Pull out for math at school

[jennynd]

I afterschool my ds who is working on 4-5 grade math at home (he is 6 yrs old 1st grader. The school just decided to bump him to work on 3rd grade math. At first I was alright with it until he brought home 2 pages, both side math homework. (teacher said he will have 2 pagers both sides everyday :eek: And on top of that, his 1st grade teacher still expect him finish his regular homework. This took all our after schooling time and he is ONLY a 1st grader... I am not sure I like it.. What will u do???

[Dmmetler]

To be blunt, that's what happens when a child is accelerated in school. They get the same load that the kids in that grade get, even when it's not appropriate for that child. The primary reason my DD is homeschooled now is that her school wanted to put her in 3rd grade at age 5 1/2-and even though she could have handled the subject matter pretty easily, she couldn't have handled the workload expected just due to writing alone. I'd seriously consider homeschooling.

[MaMa2005]

To be blunt, that's what happens when a child is accelerated in school. They get the same load that the kids in that grade get, even when it's not appropriate for that child. The primary reason my DD is homeschooled now is that her school wanted to put her in 3rd grade at age 5 1/2-and even though she could have handled the subject matter pretty easily, she couldn't have handled the workload expected just due to writing alone. I'd seriously consider homeschooling.

 

:iagree: Yours is a classic example of one of the main reasons we homeschool.

[Gratia271]

I agree with pp. This is among the reasons to homeschool.

[Storm Bay]

This is another example of the failure of the ps to address the actual needs of dc and was one of the things that drove us home, too (actually, here it was because of the refusal to let dd work at her level in gr 2).

 

My eldest needed almost no repetition in math before she hit Algebra, and even now it's minimal.

[Lovin Learnin]

Hmm. . . .Even though they agreed to accelerate him they placed him a year or two behind where you believe him to be. And that heavy workload of homework from the school will slow his acceleration because it cuts into your afterschooling. I hate to say it but that might have been the school's intent. Can you tell I have a salty taste in my mouth? We're homeschoolers now, too.

 

Perhaps you can send the work you do at home with him to school to replace what they are doing. Maybe you can teach the lesson as afterschoolers and then he can do the workbooks at school during regular math time.

 

I hope you find a solution that truly works for your son.

[EKS]

This is why we homeschool. My son is accelerated four grade levels in math, but there is no way he could be successful in a 7th grade classroom without accommodations. I copy problems for him and he uses a small whiteboard for all written work.

 

The techniques used for teaching gifted children at a level that challenges them are the same as those used to teach students with learning disabilities. That is, teach them conceptually at their intellectual level and scaffold and accommodate as necessary for weaknesses.

[zaichiki]

This is another example of the failure of the ps to address the actual needs of dc and was one of the things that drove us home, too

 

:iagree:

 

It's really tough for the schools (I can imagine they could do it differently, but they don't for whatever reason) to handle challgening gifted children at the appropriate level. The OP's situation is what you usually find. They just can't get their mind around the idea that the child's attention span and writing ability may still be closer to age appropriate, even if they can show understanding of more advanced topics/skills.

 

I have a just-turned-5 y.o. who still wouldn't be put in Kindergarten in our local public school this year. Though he reads on a 2nd grade level, he still doesn't write beyond his name. He's ready for more challenge than the kids his age when it comes to reading and discussing what he's read, but I wouldn't expect him to be able to write like a 2nd grader (or sit for that length of time). It's insane!

 

Anyway, it's that classic asynchrony coming to bite. The tricky part is that it doesn't necessarily go away as they get older. (When they're a little older, they may be ready for the content of certain high school or college courses, but might not be able to handle sitting for a 2 hour lecture or writing a 10 paged paper.)

 

So what do you do?

 

With my 5 y.o., I give him access to the books he's ready to read, but we also work on letter formation and endurance holding a pencil.

 

When you homeschool, you can meet them where they're at. :D

[zaichiki]

The techniques used for teaching gifted children at a level that challenges them are the same as those used to teach students with learning disabilities. That is, teach them conceptually at their intellectual level and scaffold and accommodate as necessary for weaknesses.

 

Good point and nicely stated.

 

If the schools are used to doing this for LD kids, why can't more of them generalize that for GT kids?

[Lovin Learnin]

There are more factors to consider.

For us, the reason we accepted grade 3 math instead of 4 is that it is a foundation year for 3-6 and that a child coming from first needs to adjust to a longer teacher taught class and faster pacing. With it being a foundation year, the teacher can easily differentiate without the child sticking out and being subjected to attacks for thinking differently or working quickly. 3 in our school was the better choice for adjustment than 4, due to the individual teachers involved and the fact that 4 is a heavy state test year and many students have discipline issues with the increased seriousness of school. Overall the 2 most critical factors for our child in having a fantastic accel experience turned out to be the ability of the teacher to differentiate so that our child actually learned in class and her ability to maintain a nonhostile class atmosphere.

 

 

This makes sense and I applaud your school for accommodating your children's learning needs.

[Storm Bay]

:iagree:

I have a just-turned-5 y.o. who still wouldn't be put in Kindergarten in our local public school this year. Though he reads on a 2nd grade level, he still doesn't write beyond his name. He's ready for more challenge than the kids his age when it comes to reading and discussing what he's read, but I wouldn't expect him to be able to write like a 2nd grader (or sit for that length of time). It's insane!

 

Anyway, it's that classic asynchrony coming to bite.So what do you do?

 

 

When you homeschool, you can meet them where they're at. :D

:iagree: My ds was a late reader, although he's gifted, due in great part to late visual development and a lazy eye (since fixed.) At 6 & 7 he was decoding words and wanting to do middle school or later level discussions on the story at the same time. Now that he reads well ahead of his age peers, he's not usually eager to get into discussing what he's reading other than to mention how cool it is that something happens in a story.

[jennynd]

I will agree with that 3rd grade is easier grade to accelerate and I will not want my son get accelerated beyond 3rd grade at school also. I really don't need him graduate college at age of 18. (he also reads 5-6 grade level. so technically, he can get accelerate to 5th grade easily,) kids already grow too fast. I only want to teach him on his own pace but without so many homework and pressure. When I teach him ,because it is 1-to 1, I know what he is lacking and need more practice and what is a intuition to him and not needed to be taught. Understood that homework is part of learning/practicing. But if he already know the subject.. why wasting time. Anyway, I feel I am mumbling, My currently thought is that since we only do afterschool 2 days during the weekday and both days in weekend and We don't do more than 30-40 mins a day. I might be able to do Friday (I don't think he will have assignment on Friday) Sat, Sunday.. I might be able to do 1 hr but only 3 days... sign,,, I really don't like this much math for him. I asked him if he want to go back to his original class but he said no... we will see how next weeks goes.. Thanks gals

 

 

 

There are more factors to consider.

For us, the reason we accepted grade 3 math instead of 4 is that it is a foundation year for 3-6 and that a child coming from first needs to adjust to a longer teacher taught class and faster pacing. With it being a foundation year, the teacher can easily differentiate without the child sticking out and being subjected to attacks for thinking differently or working quickly. 3 in our school was the better choice for adjustment than 4, due to the individual teachers involved and the fact that 4 is a heavy state test year and many students have discipline issues with the increased seriousness of school. Overall the 2 most critical factors for our child in having a fantastic accel experience turned out to be the ability of the teacher to differentiate so that our child actually learned in class and her ability to maintain a nonhostile class atmosphere.

[Dmmetler]

Is it typical in your district for teachers to give LD-type accommodations without an IEP for LD? In mine it isn't-you don't get the reduced output unless you have an IEP calling for it, with the rationale being that without an IEP, you won't get it on the state test, and therefore you have to have the stamina for the test. And there's no way, looking at my DD now, that I can imagine her having been able to sit through the 3rd grade test, which is about 4 hours a day for 4 days straight. She's smart-but she's still a young 6 yr old!

 

Which might explain why about half the kids in our academic homeschooling group are accelerated and most who have been in school at all have GT IDs. Because until you get to high school, where IB and dual enrollment are options, there's simply not anything there for accelerated kids.

[Storm Bay]

I will agree with that 3rd grade is easier grade to accelerate and I will not want my son get accelerated beyond 3rd grade at school also. I really don't need him graduate college at age of 18. (he also reads 5-6 grade level. so technically, he can get accelerate to 5th grade easily,)

 

fwiw reading level alone isn't enough to determine grade level:001_smile:.

 

There are many factors in determining the best age for a dc to graduate, and academic/intellectual ability is only one of them. Overal maturity is just as important, which is why my eldest won't graduate until she's 18. She is behind her age peers socially (but consistently behind, meaning that she's not going to stay there,but will mature later than average) and is not highly motivated.

 

Sports can be another reason to keep dc with their age peers if they are very talented, and this is something I've considered with both of my dd's.

 

If any of my dc were highly driven academically, socially and emotionally mature, and not interested in any team sport, I'd graduate them early. I have only one dc who could do that, but she's interested in sports and not interested in being ahead. In fact, she's willing to repeat gr 8 just to go the the ps next year if I let her (she's a grade ahead, more in math, but not nearly as much as she could be. Her passions lie elsewhere, such as in art.)Both of my dds have the ability to do 2 grades a year in everything except perhaps math where they could hit a ceiling with Calculus until they were older. Ds is also gifted, but he has an unusual developmental curve and always has, so I'm not sure about whether he could be ready to graduate before 17 or 18.

 

As for grade placement, none of my dc are at the same level as their reading level (and I'm including comprehension), because they are all advanced readers. My ds, who has just started to actually enjoy reading, is about 4 grades ahead, but my dd's are considerably more than that.

Edited February 3, 2011 by Karin

[EKS]

Yes, it is typical here.

 

I must move to your school district.

 

Our district has no gifted program, despite a significantly larger gifted population than is usual, and it frowns on any form of acceleration, with the exception that they allow 7th graders to take algebra if they qualify. If I were to ask them to place my 9yo in an algebra class with age appropriate accommodations they would laugh me out of the building. Actually, I don't think they would even understand what I was talking about.