How to know if your child is bored b/c he's smart or just b/c...

[Anonymous]

it could be that it's just kind of boring - is the teacher kind of boring?

my son is in the AAP program in Ffx and in 3rd grade he loved school, loved his teacher, etc...now, in 4th grade, he says he's bored again - if anything, I think the 4th grade curriculum is more interesting, and I do think he likes some of it, but his teacher is rather boring and I think that's why he is bored

so, could be that your son is advanced, or not, or boring teacher, etc...

I do think that 2nd grade is a bit boring for kids that are reasonably advanced - regardless of whether truly gifted. I think they are using the year to get the kids at a base level of reading/writing/math before 3rd grade moves on a bit to more advanced concepts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Humm...I taught 2nd grade and many other grades over the years. 2nd grade is the "easiest" of all the grades to learn and teach. In teaching we use to say the odd years 1,3,5th grades are the years we introduce many concepts and the even years are reinforcement.
Many students who are highly capable and high achieving need to have a teacher who allows horizontal growth and open ended projects (ABC book - not challenging enough)
I would speak to the the school based GT (gifted and talented teacher) or the counselor to get feedback from them, maybe they can speack to DC and can offer suggestions.
I wouldn't spend my money on a private school in this area, the work that goes on in the public schools is pretty amazing.
Yes, I have former students who have attended Ivy League schools as well as NOVA and they are all great people.

You sound like you have taught in affluent areas your whole career. K- 2nd are the learn to read years-there is no greater challenge. If kids are not reading on grade level by the end on 2nd grade, they are statistically more likely to suffer educationally down the road. Any good teacher will devote all their effort to ensuring their kids become competent readers before moving on.

- a teacher and mom of a gifted boy, who has frequently been bored in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When a second-grader says that he is bored, that mostly means, "I have to do stuff that I don't want to do, and I don't get to do stuff that I do want to do."

+1! (my kids would say he was "bored" -- still does, but he tests at the top of the class in standardized test and in the subject matter school tests). OP --- what are your child's test scores?

[Anonymous]

Bored is a bad word in our house. You're not allowed to say it and you're not allowed to be it. Find something interesting to do. Being "bored" means you had an expectation of being entertained and were disappointed in that expectation. If you already know the letters on the silly abc worksheet then fill in the letters and invent a crazy story and draw a picture to go with it.

Imagine an adult complaining about being bored. Would you consider them whiny and self-centered to expect the world to entertain them? Yes, and you'd expect them to change their situation or their outlook to find a way to deal with it. We should encourage the same in our children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bored is a bad word in our house. You're not allowed to say it and you're not allowed to be it. Find something interesting to do. Being "bored" means you had an expectation of being entertained and were disappointed in that expectation. If you already know the letters on the silly abc worksheet then fill in the letters and invent a crazy story and draw a picture to go with it.

Imagine an adult complaining about being bored. Would you consider them whiny and self-centered to expect the world to entertain them? Yes, and you'd expect them to change their situation or their outlook to find a way to deal with it. We should encourage the same in our children.

It is also a bad word here. Say it twice and mom will find something for you to do -- usually in the form of cleaning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bored is a bad word in our house. You're not allowed to say it and you're not allowed to be it. Find something interesting to do. Being "bored" means you had an expectation of being entertained and were disappointed in that expectation. If you already know the letters on the silly abc worksheet then fill in the letters and invent a crazy story and draw a picture to go with it.

Imagine an adult complaining about being bored. Would you consider them whiny and self-centered to expect the world to entertain them? Yes, and you'd expect them to change their situation or their outlook to find a way to deal with it. We should encourage the same in our children.

It is not fair to compare a child to an adult though. An adult can change jobs or find their own entertainment. A child has to be at school for the entire day and depending on the teacher, it could be really really boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bored is a bad word in our house. You're not allowed to say it and you're not allowed to be it. Find something interesting to do. Being "bored" means you had an expectation of being entertained and were disappointed in that expectation. If you already know the letters on the silly abc worksheet then fill in the letters and invent a crazy story and draw a picture to go with it.

Imagine an adult complaining about being bored. Would you consider them whiny and self-centered to expect the world to entertain them? Yes, and you'd expect them to change their situation or their outlook to find a way to deal with it. We should encourage the same in our children.

Kids are not always allowed to do these things, or other interesting things that they might find to do at school. Then what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it could be that it's just kind of boring - is the teacher kind of boring?

my son is in the AAP program in Ffx and in 3rd grade he loved school, loved his teacher, etc...now, in 4th grade, he says he's bored again - if anything, I think the 4th grade curriculum is more interesting, and I do think he likes some of it, but his teacher is rather boring and I think that's why he is bored

so, could be that your son is advanced, or not, or boring teacher, etc...

I do think that 2nd grade is a bit boring for kids that are reasonably advanced - regardless of whether truly gifted. I think they are using the year to get the kids at a base level of reading/writing/math before 3rd grade moves on a bit to more advanced concepts.

My 5 yr old is reading chapter books like ivy+bean, judy moody. She can add, subtract 2 and 3 digits, mutiply till 10. She STILL says she is bored.. she says she is bored at school, bored at home, all the freaking time. The only time she is not bored is when she is in music class, playing outside with her friends, or baking at home with me.

I chalk it up to what they consider as truly fun. Maybe school is just not as fun as playing outside so your son calls it boring. Doesnt mean he is not smart.

[Anonymous]

You might want to read this article to see if it resonates:

The Inverse Power of Praise
http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

You might also want to ask your son questions that help him focus on the interesting or fun parts of his day. Or even a particular aspect of his day.

For example:

Did you have reading group today? What was the most interesting part about that? Nothing? Really? If you had to pick one thing, what would it be?

or

Are you still doing bouyancy in science? Who was your partner today? What did you all do?

Many kids say "nothing" or "it was boring" when you ask about their day in school in part because it's too open-ended and they're too tired to do the work to think about it. Make things easier by asking more specific questions. Maybe that will resonate more and help him focus on the parts of his day that were fun (beyond lunch, recess and gym).

To do this best, it helps to know specifics about what the kids are working on in school. DD's second grade teacher sends a newsletter home each week with a short paragraph about what they're doing in math, reading and science. The concepts all seem very easy on the newsletter, but when we dig in with DD and ask specific questions, she focuses in on the more interesting applications she did with her small group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When a second-grader says that he is bored, that mostly means, "I have to do stuff that I don't want to do, and I don't get to do stuff that I do want to do."

+1! (my kids would say he was "bored" -- still does, but he tests at the top of the class in standardized test and in the subject matter school tests). OP --- what are your child's test scores?

+2 My kid is mcps HGC program. DC is not "top of class" in everything, but obviously bright. To DC, school is boring sometimes because DC doesn't like the subject matter (like social studies). DC would rather be home playing video games. I tell DC this is life -- not everything is fun and exciting. There are certain things about school that DC likes, so I tell DC, you have to take the good with the bad. Just do the best that you can, even if it's boring. DC sometimes gets less than stellar grades in things like social studies; I don't sweat it even though I know DC can probably do better.

I remember hating certain subjects in school, and not doing well in those subjects. And I do think a great teacher does make it less boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a first grade teacher I have rarely heard that kids are bored. Anytime it happened, the kids were not the top kids in the class academically. My truly gifted students truly don't get bored in school. They are fantastically curious and innovative. For example, at the beginning of first grade one year we were reading alphabet books and then each child would make a page of our class alphabet book with a sentence and picture. My brightest kid made her own alphabet book, pages A through Z.

This is a belief I have only encountered on DCUM. And it's circular reasoning, too.

1. Truly gifted students don't get bored in class.
2. Therefore, if a student does get bored in class, that student is not truly gifted.

I think it's nonsense.

It's true, whether you believe it or not. My kids both have very high IQs but don't say they are bored, esp. related to school. I can see from work that comes home that the work would not be fun to complete but neither kid says he/she is bored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a first grade teacher I have rarely heard that kids are bored. Anytime it happened, the kids were not the top kids in the class academically. My truly gifted students truly don't get bored in school. They are fantastically curious and innovative. For example, at the beginning of first grade one year we were reading alphabet books and then each child would make a page of our class alphabet book with a sentence and picture. My brightest kid made her own alphabet book, pages A through Z.

This is a belief I have only encountered on DCUM. And it's circular reasoning, too.

1. Truly gifted students don't get bored in class.
2. Therefore, if a student does get bored in class, that student is not truly gifted.

I think it's nonsense.

It's true, whether you believe it or not. My kids both have very high IQs but don't say they are bored, esp. related to school. I can see from work that comes home that the work would not be fun to complete but neither kid says he/she is bored.

NP here and I agree. My child who is reading several grade levels above her grade and is doing math above her grade has not told me she is bored. What she does tell me is that she finishes her work and she gets to do her own research/reading etc... She and a friend have even decided to enter the science fair at her school. She is loving doing the research and experimentation for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a first grade teacher I have rarely heard that kids are bored. Anytime it happened, the kids were not the top kids in the class academically. My truly gifted students truly don't get bored in school. They are fantastically curious and innovative. For example, at the beginning of first grade one year we were reading alphabet books and then each child would make a page of our class alphabet book with a sentence and picture. My brightest kid made her own alphabet book, pages A through Z.

This is a belief I have only encountered on DCUM. And it's circular reasoning, too.

1. Truly gifted students don't get bored in class.
2. Therefore, if a student does get bored in class, that student is not truly gifted.

I think it's nonsense.

It's true, whether you believe it or not. My kids both have very high IQs but don't say they are bored, esp. related to school. I can see from work that comes home that the work would not be fun to complete but neither kid says he/she is bored.

My gifted kids don't say they're bored =/= if students say they are bored, then that means they are not gifted

Different kids are different. Even different gifted kids are different! And different classrooms and teachers are different too.

[Anonymous]

On the gifted kids are never bored: how about a kid with a FSIQ of 148 and GAI OF 156: wouldn't you consider that gifted? KID WAS BORED IN SCHOOL.

If I use a PP's reasoning ("my gifted kids were never bored, therefore bored children are never gifted") I can quickly conclude that any child expressing boredom is a complete genius.

OR, we could act like rational grown ups and recognize that different kids have different personalities, and yes, some gifted kids get...bored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a first grade teacher I have rarely heard that kids are bored. Anytime it happened, the kids were not the top kids in the class academically. My truly gifted students truly don't get bored in school. They are fantastically curious and innovative. For example, at the beginning of first grade one year we were reading alphabet books and then each child would make a page of our class alphabet book with a sentence and picture. My brightest kid made her own alphabet book, pages A through Z.

This is a belief I have only encountered on DCUM. And it's circular reasoning, too.

1. Truly gifted students don't get bored in class.
2. Therefore, if a student does get bored in class, that student is not truly gifted.

I think it's nonsense.

It's true, whether you believe it or not. My kids both have very high IQs but don't say they are bored, esp. related to school. I can see from work that comes home that the work would not be fun to complete but neither kid says he/she is bored.

This is the first insightful thing I have read. I was a gifted kid and often bored, but often not. If we were told to write something about a planet, I would go to several libraries, check out everything about that planet, and write a lengthy paper with illustrations. Not boring. If I was told to sit still in my seat and listen while the teacher taught the kids how to do basic multiplication---bored, bored, bored. I used to sneak in books to read while the teacher did that, but sometimes I got in trouble for it. (One particular teacher kept calling my parents and my father finally told him not to call about that anymore, and not to call unless I was bothering other students or my grade fell below an A-.).
I remember one year where my daughter complained she was bored--I gave her the usual pep talk about making things interesting. When I went in for open house....it was the most boring morning ever. The kids sat around on a carpet; the teacher presented a very basic topic; she then called on student at random to answer questions; most of the students answered with "Ummmmmmmmm." And a long pause. I was absolutely mind numbing to sit through an hour of that.

My gifted kids don't say they're bored =/= if students say they are bored, then that means they are not gifted

Different kids are different. Even different gifted kids are different! And different classrooms and teachers are different too.