Being ahead of class

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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling

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Cheshire cat

Mon, Nov 23 2020, 11:10 pm

My daughter's teacher put together a packet of enrichment work, some of it challenging, some of it fun, that my daughter can pull out as soon as she finishes a class assignment. She rewards my daughter with a small prize each time she completes a packet. She also allows her to read an (especially- designated) book.

I bless this teacher for going the extra mile. In previous years, dd frequently got into trouble for her restless fiddling around in class.

#BestBubby

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 12:22 am

I used to sit in the back and read books under my desk.

I would read the textbooks ahead - like finish the reader, history and science books.

Also I like to draw.

I was also a great daydreamer. I would think about a book I read or movie I saw and replay it
in my head, sometimes adding myself as a character.

So I was not too bored as I knew how to amuse myself with my inner life.

amother

Scarlet

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 1:30 am

I was that kid... I was bored and sometimes tuned out (and at times forgot to tune back in when necessary...). I have a bunch of advanced degrees today, and thankfully feeling fulfilled in life, but it was quite a long road, and as a child, I often felt misunderstood and like a misfit.

Is her school academic enough for her needs? Do they provide some enrichment program, or a system that allows for some tracking or honor classes? If not, would you consider switching her to a more rigorous educational environment?

I find that we have come to terms with kids who require special help, and it is a wonderful things that they are receiving the resources they need at school. But gifted kids have special needs too, and may need adequate resources in order to reach their true potential and live up to their G-d given gifts in life.

salt

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 4:09 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

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.

Why does she not have patience for memorizing parts of chumash? If that's what they have to do, why does she not do it? Or his her memory so photographic that she just has it in her memory after reading it once?

I'm asking, because maybe she only likes doing things that are easy for her. Math is easy, she does it in her head, and is bored, but if memorizing chumash is hard, and she loses her patience, she should work on that.

amother

Violet

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 4:43 am

It really depends on the child’s personality - I was like that in school, but I read books, doodled, wrote stories and otherwise entertained myself, so I was fine. My younger sister, on the other hand, turned into a royal terror for the teachers; the school never really figured out how to deal with her, and her school years were full of suspensions, meetings with the principal, phone calls to my parents etc...

amother

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 7:49 am

salt wrote:

She definitely enjoys doing easy things more and so much comes easy to her. I do take every opportunity to introduce her to things that are harder so that she learns to work through things and has to face challenges. She doesn’t want to memorize because she remembers most of it so it feels redundant to her to take out the time to make sure she knows all of and not just most of it. Even without studying she would get high marks just from memory.

Chayalle

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 9:19 am

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.

music lessons would challenge her brain much more.

(says a piano player who was also bored in school as a child)

tigerwife

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 9:26 am

#BestBubby wrote:

Lol, this was me.
I also agree that it’s important to develop study skills. By the time I hit high school, it was shocking to me that I didn’t score perfect grades... without studying. I still have trouble in this area, procrastinating till the very end because I’m sure I’ll do fine in the end but it doesn’t always work this way.

amother

Pearl

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 9:31 am

I did Crossword puzzles in class...I found them more stimulating than other things like Sudoku. If your daughter loves words and the English language too, when she gets older she can do these things under her desk. I read when I was younger (elementary school), did puzzles when I was older (HS) and in 12th grade texted under my desk Laugh

When she gets older, make it a priority to challenge her and make her work hard. I never needed to stretch my brain or sit and study for long periods of time and that made it harder for me when I started working. See if she is bored or under stimulated-is she happy to do boring repetitive work (just so her brain is busy) or is she frustrated because the teacher isn't teaching on her level? It's must harder when you sit in school for 8 hours a day and don't feel like you learn anything new.
Last, it's great that you are starting to think about this when your daughter is so young. She has a real leg up because you care so much and are trying to help her and work with her capabilities.

amother

Seagreen

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 10:41 am

amother [ Pearl ] wrote:

In 7th grade, I had my Sudokus taken away on a regular basis.

In high school, I played Boggle with myself. I'd pass my friends a 5x5 grid on a sticky note and then try to see how many 4+ letter words I could come up with.

I'd also take a really long word and see how many 5+ letter words I could come up with.

In 12th grade, my friend and I used to do crosswords in class.

I was bored out of my mind for much of my schooling. Probably would've done better with shorter, more concentrated levels of intense study (not rote memorization) and then time to explore what I was interested in.

One teacher in 5th grade tried to give me advanced math work as extra credit. It was actually a pretty good idea, since I liked a good challenge. OP, maybe your daughter can use something like that. A research topic with some sources, advanced problems to work out, etc. Studying the roots of words if she likes words (I find linguistics and etymology fascinating, and did even at a young age). Stuff that will actually stimulate her. 4th grade work tends to be repetitive and memorization-oriented.

mha3484

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 11:07 am

My 4th grade son is like this. He is 3-4 years ahead of his class. He never complains about limudei kodesh but he finds the general studies in the afternoon more challenging. For whatever reason the rebbeim seem better able to challenge him then the general studies teachers. The years he has had more experienced teachers he complains much less about boredom. With teaching experience usually comes the ability to give kids work on different levels. I think if the teacher cant stimulate her you can ask if the resource room can make her enrichment packets to do just like they would provide materials for a kid that needs remediation.

After I have done those things and I have, then I take a different approach. I am honest with him. Hes going to be 10 soon and hes getting pretty mature. We have conversations about how this is an issue he will always deal with in life. He is a very very smart child it wont change as he gets older. We talk about sometimes its okay to be bored. We talk about derech eretz and the importance of not being disruptive. That he is lucky that school comes so easy to him and that we should not take that for granted. I focus a lot on the middos aspect and less on how smart he is.

amother

Goldenrod

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 11:20 am

my 8 year old just solved the maths example in his head.
he is also ahead (3rd grade) but doesnt complain too much.

his younger brother is reading fluently in two languages and solves maths equations for second graders 8he is in preschool, starting school in fall) and I am SUPER worried for him. he wont sit still even in gan when not challenged. his ganenet teaches letters and he is crying saying he wants to read the kids a storybook. sometimes she lets him do that or has extra worksheets to keep him quiet but overall he is bored.

he LOVES playtime and socially he is NOT developed to skip a grade but his cognitive abilities are above average and the teachers dont know what to do.

so my older child doesnt mind and my younger really suffers.

it so depends on the kid.

individuilzed curricula are amazing, I wish our school fofered it.

also I understand the teachers: they only have so much time and need to help the kids who are behind. I have no solution to the poblem either Sad

saw50st8

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 11:35 am

Ask the teacher to forgo giving her the easy work and give her more challenging worksheets on the same topic. This way, she's still learning the concepts she needs and is stretching her brain.

It's great that she can do math in her head, but as math gets more complex, it is much less about rote memorization and much more conceptual. You need to get used to actually working through the problem. I had this problem when I got to calculus and did not do great in high school calculus, even though I proceeded to go to engineering school and do well.

amother

Pearl

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 11:43 am

amother [ Seagreen ] wrote:

This, exactly.
Yups me too:)

amother

Wine

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 11:48 am

The only negative that I can think of is when she starts to realize that she is smarter than everyone.

It's a lonely place to be.

Also, as the material gets more sophisticated and in larger quantities, even students with perfect memory have to study. This often happens towards middle school or high school.

While she is young and has more time in her hands, you can enrich her afternoons with extra curriculars, if this is something she's interested in.

amother

Salmon

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 12:43 pm

My oldest is B"H a very bright girl. She is often bored in school. She brings books to read when she's completed in class work and is waiting for everyone else to catch up. The teachers are fine with it as long as she puts away the book right away when they switch to the next thing on the schedule. Some teachers have given her additional work which she's willing to do if it's interesting like logic puzzles rather than just busywork. The school offers math enrichment once a week where she's been learning to code and she enjoys that.

Some teachers deliberately pair her for group projects with weaker students because she's good at explaining the material and can help others. Some teachers are willing to let her work on her own so she doesn't feel like anyone is holding her back and she can do what interests her.

Do what you can to give her enrichment at home. Encourage reading and hobbies. If she's interested in the STEM subjects there are great kits available. If she's interested in learning Hebrew subjects then either you or DH should make time to learn together on Shabbos. My DD is working her way through Navi with DH and they're enjoying it tremendously. Let her express creativity in art or food or writing or whatever interests her. Maybe not so much these days, but when coronavirus isn't so bad then take her to museums and let her find other interests that she can research on her own.

Rappel

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 12:53 pm

She needs a challenge to occupy her open time. The drawback of being so quick at her work is that she may become lazy and undisciplined (speaking from personal experience), since she has the brains to do whatever she likes, barring 5 minutes devoted to school work.

Beware that her enrichment opportunities don't hurt her socially. The example I'm thinking of: I was never socially popular, and when my teacher offered that I could play math games in the computer room during lessons, my jealous classmates punished me severely for it. After that one recess, I went back to the teacher and told her I didn't want the games, and since this was in hearing of the other students, I couldn't explain why.

I think enrichment is both wonderful and important, but please be watchful that when your daughter is singled out for her intelligence, that she doesn't suffer in other aspects.

amother

Mustard

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 12:54 pm

If the teacher just hands out extra worksheets to students who finish their work early, classmates don't need to know about it.

yksraya

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 12:57 pm

My dd had the problem that teachers expected too much from her because she knew more. Like, they took offense sooner than they would with other girls, even though dd was really well behaved. But if she was drawing, which she likes to do when she feels bored, some teachers regarded it as chutzpah. Or if she wasn't timely etc, they were stricter with her than with other girls. That caused dd to be resentful sometimes.

amother

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 2:08 pm

Chayalle wrote:

music lessons would challenge her brain much more.

(says a piano player who was also bored in school as a child)

Interesting, she asked for those lessons specifically, I didn't have challenging her brain in mind. It was just about developing her talents.

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