Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion End of year reflections - How did yours go?

DD10 is doing...okay. Always top of her class. Friendships are good. I feel like some of the spark has gone out of her. I'm looking ahead to middle school. It feels a little like she's outgrown this placement, though it is not terrible by any means. I know she learns more than other kids in the district.

DS6 kinda blew our minds this year. The school has really tried hard with him. If I send an email asking for an adjustment, it happens the next day. He has two teachers trying their best with what they have, which isn't always much. Despite being nominally in K, he is differentiated such that very little of his work is K level. Sure, it could be more, but on the whole, I'm very impressed with their efforts.

Ds14 is finishing out middle school and moving to high school next year. Starting to think about colleges. School works for him.

Ds9 skipped a grade this year and he surprised everyone with how well it went. He is a natural leader and it was like he had been in that grade all along socially and then academically he still learns very quickly. Writing was the only challenge and it was good to have him work hard in an area giving him problems.

For ds9s future we are hoping that he is happy through 5th grade next year and the plan is to homeschool him through middle school.

DD14 is finishing middle school. I think that her GT LA teacher inspired her to improve her writing which already was excellent. She actually had to think a little in geometry though once again I can count the number of problems that she got wrong this year on one hand. Social Studies and Science were mostly fluff. Band was just a place holder while she waits to go to an appropriate level band in HS. She will be going into an IB program next year. I am rebelling against the IB "slave to school" mentality but she wants to do it so I am gritting my teeth.

DD12 is finishing elementary (6th grade GT). She had one of my favorite teachers at the school. This teacher has done wonderful things trying to get my 2e DD ready for middle school. We have seen tremendous growth in independence and self-confidence.

DS9 is finishing 3rd grade GT. I have to say I have been very hands off. DS loves his teacher. Much to my consternation, I never figured out how to communicate with the teacher - a first in my 9 years at this elementary school. Since this teacher does not communicate ANYTHING or return any work, I've had to guess. I think that DS has grown in LA and has been completely stagnant in Math. DS hates school math because he doesn't see the point. I'm trying to sort out more fun math-based activities to do at home.

My year brought exciting new horizons for me as an advocate for my kids. Whee.

What a great topic!

I think this year was almost more about what DH and I learned.

First, we learned that there's a slippery slope to acceleration... that once you make the stance and say "you have a right to learn new things" that you have to keep up.

For us, that meant a rather unnerving experience mid year where she basically told us that she was STILL bored (and also caused my first post here, whine... er, worrying about it). So we had to break another "rule" (when you start something, you should finish it) and switched up a bunch of her classes for the third term. She's doing much better, learning more, and stepping up.

We also switched up her math curriculum, not because it needed to be harder, but because it needed to be different. She told us herself that she didn't think she was really learning anything and was feeling behind. The new place assessed her and found that she was way behind. "I never learned that" was her response to everything they presented her with (see number three below).

Second, we learned that advocacy never ends. Even at the MOST flexible "school" ever, we still needed to meet with them to make sure they were ready and willing to accommodate a 11 year old 8/9th grader next year. When none of your child's needs are getting met it's easy to advocate, but when you're already getting flexibility and accommodation it's hard to ask for more. They were awesome about it and DD is already excited about next year.

Third, we learned to decode a bit more of DDs language for discussing her education. It turns out that her way of expressing
a) this learning style does not work for me,
b) I was presented with this but haven't mastered it to my satisfaction, and
c) yeah we covered this but didn't go deep enough to make me happy

is "I never learned that!" or "No one ever taught me that!"

Hence her feedback in math. Of course she had learned it, but she wasn't confident or comfortable with it. Anxiety strikes again. But her new math has been a big hit and she's "catching up" (which is really just getting more confident and internalizing/mastering things for the first time).

"I already know that" on the other hand actually means "I already know that" and "I'm bored" (which we used to think meant "I'm lazy and don't want to do this") actually means "I'm bored, challenge me."

Overall a great great year, school-wise. Confirmation that all our rule-breaking, taking the route "less traveled by," and real differentiation (in which I mean choosing to educate differently) are working for her.

Of course at the same time we have all the usual pre-teen issues -- hormones and drama, rule breaking and pushing boundaries, isolating herself from us and clinging tightly at the same time.

Ivy, that's great that you've been able to learn more information about what your dc needs as far as learning topic. I have to admit that I am really looking forward to that. My ds is 7, and I know I am not given all the details.

As far as the school year for ds7, well better than k. He likes his teacher and is getting pull out for math. His teacher however does not challenge him enough.

The school would not accept our WISC scores, so no gt. He is headed to a small private gt school next year. Hoping next will be a big improvement!

Well, DD (1st grd) got a lot of writing practice where she really stretched herself (tg for homeschool Fridays because at school she keeps it short). She jumped back to more advanced chapter books. She seems to be progressing ok in math... But she's dragging her heels on completing the repetitive work at school. Copying out spelling words, or writing sentences (they do a different task each day), etc. She has a hard time focusing with so much going on around her. At least she got to do some fun stuff with her long term sub. More creative stuff, so that was a good balance with her more mathy, very particular regular teacher. She's very excited about all the things we could learn together over the summer, which is great but shows me that school really just drags for her. Next year we're going to hash it all out right from the start... But at least she'll avoid a long term maternity sub for the first time! The sub this year was just really getting her, the first person to really do so, when she left. DD complains about kids not focusing and the poems being silly (vs Dickinson, say), but she still loves it and cries when I mention full time homeschooling (when the easy math was bugging her or as we figure out where we can afford to live, ugh).

With DD10 we are just holding steady at this point - no big ups or downs. We are still hoping that school will see the light and make some more changes and give her some challenges. In the mean time we are enriching at home and she is doing EPGY open enrollment. She has matured quite a bit and that has helped her control some of the classroom behaviors we have had issues with in the past. She has done very well with the differentiated spelling they did allow her to do and is working on some more advanced academics like Greek and algebra with the gifted teacher. We were extremely disappointed in the new fully digital (Pearson) curriculum our school district implemented this year in 3rd-12th grades. We were specifically told the advanced students could move ahead in the curriculum and would not be held back. What they touted did not occur and the enVision math is horrific!

DD8 now has a GIEP and is also working with the gifted teacher. She was given differentiated spelling and some accelerated math. This is working out for her to get her through the remainder of the school year, but she really wants to move to a higher level in reading groups. She is already in the highest reading group for her grade, and school wasn't willing to make any changes with just a few weeks to go. Hopefully next year the school will be willing to try something different - like letting her go to a higher grade for reading. She will start the digital Pearson curriculum, so we will have both girls going nowhere fast next year.

Future plans for next school year - ADVOCATE, ADVOCATE, ADVOCATE!!!!!!!! ...and enrichment at home!

The year has worked pretty well for DS6 (1st grade). Thanks to an amazing, understanding teacher who has been advocating for him. We seem to have the principal on our side now which is nice going in to 2nd grade starting over with a new teacher.

Has has been doing EPGY math instead of the math curriculum and we just got a math teacher at school to sit with him and tutor him while he does it. So far, I have been doing it but it seems it is getting to the point where I am not capable of explaining it to him properly anymore.

He has been getting to do other work in reading/spelling class all through the year. But just recently he was pulled out of those classes completely and goes to a separate room where he works on his writing, worksheets etc. I sit with him 2 days for one period and almost everyday the 5th grade reading instructor comes in for the second period and works with him. He is doing different spelling words but still takes the class spelling test every week, along with the words he is learning.

So overall, very good. We hit some bumps along the way but were able to figure out how to change things to make it pleasant for him. Keeping fingers crossed for a great new year as well...

1111, who paid for EPGY math--you or the school? How did the part where he gets the teachers to come in come about? DS6 could really use something like this next year. Probably a pipe dream. However, we recently were sent the paperwork for the gifted testing process, so he will be evaluated soon (everything he's received this year has been without any test results).