Personal Advice Needed
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Anonymous
| The curriculum becomes less boring/more rigorous in 3rd grade. |
Anonymous
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MCPS is not concerned with your child reaching their full potential. They are concerned with him reaching pre-set benchmarks.
I would recommend supplementing outside of school, either through workbooks, reading at a higher grade level together, a tutoring school like mathnasium, visiting museums etc.. Children start getting sorted in 4th grade and the decision is made by the end of 3rd. So pay attention when they are admistering MAP exams and tell your son to do his best and take his time on them. Feel free to contact the teacher about enrichment, but if he is not disruptive and his grades are average, honestly she will have more pressing matters to attend to. My daughter also complains about being bored at school. And yet when I correct her math homework, a third of it is wrong. |
Anonymous
A lot of people here have gifted kids in MCPS. I have one in 8th grade, and they have been getting 100% on almost every test since K. And they consider many of those assignment to be stupid, easy, waste of time etc. Very critical. Still, when they get a test, they make sure to do everything correct. This shouldn't be too hard to do in 2nd grade. |
Anonymous
I did not ask for someone on an anonymous message board to deny or validate his diagnosis. I asked for advice on navigating MCPS, if its even possible. Thank you. |
Anonymous
You wanted similar experiences, and PP’s was spot on. My kid also got incredibly high scores on those tests. We “navigate” MCPS by sending kid to school with a book every day. In fourth grade, your kid may qualify for compacted math and ELC if they have high MAP scores. That’s helpful for sure, but don’t expect personalized enrichment bc that’s not realistic in a public setting. |
Anonymous
I think what folks are trying to help you understand is that his "gifted diagnosis" doesn't matter if it's not accompanied by a reasonable work ethic/good attitude. He won't be able to access the accelerated material that comes online in later grades if he refuses to first demonstrate mastery of the grade-level curriculum. Navigating MCPS means understanding that they are not going to just accepted a diagnosis of "he's bored." |
Anonymous
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OP MCPS is a frustrating ride. But it is a lot better than the private schools you will find in the DMV which are geared more towards assisting kids with behavioral problems, as in they tolerate these and don't protect the kids getting smacked in the head / thrown off the climbing structure, etc.
Your kid will be fine and will excel in MCPS, the standards are high and most of the kids are very, very smart. I agree that supplementing outside of school is key, whatever form that takes will depend on your kid's interests and strengths. |
Anonymous
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If your kid tested as gifted and is having problems in class, I suggest working with the teacher, counselor, and student to find ways to keep them engaged and getting to perform well. This will take some time, prodding, and continuous reinforcement. You can incentivize with things they enjoy (send in quiet activities they can do quietly once completing work correctly, like books of interest, madlibs, logic games, etc.). Additionally you can do things outside of school( books from library, community events, apps, tv shows, games, crafts) that help stimulate the child. It won’t relieve their boredom at school but it does help overall.
Do not under-estimate the social emotional state of a gifted child, particularly helping them to learn to navigate the world while young. Many are soo focused on the academics that they don’t manage these piece which is really important and can have major impacts later on. |
Anonymous
Mastery of simple material is a prerequisite for successfully learning more complex material. This holds for the dumb, average and brilliant; for kids and adults. |
Anonymous
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In 2nd grade kids are still learning to read. By 3rd grade they are reading to learn, and things are very different. If DC can read at or above grade level then sure, he is going to be bored in 2nd grade. But I am hard-pressed to think of a school, whether public or private, where that would _not_ be true.
If he is receptive to talking about school and about learning, let him know that the better he does on the work he has, the more interesting the work he gets will be. In order to qualify for the interesting stuff, he has to knock the boring stuff out of the park. That's his job. And this really is the year/age that he can actually gain the psychological maturity to do that, but it won't be overnight. In the meantime, ask his teacher to notice for you what engages him and holds his attention, and make a plan with the teacher for what he can/should do as a reward (a book? 5 minutes of computer time? yoga mat?) if he finishes everything _well_ that is expected of him. Tell the teacher to return his work for re-visitation if it is anything less than what he is capable of - and let him know that his teacher will be helping him learn how to do an even better job at _showing_ what he knows so he can be congratulated for it. Some of the pressure points with kids who are quick learners is that they can be afraid to take risks because they don't like to fail (since they feel like they know so much, admitting they don't know or can't do something can be very hard for them); they can discard authority figures whom they decide they do not like or respect with really breathtaking speed, and doubly so if it is a defense mechanism against criticism; they can rush through things unduly because they want everyone to see that they are the first one done (this can be problematic on standardized tests, too); they can have a hard time learning challenging new things, especially those that require gradual practice and especially in this age group, because they have tended to get through on intuition or instantaneous mastery of what was easier in the past. In other words, it actually takes a lot of patience to teach _any_ kid (or every kid) how to use the school environment to actually learn. Your DC is right at the point where that whole transformation is supposed to start. It's no wonder he's not processing it all yet. And it's not a sign that he's in the wrong school, either: all you need to do is keep in touch with his teachers, and provide lots of stimulation at home. Think Legos, role-playing games, challenging books, crafts, hobbies, music, or even the right sport. |
Anonymous
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Both my kids tested as gifted and did the CES program in ES and then went back to home schools for MS and HS. They had varying degrees of challenges. Both liked the CES but it was a huge change for just two years to just end up back with the same students in 6th and beyond. Fwiw plenty of kids who didn’t get into CES are doing just as well if not better than my kids. Gifted doesn’t mean hardworking and they may not want to reach their full potential; so don’t assume that remaining in mainstream mcps will be detrimental for him.
I would suggest you see how much you can challenge him at home and see what he does with it. Find more challenging books at the library, get cool science kits and go to museums and have nature experiences that are above and beyond. Look into summer camps like chess camps and coding. Plenty available if you look! I would say that if you truly hadn’t realized he was gifted until now then he’s likely in the right place for the time being. |
Anonymous
So you got no ADHD diagnosis?Hoe problematic are his behavioral issues? I would certainly not be worrying about his grades in 2nd |
Anonymous
If you can afford it, go to private school. I deeply regret keeping my 2e kid in mcps. They will not help or support your child outside of elementary school. Instead they will reinforce the idea that he is lazy and does t try. Run before it's too late. |
Anonymous
My experience was the opposite. We left private for public because of the additional supports available. I've had all the assistance and communication I could want in MS (if anything, it was upper ES that was less helpful). But DC is on 504, not IEP, and those two situations are admittedly quite different. |
Anonymous
| The only private which might work is St Andrews. |