Supplementing Language Arts...

[NinaRho]

Hi all,

I have actually followed this forum for years but never posted! We homeschooled my son for five years (K-4) but because we were starting to feel a bit socially isolated, both of our kids are in a private school this year. There are many great things about this school -- definitely the best option in our small city -- and the kids really seem to like it (they never "liked" homeschool) but my son (10 years old, 5th grade) is accelerated and I don't think he's being challenged. The teacher is willing to work with us.  Looking for advice on how to try to make this work. Mostly I am concerned about Language Arts and Math.

 

LA: He is in a classroom of kids grades 5-7 but is already in the highest spelling group. We're a month in (so maybe it will still get harder?) but the word lists coming home are words he probably could have spelled two years ago. For a seventh grade level (since the classroom has 7th graders in it), these words are definitely too low. Other than asking her to make another spelling group, does anyone have any ideas?? We have done IEW Fit It grammar for the last two years at home so I am sending the Level 3 book for him to do during the religious class from which he is excused (different religion from ours). I'm not too worried about the writing and reading comprehension right now, but it's hard to tell how robust the classwork it. But DS is an excellent, prolific reader and his writing is strong and she has said she is pushing him to give his best work with all the writing assignments. Would adding Fix It grammar be enough (considering they are doing whatever they do in class) if I can get him some harder spelling words??

 

Math: We did MM 4 last year and DS loved it, because of the mastery approach and in depth style. Despite it being "hard" he thrived with it and said it made him not hate math. They do Saxon, which he hates with the fury of a thousand suns. For some reason they had him in 5/4 and I asked them to give him a placement test, and now he's a third of the way through 6/5. I could probably have pushed for him to do 7/6 (placement test supported it) but we didn't think completely skipping 5th grade math was a good idea. Since they have all the kids in their own workbooks I could probably push for them to allow him to do MM 5, but I don't want to be the world's most annoying parent since I know Saxon will at the least, teach him math. Taking a wait and see approach right now, with the next step being (I think), pushing for not all the review questions so he can move through it a bit more quickly.

 

What do you all think? We'd like to make this school work. Any advice welcome!

[Charlottee]

Hi! My dd is gifted, and she’s been to both public and private school.

For language arts, I think it’s fantastic that he’s able to work with the older kids. Since the vocab words are so easy, is he actually spending any time on these at home? (Since you mention the words are coming home.) If not, I would probably ignore it-I doubt they’re spending much time on spelling in class, so it’s likely not a cause of boredom. I also wouldn’t send in more work-just because he’s gifted or advanced doesn’t mean he needs more work. Doing IEW Fix It during the religious class seems to be a great idea, as long as he’s enjoying it!

For math, I’ve definitely never seen a school let the kids work in their own level workbooks. That would have been amazing for dd! (But probably a logistical nightmare.) Honestly, most math up to prealgebra is just building slightly on review, so he wouldn’t be missing much by skipping ‘fifth grade math’. Honestly, I wouldn’t even push for skipping problems. I’d either ask for him to take the 7/6 placement or just keep him where he’s at, as long as he’s not bored.

The most critical thing in all of this, I think, is that he’s not bored (or annoyed by busy work). I’d just play it by ear for now. Good luck to you all!

[HomeAgain]

At a certain point, spelling isn't about learning specific words, but learning rules.  I wouldn't push for harder words.  I'd expect my kid at home to mark the words he's given with a breakdown of the different rules, find the etymology, and understand why it is being spelled that way.  I'd get something like The ABCs and All Their Tricks to sit down with him and go over the spelling list in a new way for homework.

But - I wouldn't really push anything at this age that the kid wasn't full in on. 10 is right on the edge of puberty and there will be a lot of hormonal changes messing with him, so I tend to go gentler into the middle school years and then pick up again on the other side.

[NinaRho]

10 hours ago, Charlottee said:

Hi! My dd is gifted, and she’s been to both public and private school.

For language arts, I think it’s fantastic that he’s able to work with the older kids. Since the vocab words are so easy, is he actually spending any time on these at home? (Since you mention the words are coming home.) If not, I would probably ignore it-I doubt they’re spending much time on spelling in class, so it’s likely not a cause of boredom. I also wouldn’t send in more work-just because he’s gifted or advanced doesn’t mean he needs more work. Doing IEW Fix It during the religious class seems to be a great idea, as long as he’s enjoying it!

For math, I’ve definitely never seen a school let the kids work in their own level workbooks. That would have been amazing for dd! (But probably a logistical nightmare.) Honestly, most math up to prealgebra is just building slightly on review, so he wouldn’t be missing much by skipping ‘fifth grade math’. Honestly, I wouldn’t even push for skipping problems. I’d either ask for him to take the 7/6 placement or just keep him where he’s at, as long as he’s not bored.

The most critical thing in all of this, I think, is that he’s not bored (or annoyed by busy work). I’d just play it by ear for now. Good luck to you all!

Thank you! He is bored. The teacher said he often finishes his work before all the kids have gotten their pencils out. They are working on the spelling words in class (he rarely has any homework). The Saxon is boring to him only because it's so heavy in review. Each lesson has 6-10 problems on the new topic and then 30 tedious but not difficult review questions, and they all need to rewritten by hand. Hence why I thought maybe doing the odd numbers only or whatever might help. I think it's probably the most likely thing the teacher would go for.

So we'll see.. The school also has a half day option that is rarely utilized, so I could theoretically have him home in the mornings for LA and math and then drop him off for lunch, recess, science, history, and choir. It's tempting... But I agree playing it by ear for now is the right thing to do.  Thank you!!

[NinaRho]

9 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

At a certain point, spelling isn't about learning specific words, but learning rules.  I wouldn't push for harder words.  I'd expect my kid at home to mark the words he's given with a breakdown of the different rules, find the etymology, and understand why it is being spelled that way.  I'd get something like The ABCs and All Their Tricks to sit down with him and go over the spelling list in a new way for homework.

But - I wouldn't really push anything at this age that the kid wasn't full in on. 10 is right on the edge of puberty and there will be a lot of hormonal changes messing with him, so I tend to go gentler into the middle school years and then pick up again on the other side.

Thanks for your thoughts. I ordered that book -- looks very interesting. We have done spelling rules since Kinder (we used Logic of English in the early years) so he does know a lot of that, which is why spelling comes easily to him. We'll see how it goes -- the current level for LA is just really light to me (the words "include," "discovered," "unjust," "transport," and "distance" for a group that has 7th graders in it). Am I crazy? While I understand "unjust" as a concept might be intermediate, as a spelling word it seems really basic. Still hoping it picks up a little.

[Charlottee]

6 hours ago, NinaRho said:

Thank you! He is bored. The teacher said he often finishes his work before all the kids have gotten their pencils out. They are working on the spelling words in class (he rarely has any homework). The Saxon is boring to him only because it's so heavy in review. Each lesson has 6-10 problems on the new topic and then 30 tedious but not difficult review questions, and they all need to rewritten by hand. Hence why I thought maybe doing the odd numbers only or whatever might help. I think it's probably the most likely thing the teacher would go for.

So we'll see.. The school also has a half day option that is rarely utilized, so I could theoretically have him home in the mornings for LA and math and then drop him off for lunch, recess, science, history, and choir. It's tempting... But I agree playing it by ear for now is the right thing to do.  Thank you!!

The half day option sounds great, probably the best of both worlds if he feels comfortable with it. I’m so sorry about the LA and math, I know how annoying that can be.

[EKS]

On 9/14/2024 at 2:25 PM, NinaRho said:

Other than asking her to make another spelling group, does anyone have any ideas??

Ask if he can test out of spelling.

[SFisher]

I have kids who are gifted/accelerated and they have a mixture of homeschool & public school experiences.

heres my opinion, but take it with a grain of salt: don’t try to micromanage the school teacher or curriculum. You chose the school. Give them a chance to get to know him and his abilities. Figure out what is available to him and see if he is interested and meets the qualifications for those opportunities. Try to become a teammate with the teacher, where she leaves off, you pick up. 

For example, if he’s really good at math… give the teacher a chance to assess and come up with solutions: accelerate, pull out for gifted students, allow him to use an app to accelerate while other children do something else. You might also find something like he’s going to get 5th grade math in 5th grade… but you have an opportunity to put him on a math team or there a math camp he can do in the summer.

For my kids, they don’t have as much opportunity to accelerate in elementary as they would at homeschool, but they have opportunities to work with other high ability kids in a pull out gifted program, they get opportunities to do other stuff like MC a talent show or win a reading contest. For my kids, it sounds like there will be more avenues to accelerate in middle school and high school, and the school is aware of my kids’ abilities and they are setting my 5th grader up for accelerated paths starting in 6th. In my state high school students can take college courses, the school is already setting my 5th grader up to follow that route because that’s their best option for advanced students. 

You also can give your brain a break… step back from teacher role and step into parenting role. There’s benefits to being mom and not teacher. I feel like I can be more supportive, fun, relaxed… I’m here to support and guide, and the teacher/school is setting up the challenges. I’m more focused on teaching them self-advocacy and being responsible and accountable.

I like and respect both homeschool and public school for different reasons… just take advantage of the opportunities in front of you.