Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion End of year round-up?

Curious how everyone is doing at the end of this school year? How did the school year go? Any summer camps or activities planned? Changes for school next year? This question is obviously geared towards those of us with kids in the N. American school systems but anyone can join in.

Best year ever in so many ways. The very hard things we spent most of the past ten years working on with regard to health and education are paying off.

What a grand thing, when it's working. Not perfect but grand.

1st half of the year was a complete waste of time for both kids, stuck in situations where people did not get it at all. For one kid, the giftedness, for the other, the disability. Things improved for DS once he was moved, and the new school was able to accommodate a big acceleration for math, with a g/t teacher (used to the the g/t coordinator for another district) taking charge of the situation. I am hoping that we will have things in place to have a good year next year for both kids. So far, teachers/principal have been receptive to input.

Swim lessons, computer coding class, and pottery class for DD planned for the summer, as well as a family trip.

DS16 still has 3 weeks of school. But things are looking a lot better than last year. As long as he doesn't bomb his finals his grades look a lot better. He seems to be in a lot better head space and has grown and matured a lot over the past year. He seems to be getting a better grip on the essay writing issue. It still comes up.. but he's been able to get over the hump.

His summer involves a month away a wilderness camp. Then he has two weeks of marching band camp. Throw in so some PSAT prep and hopefully AP summer homework and he will have a somewhat busy August.

DS's classes for next year aren't 100% set. He has been moved up to the next higher Band. But we still don't know about the AP classes he has requested. Math teacher has told him she won't sign off on AP BC Calc (vs AB) unless he ends up with a solid A. His grade is just on the border between at A-/A right now. And if she allows it he must do summer homework. We won't know till after his final. And the news hasn't come back about his AP Biology request, Chemistry teacher was OK but wanted to check with last years Bio teacher. Still we have kept junior year relatively low key (two AP's, two music classes, English & Spanish) in the hopes that he can keep his grades high and his anxiety in check.

DS finished his first full school year and loved every minute of it (we had sent him to a GT school due to the fact that he was already frustrated and starting to act out in his preschool/pre-k classrooms and had begged us for a new school). It was so nice to see him loving it from start to end (some of his classmates burst into tears when they realized the school year ended, and DS is already excited about next year). So he will continue at the current school with his friends. What I loved is seeing how confident he became especially in areas that he used to hate like drawing/writing and art. And how happy he has been that he has friends he likes to play with.

Summer is mostly series of 1-2 week long camps (mix of science, sports and the one run by teachers at his school - due to his age, there are not a lot of good options at this time) and we will visit grandparents at end of summer.

Things are looking up.

7th grader is finishing out the year as a success, even though it's not a great fit. Now leaving public for private next year is moving from boring to better instead of escaping failure.

2nd grader acted out in math enough to get her teacher's attention; at our conference she explained herself eloquently, and the teacher agreed to pretest her for every math unit (not standard in our school) and only give her assignments she hasn't mastered. We haven't had the greatest year in this class and will have the same teacher next year. This could be a negative, but this teacher does follow through consistently without holding grudges once she understands what is needed, so I think it's a positive.

DD8 has math circle camp, three weeks of away camp, and a week with her aunt, plus the family trip. DD13 has only two weeks of away camp plus the week with her aunt and the family trip. Both want to just spend the summer reading all day.

We've had some ups and downs this year...

Working through DS(7)'s IEP for the first time and seeing what is and is not possible with this process. Made a bit of progress in terms of starting to sort through issues (OT report and resulting accommodations; starting on VT). Also working through DD's anxiety issue has been - challenging. Luckily the school was supportive, so that's helped. Both kids like their school so far, have friends and mostly enjoy going there - so that's a plus.

Unfortunately, we have some labor disputes in our neck of the woods. Teachers are on 'work-to-rule' and this may continue into the Fall if the negotiations don't get anywhere. Also some talk of teachers not participating in year-to-year transition meetings, so a bit concerned with how that might impact my kids come September.

Summer plans....

High schooler..swim team practice and meets, volunteering hours, may have some AP stuff to do. We looked into an online class but changed our minds. Driving practice as much as possible.

Going into middle school kid...his new school has a two week math camp that he is going to give it a go...if it is remedial, I'll let him quit. The school won't give me good info on it, two week band camp that will be appropriate. Some swimming, some bike riding, lots of reading.

Family week vacation together plus some weekend trips.

Round up...5th grader finishing up year feeling like hot stuff at the school participating in two academic team competitions...one math and one reading. And loved his year as a media center assistant (known as AV club in our day). Three times this year he was master of ceremonies for productions at the school, so lots of opportunity to shine.I wouldn't say best academic year ever...kind of a holding place allowing him time to mature. Everything could have been harder and faster paced....but he got a lot of reading done waiting for everyone else. And he is kind of easy going.

...high schooler made a wonderful transition from middle school, has top grades, had two or three exceptional teachers that really made a difference in his life, the rest weren't shabby (did no harm). He managed his school work, varsity sport and club sport. Took one AP (can't wait for the results) and will take two next year. Confidence up anxiety down...can't ask for more. When the anxiety rears its head we manage to work through it.

It was a very mixed year. DD4 certainly went through many phases. She was starting to get restless at her tiny school and it showed up in her behaviors. She still loves her teacher and adores her friends but she was not happy by mid-year. Her teacher was really helpful and worked with us to make it better but I think we all saw that DD needed a change and I think DD knew it more than the rest of us.

Lesson learned #1: Take it a year at the time. Have a Plan B and C for the following year.

Lesson learned #2: Don't confuse what your child needs vs what you want for your child.


She is starting kindergarten next year at a private GT school. Their soft cut-off is 98 percentile but I have a feeling that it's lower for priority families and higher for "outsiders." Apparently, DD is not the only outlier they found this year but they'd be split into different classrooms as they do not believe in homogenous or ability grouping. Next year would be an interesting one for us, for sure.

It was quite a year for us. Here are the Cliff Notes (are those still a thing?)

It was DS6's first year at school (Kindergarten) and he really liked the routine, the teacher, and the other kids. We learned, however, he was not being challenged, and it became obvious to us that he needed subject or grade acceleration for next year. Unfortunately, the school did not agree, so we were faced with the risk of him losing interest in first grade next year or looking elsewhere. As part of "looking elsewhere," we learned that he is highly gifted (which came as a surprise). Next year, he is going to a private gifted school in first grade (whose curriculum starts at a second grade level and accelerates by ability as needed).

Add to that all of the up-and-down emotions we've had as parents, and it really has been quite a year.

This summer will be filled with science camp, swimming, and family camp. We're looking forward to them all!