Gifted/Very Bright Children and School

yOungM0mmy

Fri, May 05 2017, 8:42 am

My kids are also bh extremely intelligent. My oldest is the youngest in the class and consistently scores first or second, without having done any homework for the last 2 years. They are now doing state exams and he is in the top bracket, despite the class not having had a teacher last year (long story). His English teacher has put him with a group of 3 others who are high achievers, and basically left them to figure it out themselves, which has worked well for him. His kodesh teachers have always had more trouble with differentiation and stretching him, often resorting to placing him next to a weaker boy for him to help, which I don't agree with, but he's a good boy, and is happy, and I'm happy he has less stress than the rest of the kids. In his spare time he reads lots of factual books, encyclopedias, historical biographies (just read a book about Jewish soldiers in the British army during ww2) and more.

Ds2 is also highly academic, but much happier to coast along doing the bare minimum (much like I was most of the way through school). He counteracts boredom by laughing with friends during class time... he scored more than a year above his age in reading and comprehension, and his teacher pushes him to elevate his work despite his resistance. His kodesh teacher this year has finally put pressure on him, because he knew the material superficially but wasn't picking up the underlying skills which he was perfectly capable of, because he couldn't be bothered. He is persistent in things he wants to accomplish or is interested in, and coasts along making a little bit of trouble for his teachers when he's bored...he's one of the older ones in the class, but not motivated enough to work harder, so I'm not even thinking of pushing him ahead. Eventually, when he decides what he wants to do, he will have the tools he needs to pursue it, and will succeed with flying colors because of his determined nature, when he is interested.

Dd1 was actually born 3 days after the deadline, and we fought to push her up. She has always had a can do attitude, probably partly due to keeping up with her older siblings, but also our family's natural academic ability. She is also socially doing well, articulate and able to interact with people of all ages. She is thriving in the class she is in, despite being the youngest she is in the top group for hebrew reading and English reading and comprehension, and second group for math, and is happy and has friends. At this point, math is problem solving, so they have done volume, weight, money etc. If your child can count to bigger numbers, they just get bigger sums with the same ideas.

I think the biggest consideration has got to be your child's social and emotional welfare. School ends eventually, and you want them to be well adjusted and positive people. There can never be a limit to knowledge, so providing your children with other books, topics and ideas to explore etc will broaden their horizons in a way most schools just can not do within the school day anyway.

Inspire

Fri, May 05 2017, 4:32 pm

I had more than one gifted kid, and the school experiences were very different for each. The most successful outcome happened when I educated myself about gifted children, and was able to present solid information to the hanhala of the school. They then took it upon themselves to do testing and call in an expert on giftedness. Since then they have been very accommodating. I also was not interested in testing and labeling, but in the end I found that once the giftedness was confirmed to the school administration via testing, their level of cooperation improved, and they looked for ways to offer extra stimulation. However, this was a larger school with decent resources.

amother

Seashell

Fri, May 05 2017, 4:53 pm

amother wrote:

This is something I struggle with still as an adult nearly 40.

Elementary school was ridiculous to me and I wasn't motivated to work for the things I didn't know because who cared?

Once I got to high school, life was harder because you can't know something you've never read and skirted by doing the absolute minimum to get a B. The work wasn't that hard for me, but getting more than that required listening, reading and completing assignments. I read a lot but not often what my teachers wanted me to.

I got through school reading books under my desk.

I'm not sure what could have been different in school. I think a more challenging school that actually required me to do work would have been the best.

I'm not crazy smart (my IQ is only 142) but I was definitely way ahead of most of my peers early on and I developed a lot of bad habits.

I showed this to my HS age daughter who sounds just like you. She feels validated. I would love to hear more from you. She's really struggling through high school.

seeker

Fri, May 05 2017, 5:12 pm

Inspire wrote:

Wow, I would love to know which school was so dedicated to improving for your child.

Inspire

Fri, May 05 2017, 5:59 pm

Try sengifted.org--it is not a frum website but a lot of good information and support can be had there. The school that was so helpful is a local school that we "happened" to enroll in because we moved to the community it was in. I don't believe they take in a lot of out of towners, as they are already very full. Perhaps though, using the same strategy in whatever location you are can help gain support from the schools in your area. Mostly principals and teachers are uninformed about giftedness, and there is a lot of misconception. There are some excellent books by James Webb (intended for a secular audience, but nevertheless very helpful both in understanding your child, and in explaining his/her needs to the school.