Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School PG DD, is it immaturity or what?

Hi, My dd will be 7 very soon. She was grade accelerated to 2nd this year. She is in a GT school and skips are rare, rare, rare. It's pretty much like a double skip and school suggested because her IQ was much higher than others who would have been in 1st with her.

She is still performing near bottom of the class. But has made insane progress. She has jumped 4 grade levels in reading in about 4 mths and math has gone up two grade levels.

My question: She is still not very interested academically. She just doesn't seem very academically minded like my HG son. He's only ahead of her by one grade but almost 2 1/2 years older. So maybe I'm not comparing apples to apples. Could it just be immaturity even though she is PG? Might this focus kick in sometime soon?

Teacher thinks she can go on to 3rd next year but I'm not so sure. I just don't know if it's a good idea to have another year of performing near bottom of the class??? Teacher thins she will catch up to them by beginning of next year, she's had most growth in class. I have to remind myself this is a highly gifted school.

Sorry, I'm rambling. Just confused. Thanks

Hey Spirited Mamma!

So many tough decisions. So sorry that you aren't surrounded by oddles of families having similar situations you can look to right in the same school.

The good news is that you have years and years before you get to high school where 'grades count.' Also, you have seen lots of academic growth.

Questions:
Does your DD hate school? Enjoy school? Have friends in class? Outside of class? Have other non-academic activities where she does challenge herself? Is she shy/dreamy/social/'unique'/ an 'old soul?'

What does she love?

Does she want to do 3rd grade next year?

I think that if she continues to grow at the rate she has been going, she may well start to get academically minded. She certianly may be immature in many ways - even if she is super mature in others.

Is she OverExcitable or SuperSensitve as some gifties are?

It is interesting that she isn't the bottom of the class, and she is only 'near bottom.' It did take my son a full year after his gradeskip into 6th to get his bearings. So many stories are fulled with immediate success, I was confused, but then we saw that big step forward over the summer, I was so relieved.

Since this is a school for Highly Gifted kids, someone has to be at the bottom of the class. Is that a good thing or a bad thing. I think it depends on the child, and how it affects them. I'm relieved to hear that the teachers think she is ready.

In a way, you want to maintain flexibility. If she is unhappy in 3rd, you can let her go back to 2nd, but you will have given her the extra time to see if she can make use of 3rd, at very little extra cost.

When my son was skipped, he was also bumped up one more in math. It caused schedule conflicts with History, and he didn't take to it. After 3 months he moved to 6th grade math. It was hard for a week, but really fine after that. We were amazed to see that the next year he was great in that class as a 7th grade Pre-Algebra, with the same teacher, same book, and he didn't act out from the repetion at all. We can't know in advance every outcome. Thanksfully!

Grinity