Suggestions for Next Year Needed

[AggieMama]

DD was identified by her public school this year as gifted at the end of 1st grade, we received the letter over the weekend. We have been sending DD to play therapy for over a year due to her emotional intensity and asynchonosity. DD had a rough time I. School this year and began to hate school. Her self-confidence was really affected and she thinks she is not good at a lot of things. As a parent this makes me upset. The school was trying to push ADHD on us in hopes that we would medicate her to become a model student (aka zombie). Her therapist and us (her parents) agree that she doesn't have ADHD, but giftedness and OCD.

 

Before the giftedness designation, we had decided to moved DD to a charter school that is more project based and geared more towards students who do not learn as well in the traditional setting. The school focuses on authentic learning and not test prep as her old school did. We are waiting to hear if the new school will accept the gifted label of DD before our final decision, but we are pretty sure she will be going to the charter school.

 

The new school will NOT have homework!!!!! Yay! I am looking for suggestions on what to do with DD during after schooling, as little sister will attend the old school until she moves up the wait list at the charter, and will still have homework. I have told the girls that they will do their reading time in the car, as there is a 20-45 minute ride between the charter school and home. I will probably do audiobooks and maybe some educational videos during this time. I was thinking about doing BA2 with some Singapore for math. I'd like to do SOTW 1 with both of the girls and some kind of science (the girls are interested in chemistry, ecosystems, and botany). I was just wondering if anyone had suggestions for my girls, especially the gifted one. Writing (because of handwriting) is a weakness for gifted DD. They are going into 1st grade and 2nd grade. The non-identified DD is pretty smart herself and working slightly above grade level.

[SKL]

What about giving her writing prompts and having her practice her writing skills?  The writing prompts could cover a range of topics - a field trip they went on, a book or movie she liked, or something imaginary.

 

There is an online afterschooling program you might want to look into.  It's called brain chase (brainchase.com).  They have a summer program going right now, but they also have a scaled-down version for during the school year.  I assume it uses Khan academy for math (the summer one does), and probably some free reading or other LA accountability, and they have electives such as foreign language and arts.  The program also works in other content areas in the weekly "bonus" activities.  It can be a self-motivating, fun program that balances the time you need to spend with your younger child.  Brainchase is for ages 6-16.