Do your dc go through waves of acceleration?

[Kfamily]

I'm asking this out of curiosity and not out of fear or frustration. My dd (1st) seems to be in a ....hmmmm....I don't know how to phrase this...an academic slump (:D) if that is even possible. I have mostly attributed this to the fact that she has really undergone a huge growth socially (personality too) and even physically. We have moved recently and she has really become focused on leaving babyhood behind (mostly). This is fine, since she just turned 7 and this is normal. But, I have noticed a little bit of a slump with school. She is progressing fine in that we are still working through our planned curricula. We have hit a wall in Singapore but I expect that since I think the concepts jump sometimes. I taught her addition with renaming (regrouping) and she is doing well but they moved from this to adding 3 numbers in the hundreds and having to rename twice in the problem. I really want to wait this out a little and let her build up her memorization of facts. She has become fairly adept at them without using flashcards. (She is motivated this way... she doesn't want to spend too much time here...she finds it boring and she knows that I want her to have quick recall of them.) She hasn't really been reading as much lately (our environment has changed so may be this part of it). I'm worried this is partly my fault. I meant to change things up for her but the move has thrown me off a bit. I honestly think that she is bored...could this have an affect on her slump? I think she is not excited with what she is reading, not excited with math, not excited with piano (there is a reason for this...we will be moving her up here soon) and just not excited about learning in general.

Sorry to go on so...I hope this makes sense. Do you think this is just a dip or could she just have been highly motivated to accelerate and has now leveled off some?

On another note, her sister wants to move up in her French (they are both using L'Art de Lire) since Level 1 is easy for her. We are nearly done with Level 1 and I considered splitting them to keep my younger dd moving a little slower. She did not want to be slowed down and happily agreed to doing more pages per day to keep up. I just saw this as another sign that I might not be asking enough of her.

I know I need to figure this out once and for all. I put so much time into planning for my older dd that I haven't put enough into her plans.

Thanks for listening.

Edited May 4, 2010 by Kfamily

[2smartones]

Absolutely!! Mine DEFINITELY has good days & bad. (... and by days, I mean weeks or months.) I don't personally know any accelerated students who haven't learned in spurts. I'll get SO frustrated at times thinking the problem is me, when in reality, something completely different is going on. Maybe it's a growth spurt. Maybe it's a fundamental concept that takes just a little longer to master before bounding through the next 3-4 levels at lightning speed. Sometimes it's something as simple as seasonal allergies. I know *I* don't feel like doing anything when my allergies kick in. Why should my kids?

[Dinsfamily]

I'm interested in hearing from mom with older kids too because I'm right there with you!

 

My ds recently turned 6 and is definitely going through something related to growing up. He's my first so I don't have it pinned down yet, but the attitude is driving me crazy :001_huh:. As we're going through this, I've noticed that he's not all there during parts of school. He can totally explain negative numbers to me for 20 minutes and solve multiplication problems creatively in his free time, but subtraction escaped his brain last week. We worked through it by bringing out Miquon and C-Rods, but I was caught off-guard. He did great today on addition with regrouping, though. I don't mind taking it easy...he is really young, but he's also begging me to start our 1st grade spelling schedule early. Is it all just normal?

 

Like your daughter, he is exceling in other subjects, but this is such a change for him that it worried me a bit. I also wonder that if he's having a spurt in one subject (in our case, reading), he'll not do as well in other subjects for that period of time. Just thinking outloud :confused:.

[KC in KS]

She'll go through weeks at a time where she just doesn't give a d**m. ;)

 

The thing I watch is her free reading. When she spends days choosing the TV instead of a book, I know it's a phase-thing, not a I-hate-school thing. That make sense?

[patchfire]

I don't know about *waves*, but I see definite *leaps* at certain points. It's not that she's not understanding, or (eventually ;) ) getting her work done, but every year in the three to four week period around her half-birthday (the beginning of February) - whew! Everything that she was doing starts taking half the time, etc. After a few weeks, it plateaus, and that's more or less the new normal... until around her birthday, but since we take the summer off and restart around her birthday, it's not as noticeable as that February leap.

 

Kids also, ime, 'rotate' what skills they are working on at a given time. Gross motor vs. fine motor vs. social vs. emotional vs. academic... it's more visible the younger the kid is, I think, because the periods before switching seem to be bigger (i.e., my youngest hasn't achieved any new motor milestones in a couple of months), but I think it's still part of development for the older ones, too.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Yes, it's always been leaps & bounds here.

 

I'm too far removed from the elementary years to remember the specifics of that age group, but just wait till the teenage years strike! Hormones and growth spurts and dare I say interest in the opposite sex will start to come into play:001_huh:.

 

~Kathy

[Kfamily]

Thanks everyone! Your comments make me feel much better.:001_smile: I think it is mostly the change in our life/environment (the move) and her growth spurt that has had the most impact. I do think I need to shake things up a little and find some things she can be excited about again.

[ElizabethB]

The RS abacus is a fun change of pace and was really helpful for my daughter to learn borrowing and carrying, to actually "see" the exchange of 10 ones beads for a ten bead.

 

I left the abacus out for her to look at and she figured out 90% of the basics I was going to teach her with it on her own, she had fun playing with it and counting up the colors.

[Kfamily]

Thanks Elizabeth...we've been using base 10 blocks but I think an abacus would be interesting to her.

[PeterPan]

Jumping in late, but yes it sounds like the changes with the move and whatnot have dissettled her. Try to get her into some things she likes. It just takes time. Have you thought about getting her an Ipad? I know that sounds extravagant, but it's just the bees knees for reading. My dd dreams of one since we played with it at the Apple store. :)

[Ester Maria]

Learning curve is not a linear function. ;)

 

It's more like an exponential function, with LOTS of plateaux, which seem to be stagnant phases, so when you look at it "mathematically", it seems like a lot of leaps combined with stagnant phases and some steady process phases too. However, it's like a plane ride - when you feel nothing is happening, you are actually traveling the fastest, and your mind is preparing for another leap. That's why it's important to keep up with things as opposed to giving them "down time" every time when they require it. Keeping up, but with less intensity, make up for the things you missed during those periods, add in some "busy work" as opposed to only "challenging work", and just keep on keeping up, until the next leap stage.

 

With gifted children (saying that because of the subforum we're on), it's of utmost importance to have high-level "basic level" (as opposed to extra-high-level "leap level"), so that they don't neglect their potentials and aren't brought down to the level of an average child even during their stagnant phases. Determine a good base level, and build up on it accordingly when you can. What she's going through is normal, and ALL children go through that - with gifted kids it's only more dramatic as their oscillations are higher. Nothing to worry about. :)

[Gratia271]

Learning curve is not a linear function. ;)

 

It's more like an exponential function, with LOTS of plateaux, which seem to be stagnant phases, so when you look at it "mathematically", it seems like a lot of leaps combined with stagnant phases and some steady process phases too. However, it's like a plane ride - when you feel nothing is happening, you are actually traveling the fastest, and your mind is preparing for another leap. That's why it's important to keep up with things as opposed to giving them "down time" every time when they require it. Keeping up, but with less intensity, make up for the things you missed during those periods, add in some "busy work" as opposed to only "challenging work", and just keep on keeping up, until the next leap stage.

 

With gifted children (saying that because of the subforum we're on), it's of utmost importance to have high-level "basic level" (as opposed to extra-high-level "leap level"), so that they don't neglect their potentials and aren't brought down to the level of an average child even during their stagnant phases. Determine a good base level, and build up on it accordingly when you can. What she's going through is normal, and ALL children go through that - with gifted kids it's only more dramatic as their oscillations are higher. Nothing to worry about. :)

 

How do you accomplish this? I am struggling to find the proper amount of rigor given the asynchronous nature of my children. What constitutes high-level "basic level" work? I don't want my children to stagnate, yet I am conflicted on how much rigor is appropriate. Maybe I should post a new thread to attempt to flesh out my question.

[Kfamily]

Thanks Ester, this makes sense.

 

OhElizabeth, your advice and support always helps. :001_smile: