Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments One step forward, one step ...

Nope! Not yet! Unfortunately asking about our options has triggered somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction, we're going to try very hard to keep a positive attitude!

Thanks

JB

Dottie, thanks.

JB

Thanks, Dottie. This is what I was trying to say, too. You just explained it a lot better than I did!

I just want to toss in our elementary experience to the mix of stories that is going up here. I know it is unusual compared to others on the board. I don't know how unusual it is in general.

We did nothing to prepare the school for our child. We went to the Kinder screening in the spring like everyone else. He was screened by Mrs. K who saw immediately the kind of kid he was. In the fall, he arrived, the teacher remembered him and within the first week, she had him with full library priviliges. She had him tested (on the STAR test) and based on that got him going with accelerated reader tests at the 4th grade level. She differentiated the curriculum in math and other subjects. She kept him very challenged. But the other thing she did was she bragged about him in the staff room. She made sure he got a good teacher for him in 1st and from then on he was a legend at the school and I never really had to do anything.

The other thing that happened was that I volunteered there regularly and developed a wonderful relationship with everyone at the school. They knew that I cared about all the kids and wasn't just focused on mine. So when I did ask for something, they took me very seriously.

These two things, a wonderful K teacher and my volunteering, made for a great experience for DS.

I almost wonder if going in ahead to ask for things might have changed this relationship. There was something magical in her face as she "discovered" him during the screening. If I had gone in ahead and prepped her, I am afraid it would have made her look at what he could do more critically.

I know others have used my approach at it backfired big time, so I don't mean to suggest it is the approach to use. I just suspect that any approach could backfire and for us the low key approach worked marvelously.

I think it's good to know and accept that you really need to look at your child's educational life in 6-12 month chunks of time. If that will work for next year - excellent. If you child is happy socially at school and reasonably engaged, all the better. Then decide where you need to go and what you need to do for first grade next winter/spring. It's good to keep it in the back of your mind you'll probably always need to do adjusting unless you full time homeschool. In which case, you're just do it all on your own turf! Good luck!

Good point, kimck! If you can get 6-12 good, solid months out of any arrangement, then you're doing pretty well. At that point, it's probably time to reassess.

I think that's one of the challenges with these kids: the moving target of education means we're never done!

Dottie - that is our school too. No 1st grader is assessed or given anything above 4th grade level. I had a one on one conversation with a 1st grade teacher at our local GT Magnet. They do the exact same thing. She thought it was a step in the right direction that the once a week library visits that the kids get, they can check out books at any level. Well, that's great. But it does nothing to assess or teach kids at their actual level.

My DS went from self choosing books at 4-5 grade level at the beginning of the year to basically being able to pick up and read anything he wants now and was kept at that 4th grade level in class all year.

ACS - you definitely hit the jackpot with that teacher!

We did the homeschool after school. K was a 1/2 day program, the teacher was great, she made every effort she could to work with us. That being said it wasn't enough in all areas math/ reading. She did however help with writting and spelling. After school we did about 15 minutes of reading outside of the little books he was given to take home. In math they asked for 5 minutes at home we did about 15min. Some days more or much more, some days none. In advocating we met with the K teacher principal, district gate coordanator, director of elementary schools, and two of the school board members. All had open doors, they were all nice, however they all were against a grade skip to 2nd for next year. However if we pushed I am sure it would have happened. We became active with the PTA, the school site council, etc... Over time the principal and the teacher started to become advocates also. That being said let me give you an example of how they still don't fully underrstand. End of year k evaluations, the k teacher asked for and got permission to test his reading up to begining 2nd grade. The teacher infored us that he is reading at leval F, I know he is more at level L (I have simaler tests)There testing says F, because its as high as they tested, not as high as he can test. I appreciate the effort. The mentality is very stongly set. SCHOOL IS ABOUT SOCIAL INTERACTION NOT ACADEMICS. Also fear is at issue, when the ES school placed DS5 with a 2nd grade teacher for Math, it creates a problem at 4th grade as to where to send him for math. Advocacy takes time, even once a school agrees that your child is gifted, then what? Our school agreed to allow John Hopkins online math for next year, isntead of classroom math, they agreed to moving him up a grade fo reading. We decided that it was not enough and went the private school route. The best is be adaptable, things always change.

I'm sorry you've already run into somebody who doesn't get and is opposed to grade skipping.

I don't know how far WPPSI can take you as far as mental age goes. We never saw any age equivalents for DS5 IQ test, I didn't even know they do that these days. DS5 was tested at 5 years 4 months and even with the low ceilings for gt kids managed to get DYS score. I just wanted to point out that you can still score really well on WPPSI at the age of 5. Call the psychologist and ask more about the mental age and what score he would have to get in order to have mental age of 7.

I would also strongly suggest achievement testing since IQ is just a number but grade/age equivalents is something the administrators understand much better. Perhaps they meant achievement test age equivalent of 7?

Dottie has quite a good explanation why you want your child to excel as opposed to just pass at the end of the year tests when you are doing grade skip. It pretty much boils down to the fact that you still want your child to be in the top 10% of his new class.

Not all teachers can figure out how far the kids are. Today was my kids' final day in Montessori and I got to take home all they workbooks. They had DS3 doing CVC words, which is really laughable. He could have done this more than a year ago. DS3 reads 2nd-3rd grade books without any problems now. It makes me really wonder how much they got to know him during the year

One more thing. 1/2 K is not that bad as long as you really take it as a social outlet, you know like PreK. Major problems usually start with full day school. If he has to go to K than 1/2 is so much better than full day.

BTW, this was a very hectic work day for me. But I've been reading all of the posts between meetings. Just wanted to say thank for the input & support. Edwin, yes, that is exactly the vibe I'm getting right now (SCHOOL IS ABOUT SOCIAL INTERACTION NOT ACADEMICS). Somewhat funny, because this is exactly the opposite of what my parents told me when I attended school umpteen many years ago!

JB