Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy different assignments in class

Grinity- you crack me up. My dad thinks just like you and when I complained that DS wasn't getting enough math challenge, he decided to teach him hexadecimal. I had to beg him to stop so as not to mess up DS's first round of school standardized testing! Being a serious perfectionist, I didn't want him searching multiple choice test questions wondering where the trick was!

I swap out my son's homework when it's too easy. I originally emailed the teacher, didn't get a response and just started doing it. So the next week she replied that it was fine to swap :-) She has now switched him from the standard 1st grade work to a 2nd grade workbook for homework, which is still too easy. Sometimes he does the 2nd grade one, sometimes he does something else.

In class, at least so far, he still has to do his 1st grade work. Things like "count the dots- how many?" and fill in the missing number 10 __ 12. He has to finish this then he can go to his "math challenge bucket" which so far, has coloring sheets, mazes and dot to dots in it. Lame but he likes it because it's not more work. When he is done with that, he can read silently.

At home, he just started doing ALEKS and I'll probably print a bunch of their worksheets to send in for his homework. We have conferences in 4 weeks and I plan on talking to his teacher about letting him do ALEKS at least one day a week at school as well.

What we did, after discussion with DS's teacher, was to put a plastic folder in DS's school bag which, we make sure, always contains one ALEKS worksheet. His teacher takes it out when she wants him to do it, and when the folder comes home empty that evening, it's my cue to generate and print a new one. I think there are several good things about this system. The sheet he does at school is always recently generated, so its questions are the most relevant; his teacher knows there always is one there, but isn't under pressure to use it on any particular schedule (I trust his teacher's judgement: I suppose with a less trustworthy teacher, some pressure might be a good thing!); and even if DS doesn't talk about it I automatically know how much ALEKS he's doing at school!

Hope the talk goes well.

That's a good idea. He has a folder that goes back and forth every day anyway so it wouldn't be any more effort. Thanks!

Parents whose children are being given different assignments may want to read up on "differentiated task demands."