is grade accelerated and in an HG classroom. He also has ADHD. He struggles (relatively) with getting his thoughts on paper and finds long assignments that are not broken down difficult. He just got assigned one of those and even though they worked on it in class for 2 weeks, he did not finish. The teacher let him bring it home where he still struggled until we helped him piece it out. Anyway, part of the assignment was to reflect on the book he was reading and one his reflections was:

"Percy has ADHD and dyslexia. Even though those are disabilities they are also advantages. I think this is part of the author's message. I think the theme is you are more powerful than you think you are."

I thought it was a nice theme and a nice message. I am very proud of how powerful my DS thinks he is.

We met with DD's teacher recently, who told us it "is a privilege to be her teacher".