Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School 1st/2nd Grade 2010-2011

Have him read with the page upside down, it will slow him down.


I am often surprised when I look carefully at words I've only ever read, like the first time I heard someone say detritus. I'd always read it as detrius. And I do the same thing as your husband with names.

I actually do this too when reading silently. DS6 NEVER skips words (in fact when we read together he always corrects me if I say one thing wrong)...but we have had the same issue about the "comprehension" piece. I don't now why I put that word in quotes but I guess it is because it always annoys me when teachers say how well kids can read but that they don't do as well with comprehension when they really do fine with it. Some kids do struggle with it, but I don't think my DS is one of those kids. My DS6 skipped K and is in 2nd now. He is reading some more challenging books as far as I know, but they are giving him mostly 2nd grade work for reading and say that he is advanced in comprehension but that they can still keep him challenged in 2nd. For Math he is advanced 2-3+ years and they really get his abilities and are meeting his needs by challenging him. I am not sure why they can't see it for reading. I will bring it up at the next conference, but his ELA homework this year is killing me. It takes him like 1 minute to complete. He definitely needs something more challenging. He actually does his morning work with the 4th grade and some of his activities have been on comprehension and he gets those right....so I don't get why they can't challenge him more.

I've been reading these updates but haven't had a chance to post.

After attending public school kindergarten last year, DS6 is homeschooling this year, though he attends a very hands-on school-for-homeschoolers (more formal than a co-op, more hands-on then most traditional schools) much of the week. It has been a nearly ideal fit for him, with the exception of math.

The math teacher does pre-testing--HUZZAH for her!--and he tested out of Math 1 with a 100%. No problem there. So I requested the Math 2 pre-test, and to her credit, she gave it to me, though she was not convinced that it was a good idea to skip him two levels. I said we'd see what we saw before we decided what he needed.

Testing out of Math 2 required an 80%, and he got an 86%. Most of the points he missed were for taking too long to give an answer or for an arithmetic error because he did 3-digit subtraction in his head. In terms of concepts, he only missed a point or two out of some 160+ points.

Still, he was nervous about testing out of two grades, and I didn't see the point in advocating to do so if he wasn't excited about it. I was pretty sure Math 2 was not going to work for him for long, particularly since there was quite a lot of homework for the class, all stuff that DS6 had mastered years before.

I was right. He was bored.

We had some other schedule problems related to carpooling and my not having enough time at home. Ultimately, the fact that math wasn't working well for him was just another reason to drop his morning classes and do those subjects (reading/writing in addition to the math) at home.

So far, so good. The up-side of his having been underchallenged and over-homeworked in math is that he appreciates the level of difficulty I'm giving him and the general lack of busy work, so he works hard for me. I was not sure he would work well for me given our personalities, so it's going far better than I had expected, frankly. Yay!

He's challenged, he loves his classes, especially his science and TaeKwonDo classes, and he's happy. He hangs out with DS9 and his 10-12yo friends playing Pokemon and other imaginative play games. That isn't my ideal for him. I wish he were playing more with kids closer to his age and weren't in his brother's shadow so much. (He doesn't seem to feel that way, but it's what I worry about.) But given a choice of what to do, he does choose to play imaginative games, and these older boys are the kids who play those. I have watched him at recess, and he seems to be truly included, so I'm not going to let it bother me. DS9 looks out for him, and that helps.

To be clear, he *does* have classmates he likes and talks about, so it's not like he's completely with the older kids. But he doesn't usually choose to play with similarly-aged peers at recess yet because they don't want to pretend to be Pokemon trainers. Maybe eventually he'll convert some of them.

So to summarize, homeschooling with the addition of the school-for-homeschoolers is going even better than I anticipated. I'm pleased.

Tallulah: Funny you mentioned reading upside down. DS6 often holds books sideways and reads that way. If I try to move the book back to right-side up, he gets angry with me.

Today is our parent/teacher conference with DS6.5's teacher. His biggest issue has been behavior. I totally believe he's now trying to fit in with the boys (he was always that boy that played with the more mature girls), so he's acting like they are but getting caught. I also believe that he is a bit bored and that he wants to "teach" the other kids in his class when they are learning something he knows.

His teacher and I have been in contact and have worked on some ideas to help him. So far, so good... he has moments, but nothing major. So that is good. But I still will be VERY sad that he will have a few Ps (P=progressing, S=Successful) on his report card.

Do you think it's wrong to "bribe" him with his behavior? Right now, it's how he earns his computer/video game time, which I think is appropriate. But I'm trying to make a big goal - like so many weeks = a new video game or something, so he can see the "light" at the end of the tunnel (so there's no "boredom" with earning a certain amount of time each week). On one hand I feel he should behave because that is what is expected, but on the other, I want him to actually behave and can see where having a prize might help even moreso!

Anyway, wish me luck. I don't know why I get nervous about these things!

This morning on the news they had a piece about a kid in middle school who is just now comprehending. All the kids in the piece were talking about how reading words is the focus in earlier grades, not what they are actually reading.

DS6.5 has AR tests on what he reads. He has to complete 15 per each 9 weeks. I think that is HUGE when it comes to comprehension. He used to be in a habit of skipping words, but because of these tests he is being "forced" to read them all. Comprehension & vocabulary (hand in hand? I think so!) were always my weak points growing up, and I think that is why. I learned to read words, but not what the words meant. I am glad he is learning the vocabulary too!

Thought I would share ds7's spelling words for the week.

biographies; construction; catastrophe; stretcher; machinery; expectation; advertisement; principal; straightened and multiplication. Plus, the 2nd grade high frequency words - made, school, sister, these and after

Hi JJsmom,

As for "bribing" (rewarding) to get the behavior you want-- in our experience rewards that come at home won't work that well. It's much better if the teachers can be on board with positive praise and/or rewards whenever they see the behavior they want to see. Reward delivered on the spot is much better than reward delivered later. And school-delivered rewards/praise for school behavior will be more effective in changing the behavior.

DeeDee

sounds like they are expecting him to write a report on an accident at the school involving his sister and the principle!!! LOL

So without going into all the FABULOUS conference details, DS6.5 apparently cannot even be recorded on the regular report card. His reading level is 4th grade, and the report card only goes up to the end of 3rd.