Being ahead of class

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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling

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amother

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 6:22 pm

Are there negatives to a kid being ahead of the class and finding all new material too easy? She's very well behaved and does extra work if her teacher gives her any. She's small and socially on age level so I don't think skipping grades is a good idea. I'm just wondering if there is a drawback I'm not thinking of.

amother

Apricot

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 6:44 pm

She can get bored. If she finishes work all the times she can be chatty or disruptive bc she’s bored. But if she’s not and the teachers handling it I wouldn’t worry

amother

Emerald

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 7:32 pm

Have you explored with the school whether they could assign her work at her own pace?

If they aren't able or willing to provide her with more advanced instruction, could she at least get permission to read a book or color or something when she's done with the too-easy work?

I don't think that being ahead of other kids has to be a negative experience if she is given something to occupy herself for the excess time.

amother

White

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 7:50 pm

Make sure the teachers aren't avoiding calling on her because they know she knows the answers. She needs to be acknowledged and to be able to stretch too.

Definitely ask for accelerated work she can do when she's bored. Expect that most teachers won't provide it. But sometimes it can be done of dd's own volition, like extra Rashi's that she can turn in.

amother

Seashell

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 8:54 pm

What age is this? Some teachers give my kids enrichment material to work on and others tell them to read books. I'm fine either way as long as they aren't getting into trouble.

amother

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 8:58 pm

4th grade. I haven't spoken to the teachers yet, I have to figure out what I want to ask for first.

amother

Forestgreen

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 9:00 pm

Whatever you do, DO NOT SKIP GRADES! It's terrible for the child. They're not up to par socially with the older grade, and even if she's smart- she is learning important material now, anything that is missed will affect her later on. Just give her extra classwork and make sure the teachers are acknowledging her good work.

amother

Emerald

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 9:05 pm

amother [ Forestgreen ] wrote:

Whatever you do, DO NOT SKIP GRADES! It's terrible for the child.

And even if the child is and continues to be exceptionally mature for her age and does fine in the next grade up, skipping a single grade won't resolve the issue. If she's very quick on the uptake, she will soon be ahead of those classmates too and you'll have the same conundrum.

amother

White

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 9:11 pm

Agree on all. Also, make sure she is involved in extracurriculars. Treat her social development as an aspect that also needs to be supported and sometimes supplemented. This keeps her skills up and keeps her in the mix with the other girls in areas other than academics too.

Other question: what is dd saying about all this? Is she complaining of being bored? Thrilled to be coasting? Upset at the teachers?

amother

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 9:20 pm

She's complaining that she's bored and that she does all the work right away and then just sits there. She takes drama and dance lessons.

amother

Amber

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 9:41 pm

My daughter is in first grade and I’m already dealing with this. I was like that as a kid as well and I hated school. The ideas above are good ones but they never lasted. The teacher would accommodate me for a week or two and then I was back to being bored out of my mind. It’s crazy that over 20 years later there are no better alternatives. Another kid has adhd and I have much more mazel getting her accommodated.

amother

White

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 9:53 pm

Got it. It's hard. And schools are so busy working with the kids who are behind that they have no time or resources for the ones who are ahead. I have had some success with going to the principal or mechaneches to provide the extra material and have dd turn it in there, and sometimes to arrange a once a week pull out, when the teachers just don't have the time or resources.

Long term thought, unfortunately from experience: It's really important to make sure kids like this learn study skills, including the executive functioning needed to plan and space out and execute work and the emotional regulation and confidence to deal and keep going when it's hard. A lot of kids like this coast for years. Then they hit one subject they have trouble with in high school and they genuinely don't know what to do. So after years of straight A's they are failing geometry, or can't do the junior term paper because it requires a lot of planning and they're used to knocking everything out quickly. Many schools start planning like this in 4th grade. It will seem tedious to her. But she needs to learn it, with English, math, etc.

amother

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 9:59 pm

We do that now, she has no patience for the memorizing parts like in chumash or working through the actual problems in math because she does it in her head. But we work on doing the math problems the right way and studying properly for tests even though she would get good grades regardless.

amother

Cerise

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 10:24 pm

How does she do it all in her head!?

My dd school uses go math..there are complicated word problems, like on latest test:
Susie rented 350 chairs each wk for first two weeks of May
And 750 each week for first two weeks of April
23 chairs never arrived.
How many chairs did she get over those 4 weeks?

Or is your school not doing multistep word problems?

amother

Cerise

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 10:25 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

She's complaining that she's bored and that she does all the work right away and then just sits there. She takes drama and dance lessons.

Ask teacher for On enrichment work (taking concepts to the next level)

amother

White

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 10:42 pm

amother [ Cerise ] wrote:

2177. Done in my head. And I'm not great at this. Different people's heads work differently.

Unfortunately, when a kid gets so used to doing it in their heads, if they make a small mistake, they don't get partial credit for the problem. And eventually there will be something they need the steps for. OP is doing her dd a great service insisting on these things.

amother

White

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 10:44 pm

Also, in a covid world, dd might be able to do something like math accelerated. Last year already, my dd had two girls in her class who went out for math and sat supervised while they did an online accelerated class. Now, that's even more prevalent.

amother

Cerise

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 10:46 pm

amother [ White ] wrote:

Wow!!! I absolutely can NOT do that Smile

and I doubt average9 yo could

Yes, OP. Good idea to teach her show her work with step by step

amother

Lemon

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 11:03 pm

It catches up to them in hs when there are some subjects that are more challenging. I’m sure a lot of the kids feel the same as your daughter in the younger grades since the teacher has to make sure even the weaker students are catching on. Most of my kids were like your Dd in elementary school.
In junior high with departmental, it gets better

amother

Mustard

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 11:05 pm

I am a firm believer in individualized curricula. There is no reason a student's social group should be limited to those who are learning at the same pace.

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