What have you done to Counter your chIld's boredom at school

[Anonymous]

DD is already bored at kindergarten. I Worry down the line. How did you react to this and kill the boredom?

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Unless you have the means to pay for private school, you don't have much choice until GT classes begin. My son is at a magnet school and while he is semi-bored, he is surrounded by other high ability kids so he has a good peer group.

[Anonymous]

meh, I spent my entire high school years bored ... should my parents have just not sent me to school?

[Anonymous]

perhaps this kids insn't gifted and talented?

there are many reasons kids are bored. perhaps the teacher is boring.

not all kids like school. and some of us managed to succeed there despite not liking it very much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:perhaps this kids insn't gifted and talented?

there are many reasons kids are bored. perhaps the teacher is boring.

not all kids like school. and some of us managed to succeed there despite not liking it very much.

Gifted and talented kids are never bored in school. That's one of the biggest myths -- "Oh my kid misbehaves because s/he is bored. MUST BE GIFTED."

Uh-uh. Gifted kids always find something to do that interests them. That's what makes them gifted. Not mastery of the material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:perhaps this kids insn't gifted and talented?

there are many reasons kids are bored. perhaps the teacher is boring.

not all kids like school. and some of us managed to succeed there despite not liking it very much.

Gifted and talented kids are never bored in school. That's one of the biggest myths -- "Oh my kid misbehaves because s/he is bored. MUST BE GIFTED."

Uh-uh. Gifted kids always find something to do that interests them. That's what makes them gifted. Not mastery of the material.

This is just flat out wrong.

[Anonymous]

My stays out of trouble by reading books. He is in first grade and reads many grade levels above his current instructional level. He used to misbehave esp in K b/c he fooled around when he finished his work quickly. This year, our solution was to give him some books to keep in his desk to read when he finishes his work quickly. He was really too immature to figure out what to do with himself when he finished his work in 5 mins and still had 20 mins left before the rest of the class finished. It is better this year b/c he is in the highest reading group and his teacher can more easily deal with advanced kids who finish work quickly.

[Anonymous]

1954: gifted kids might not e bored, because they will find something to keep there interest. What they find may not be acceptable, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My stays out of trouble by reading books. He is in first grade and reads many grade levels above his current instructional level. He used to misbehave esp in K b/c he fooled around when he finished his work quickly. This year, our solution was to give him some books to keep in his desk to read when he finishes his work quickly. He was really too immature to figure out what to do with himself when he finished his work in 5 mins and still had 20 mins left before the rest of the class finished. It is better this year b/c he is in the highest reading group and his teacher can more easily deal with advanced kids who finish work quickly.

Excellent solution!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My stays out of trouble by reading books. He is in first grade and reads many grade levels above his current instructional level. He used to misbehave esp in K b/c he fooled around when he finished his work quickly. This year, our solution was to give him some books to keep in his desk to read when he finishes his work quickly. He was really too immature to figure out what to do with himself when he finished his work in 5 mins and still had 20 mins left before the rest of the class finished. It is better this year b/c he is in the highest reading group and his teacher can more easily deal with advanced kids who finish work quickly.

Excellent solution!

I disagree.

It's not fair to a child, particularly a first grade boy, to ask him to zip through unchallenging material and then read quietly. He has a right to appropriate material so that he too can learn. This isn't education.

I hate these "gifted kid" discussions on DCUM but it's important to note that a child who's this advanced in reading isn't necessarily any more mature than his peers, and this is asking a lot of him, maturity-wise. Maybe he can handle it but many kids couldn't and that doesn't mean they don't deserve an actual education. Schools need a better way to deal with the reality that some kids (even some that don't end up "gifted") read earlier than others. My DS was reading middle school chapter books by the time he arrived in kindergarten and they had NO idea how to deal with that. It started a chain of bad educational accommodations that lasted for several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:meh, I spent my entire high school years bored ... should my parents have just not sent me to school?

Maybe. Did you learn anything while you were there? If not, what a colossal waste of time for you.

[Anonymous]

Can you enroll her in or teach her computer programming? She could develop those skills and maybe start small with website development and apps. Then use that $ to build something bigger and better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My stays out of trouble by reading books. He is in first grade and reads many grade levels above his current instructional level. He used to misbehave esp in K b/c he fooled around when he finished his work quickly. This year, our solution was to give him some books to keep in his desk to read when he finishes his work quickly. He was really too immature to figure out what to do with himself when he finished his work in 5 mins and still had 20 mins left before the rest of the class finished. It is better this year b/c he is in the highest reading group and his teacher can more easily deal with advanced kids who finish work quickly.

Excellent solution!

I disagree.

It's not fair to a child, particularly a first grade boy, to ask him to zip through unchallenging material and then read quietly. He has a right to appropriate material so that he too can learn. This isn't education.

I hate these "gifted kid" discussions on DCUM but it's important to note that a child who's this advanced in reading isn't necessarily any more mature than his peers, and this is asking a lot of him, maturity-wise. Maybe he can handle it but many kids couldn't and that doesn't mean they don't deserve an actual education. Schools need a better way to deal with the reality that some kids (even some that don't end up "gifted") read earlier than others. My DS was reading middle school chapter books by the time he arrived in kindergarten and they had NO idea how to deal with that. It started a chain of bad educational accommodations that lasted for several years.

I posted this about my first grade son. Other than putting him in the highest group, there isn't much else they can do. Even if he went up to the Grade 2 reading class, he would still be bored although the additional writing demands might slow him down from finishing his work so quickly. GT classes begin in Grade 3 and hopefully they will read more interesting and engaging things. The basal "anthologies" are pretty dull. The phonics he already knows is a good review for him in terms of learning to spell correctly. His school is also good about DEAR time each day so he chooses books that interest him. These days, he loves the U.S. states and presidents.

[Anonymous]

NP here. There is a HUGE difference between G/T and disruptive. The sooner you know this, the better off you AND your child AND the administration will be.

We know disruptive children from PS who were never told no, and they only became far worse as the years went on. The parents refuse to step in, and the small child actually has a reputation - no coach wants him, no playmate wants him, no teacher wants him. Sad for the child. If the parents would only well, parent.