How would you address kid hating ES?

[Anonymous]

My 2nd grader says the same thing (since 1st). She loved K so much because it was much more play based. She gets some differentiation, has friends, loves taking the bus, has liked her teachers. She says she doesn't like school because she misses me. Other friends of hers say they don't like it either. Not sure there is much you can do. She used to have some tantrums about school but that was last year and I think she wasn't getting enough sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 2nd grade. He’s a pretty smart kid, but in a normal, non-Dougie Howser way. And every day he talks about how much he hates school. Think some sort of tantrum every morning. He has friends and it doesn’t sound like there is any bullying going on, but he says school is so boring. Now, some of this may be his own emotional regulation, which we are working to address separately. But is there anything to be done for a kid who is just bored to tears in class. He’s shown me the work they do, and he’s right, much (though not all of it) seems very easy for him. During the parent conference, I asked about whether there was any tailoring, or if he could do more challenging work once he finished the assigned work in class, and the answer was basically no, kids need to get through this. Which of course is true, he needs to accept that not all of school will be fun. But it’s disheartening to think that he views school as a total waste of time and that the school doesn’t seem to be providing him with much of a challenge.

Is this just normal kids not liking school stuff? Should I be trying to find a way to get him more challenging school work? Is the 2nd grade curriculum just painfully boring to other kids out there?? Hoping for some advice and perspective.

I have a 4th grader who is similar. I think a lot of it has to do with how the priorities have changed. Teachers spend 90%+ of their time with a few struggling students with behavioral issues and kids like mine just end up being warehoused in ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would pay for the wppsi just to have more information. If you get a good psych to do it you’ll know more about his strengths and weaknesses and have more ammunition if you push for differentiation

I agree with this. IQ testing at a young age was an eye opener to me. High IQ kids can struggle with boredom at school and that can come
out in a variety of ways that are often misunderstood.

Also, IQ testing like WPPSI is only in the hundreds of dollars not thousands like a full neuropsych, but it can still flag problems like significant discrepancy between high IQ and low processing speed, working memory, coding difficulty, etc. Problems that are a function of these discrepancies can also be misinterpreted as behavioral issues.

[Anonymous]

You know what, it's ok to sometimes be bored. Life skill. Tell your kid to do their work and read a book when they are done. Enjoy being a kid. Guarantee when they get to HS and college they will not be bored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same. And the stuff she complains about is sad. She doesn’t have enough time to eat, very little recess, indoor PE, computer time instead of teacher time.

I wish they made school an hour longer day so they could add more fun stuff back in. Make lunch 45 min, recess an hour.

Elementary kids absolutely do NOT need to be in school an hour longer....they can play outside when they get home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same. And the stuff she complains about is sad. She doesn’t have enough time to eat, very little recess, indoor PE, computer time instead of teacher time.

I wish they made school an hour longer day so they could add more fun stuff back in. Make lunch 45 min, recess an hour.

I don’t know, couldn’t they cut back on instructional time to make up for longer lunch, recess? Sometimes less is more. Other districts have shorter days/weeks (fewer total hours, that is).

Other districts don't have crazy MoCo parents who would lose their minds if there were shorter days and/or weeks. Most think they need to be in school LONGER. Other regions have sane parents who understand less can definitely be more.