Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Brief update on DS

So DS (5.5, skipped K, in 1st, waiting to get ID'ed officially as gifted, and so on) has been a little bit of a roller coaster ride the last month. If you recall, a couple of weeks ago we met with the teacher in a meeting that we though was positive because the teacher is trying to do the best she can within her framework.

That said, we were definitely having some issues with the boy at home. Homework would take between 30 minutes and an hour with the average being about 45 minutes. One sheet, front and back (Math on one side, Reading on the other). It would be decorated, however, with plenty of interesting mazes and patterns. So we've been wrestling with how best deal with this because he is currently stuck in review of things he's know for quite some time (a year or more?).

We had really backed off of after school activities for a while too. Some of that is because he is only 5.5 and a full day does take a toll on him. "Brain break" (i.e. a 20 minute rest) after school has helped some. But we stumbled upon something about a week ago. We went back to doing some "math" and "biology" at the dinner table. We play games like "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100; it is odd; it's a cubed number; it's digits add up to 9" etc. Both boys just totally lit up. DS5 especially, asking for "harder puzzles."

We are a little frustrated at the pace of the class, and observing this, DW decides to give DS "enrichment" work on Monday. We have a couple of 2nd and 3rd grade math workbooks so she took one from 3rd grade (3 digit addition with carry over) and talk about a turning on a light switch. Real school's homework was done in about 15 minutes, and then DS worked on the enrichment work. On Tuesday it was done even faster (10 minutes in the car on the way to the dentist). Today it was done before DW even realized it.

Hopefully (knock on wood) we've found a stop-gap measure between now and our IEP. If anything this has made DW and I (even moreso DW!) very firmly believing that they need to replace his current math & reading work with at least a grade level higher. I'm not sure if we can make that happen or not, but you can really see a difference in his level or interest. I hate the idea of him having to do both currently grade level work (boring to him) and MORE work that actually challenges him. At least right he's not complaining about it. But we do know that he's stretching his brain because at least on these advanced math sheets he will miss a problem or two. So he has the opportunity to learn something new...

Just thought I'd share what's currently working for us.

JB

Thanks for the update JBDad...I was thinking of you guys and wondering how it is going. My DS5 is in K and has been asking why he goes to school. I had been putting off answering...side-stepping. Finally I had to give him an answer that it was to learn to be a good citizen yada yada yada trying to avoid the "you go to school to learn new things." So he says, "Parts of my day is so boring b/c it's stuff I already know. I want to learn new things at school." I tried to remind him that he learns new things at home but he insisted he wants to learn new things at school. Sigh...... our school is not big on acceleration or grouping .... it's only 4 weeks into school so there is still hope. But so far all he brings home is coloring, coloring and more coloring with a note that he needs to practice coloring at home. Well, if you look at his early work, it was very neat...the more coloring he does, the worse it gets.

i made the mistake w/ my older son of stopping ASing him in K. That only made it worse. I'm doing my best to keep up the ASing with DS5 in math, reading, science.

ANyhow, didn't mean to make this about me

When is the IEP meeting?

No worries!

And yes, I didn't realize how big coloring is supposed to be. Now if you'd give the child a MAZE to do instead

We have to get through the gifted screening still... which will probably happen in Nov. I am not anticipating any problems. Then the GIEP after that. So we have a ways to go!

JB

Hey, if you need to make it about you a bit, Dazey, you do it!

Glad you've found something that works for you, JBD. Keep up the good work. I hear you about the more-work problem. It's sure not ideal. Is there any way to (gently) persuade the teacher to substitute the math workbooks for his schoolwork?

We had to do that for a while, too. But it set us up for the gradeskip, so it was worth it. Do you think they'll go for another skip?

Oh dear Dazey! Is he coloring in the lines?!?!?!?!(heavy sarcasm)

JBDad,

Don't despair! You are doing so well for your son!

I know it can be frustrating when a the school cooperates and it still isn't enough!

I don't know if the school is more frustrated with me, or vice versa these days. It gets confusing!

Consider your options and proceed cautiously..

((Cheering you on big time!!!!!!!!!))

The administration would not be for it, but it's included in the state guidelines for what can be included in a GIEP. It'd be a battle, but we are documenting the enrichment work with dates just in case. Precautionary steps.

CathyA, I didn't realized it, but it sounds like our sons are similar in age... but yours in second grade, correct? Academically that would be a better fit for us, but we need to let the dust settle on starting all day school.

JB

Hi JBDad - Try not to get too discouraged. I see some positives in your post. You and DW knew before school started what troubles might occur, you sought and got a grade skip, and you recognized when your son wasn't getting the right academics. You have been very successful in your advocating thus far, and hopefully this streak will continue.

I think there has to be a certain amount of time when your HG is in school before you can really find out the specifics of what your child needs (a control group phase?). It is helpful that you got such tangible results from bringing out the higher math workbooks. This is a great example to bring in to the school. Perhaps they will ultimately decide that another skip would indeed be easier for them (it can't hurt to bring up the possibility of a skip mid-year, like Cathy's DS did).

DS loves Timez Attack (computer game) and we use it as a reward. I recommend it.

JB