Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Trying not to be too pessimistic

School started here last thursday. Today was Monday and their first real day. The week's maths homework is; 2+2, 5+5, 3+3, 4+4, 1+1, 2+3, 3+2, 1+4, 4+1, 5+0. The "challenge" question is to find out who in the family has the largest hands, explain how you worked it out, draw a picture of that person and write their name.

I was expecting things to start a little slow but this seems extreme. (eqivalent of 1st grade).

I don't know. For first grade, that seems right about what I've seen in my public school. It's mind-numbingly boring for kids who are even moderately advanced. You have my sympathies (and empathy!).

And for some kids those problems will take forever to figure out and there might even be tears, other kids they will be just the right challenge. What I did with my child was put him in a dual language immersion program where half his day is in Spanish and half in English. The Spanish half of his day was challenging enough that the mind-numbingly boring/easy part was okay for him in first grade.

And now in second grade he has two teachers that really get differentiation for reading, writing and science. Early in the year, they just grabbed a third grade math text book plus use available computer programs for him for accelerating math. I also know that he does some but not all of the regular assignments as well (they like documentation that he has those skills already). And Spanish continues to be the really hard, effort required part of his day.

For me, part of accepting that one's child is unusual is accepting that what the school does really is appropriate for most kids. (I am still occasionally surprised that normal, bright 5th graders stumble in reading a word. But they do.)

We found those early years very difficult; there seemed no way to get DS10 what he needed, as it was so far out of the norm. But it became easier and easier to get differentiation as we went along.

DeeDee

You're luckier than us. In fact they just started addition here last month, halfway through the school year. The first few months of math were things they could have been doing in kindergarten honestly. (they did no math in kindergarten)

I apologize for being ignorant as my only child DD3.5 hasn't started public school yet. But is this really the level of math they teach at 1 grade level? DD has been doing this and way more for over 6 months now without any formal teaching. This truly is disappointing!

In our first grade (public school in the states), the math curriculum focuses on different ways to "make 10" using addition and subtraction. For us, this triggered getting our oldest kid tested for the gifted program. She wasn't a super early reader so I hadn't considered her as gifted. By the time she entered first grade, she had been playing with numbers of her own volition at a much higher level for many years. I was appalled at how easy the math seemed until I realized that for most of the class it was the right level.

This.

And: gifted kids make leaps ahead that sometimes make the pace of school (which is spot-on for other kids) not fit them either. My younger DS started first grade not really grasping place value, but suddenly, after seeing place value in class only up to the "tens," has got it figured out up to 1,000,000. I have thought he was well placed in the curriculum up to now; but the leaps are unpredictable.

Again, not the school's fault at all; it's just how the outlier children operate. I feel for the teacher who has to try to juggle all the needs. I continue to push the school to differentiate better, earlier; but I also understand why it's hard to do.

DeeDee

we are in a public school district in IL ... not the most challenging but one of the better districts, definitely not the bottom ones. And the objective for end of Kindergarten is add and subtract within 5. So starting 1st grade with a review of adding to 5 sounds about on track ... PAINFULLY so. I have a mathy kid who doesn't realize he's one. He learned basic addition to 10 from Vtech video games by the time he was 3.5 ... right after that he went into subtraction and addition to 20. When I ask him straight, he says he doesn't know the answer ... but then I see him do it all the time correctly. He just doesn't KNOW he can do it! lol ... same with multiplication. I've seen him do it, he just doesn't realize it. At one point I was worried about learning disabilities because he couldn't COUNT TO 20 ... yet he could add and subtract within 20? But one day he just did it right and the next day he was counting to 100 ... go figure?
Anyway, seeing our friends' kids who are the same age (DS is 4.5), I'm realizing most of them don't know what 1+1 is and the difference between him and "them" is starting to be more noticeable ... someone asks him "how old are you?" ...and he answers with "half of 8" ... and they walk away with a deer in the headlight look on their face.

He's supposed to go to K in the fall and be probably the youngest kid in class but knowing him, he will be bored and very disruptive to the rest of the class, so most likely he'll stay home and homeschool K, maybe even 1st grade and since he knows pretty much all K curriculum (except writing skills ... poor fine motor skills) and big part of 1st grade curriculum, we'll concentrate more on the fun things he wants to do ... he wants to draw construction plans and things like that ... Geometry for Kindergartners I guess?

Thanks I really just needed to moan a bit. They will split up into at least two maths groups at some point (probably 3 since it is a composite class) which should help with the class work at least - I think it will be a while before they get to 4 digit addition with carrying or adding fractions. They have put him in a reading group one level above where he was at the end of last year which may be a little low but us a reasonable estimate.

It is funny isn't it how if your child is doing well at the low level they are taught everyone things you have nothing to worry about.