First grader says he's bored at school

[Anonymous]

Either there's something up with the kid or the parent. No kid says "I want more challenge" and no normal parent is agonizing over how to talk to the teacher about wanting more challenges for their kid on the second week of school. Not normal. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Either there's something up with the kid or the parent. No kid says "I want more challenge" and no normal parent is agonizing over how to talk to the teacher about wanting more challenges for their kid on the second week of school. Not normal. Sorry.

OP here. Definitely not "agonizing," more like posting on an anonymous message board to get feedback since we're new to MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert: School is boring.

+1

Yeah, this is about the age where the enjoyment of school often wears thin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert: School is boring.

+1

Yeah, this is about the age where the enjoyment of school often wears thin.

That’s a great message to send to your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Either there's something up with the kid or the parent. No kid says "I want more challenge" and no normal parent is agonizing over how to talk to the teacher about wanting more challenges for their kid on the second week of school. Not normal. Sorry.

And where did you get your psychology degree from? And have you met all kids, because both my kids are in MCPS and saying that most of their classwork is too easy and boring. Any legit professional doesn't diagnose a kid based on two sentences of reading something online. You just sound so ignorant and judgmental that I'm embarrassed for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just don’t confuse this with thinking your child is gifted. Gifted children don’t get bored in school — they’re always finding something to do or wonder about.

Teacher here. IME this is true unless that gifted kid is 2e. Some of my 2e kids get bored and have a hard time with that but most of the other extremely bright kids I've had tend to find ways to occupy their time and are not bored. These are those kids reading Harry Potter at 5 that you read about on DCUM but in reality there are not that many of these kids. Later many do end up going to magnets or private.

My issue with the whole gifted kids dont get bored is that kids cant just do what they want during instructional time. You cant just find something to do. Staying on task is an important part of learning but when you finish the task in 5 minutes when its allocated for 20-30 and the only thing you are allowed to do is: sit quietly, color, or read. It does get boring. And not all gifted kids are hyperlexic. Not all kids want to spend 45+ minutes reading at school because thats the only thing they can do. My kid is high energy. If he isnt using his mind, he wants to use his body. He also isnt a daydreamer. Not every gifted kid is. The kids cant talk because they are distracting other kids. They cant move around because its unfair to the kids who are still working.

This isnt like a kid at home choosing to go read or build legos or make up a ninja game/storyline outside. These are kids stuck in chairs in rooms sometimes with no exposure to sunlight or the outside. Luckily my kids school has outdoor views in every classroom. This helps him just like it helped me when I was in school. I can zone in nature but I cant zone under flourescent lighting with nothing to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just don’t confuse this with thinking your child is gifted. Gifted children don’t get bored in school — they’re always finding something to do or wonder about.

Teacher here. IME this is true unless that gifted kid is 2e. Some of my 2e kids get bored and have a hard time with that but most of the other extremely bright kids I've had tend to find ways to occupy their time and are not bored. These are those kids reading Harry Potter at 5 that you read about on DCUM but in reality there are not that many of these kids. Later many do end up going to magnets or private.

My issue with the whole gifted kids dont get bored is that kids cant just do what they want during instructional time. You cant just find something to do. Staying on task is an important part of learning but when you finish the task in 5 minutes when its allocated for 20-30 and the only thing you are allowed to do is: sit quietly, color, or read. It does get boring. And not all gifted kids are hyperlexic. Not all kids want to spend 45+ minutes reading at school because thats the only thing they can do. My kid is high energy. If he isnt using his mind, he wants to use his body. He also isnt a daydreamer. Not every gifted kid is. The kids cant talk because they are distracting other kids. They cant move around because its unfair to the kids who are still working.

This isnt like a kid at home choosing to go read or build legos or make up a ninja game/storyline outside. These are kids stuck in chairs in rooms sometimes with no exposure to sunlight or the outside. Luckily my kids school has outdoor views in every classroom. This helps him just like it helped me when I was in school. I can zone in nature but I cant zone under flourescent lighting with nothing to do.

Ill also add that constantly having to switch from daydreaming/head play or doing what you like back to school over and over and over throughout the day actually caused disengagement for me. I was annoyed with having to pivot back to what we were supposed to be doing. Thats what I remember from being younger anyways. It is a skill to be able to pivot or shift gears and not one I think 6-year-olds have in abundance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just don’t confuse this with thinking your child is gifted. Gifted children don’t get bored in school — they’re always finding something to do or wonder about.

Teacher here. IME this is true unless that gifted kid is 2e. Some of my 2e kids get bored and have a hard time with that but most of the other extremely bright kids I've had tend to find ways to occupy their time and are not bored. These are those kids reading Harry Potter at 5 that you read about on DCUM but in reality there are not that many of these kids. Later many do end up going to magnets or private.

My issue with the whole gifted kids dont get bored is that kids cant just do what they want during instructional time. You cant just find something to do. Staying on task is an important part of learning but when you finish the task in 5 minutes when its allocated for 20-30 and the only thing you are allowed to do is: sit quietly, color, or read. It does get boring. And not all gifted kids are hyperlexic. Not all kids want to spend 45+ minutes reading at school because thats the only thing they can do. My kid is high energy. If he isnt using his mind, he wants to use his body. He also isnt a daydreamer. Not every gifted kid is. The kids cant talk because they are distracting other kids. They cant move around because its unfair to the kids who are still working.

This isnt like a kid at home choosing to go read or build legos or make up a ninja game/storyline outside. These are kids stuck in chairs in rooms sometimes with no exposure to sunlight or the outside. Luckily my kids school has outdoor views in every classroom. This helps him just like it helped me when I was in school. I can zone in nature but I cant zone under flourescent lighting with nothing to do.

This isn't helpful, but I remember doing a lot of drawing in elementary school.
Can you get your kid moved to a dual-immersion school? My older kid, who was an early reader, benefited from it. It was even in a language I consider almost useless, but at least he was being challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just don’t confuse this with thinking your child is gifted. Gifted children don’t get bored in school — they’re always finding something to do or wonder about.

Teacher here. IME this is true unless that gifted kid is 2e. Some of my 2e kids get bored and have a hard time with that but most of the other extremely bright kids I've had tend to find ways to occupy their time and are not bored. These are those kids reading Harry Potter at 5 that you read about on DCUM but in reality there are not that many of these kids. Later many do end up going to magnets or private.

My issue with the whole gifted kids dont get bored is that kids cant just do what they want during instructional time. You cant just find something to do. Staying on task is an important part of learning but when you finish the task in 5 minutes when its allocated for 20-30 and the only thing you are allowed to do is: sit quietly, color, or read. It does get boring. And not all gifted kids are hyperlexic. Not all kids want to spend 45+ minutes reading at school because thats the only thing they can do. My kid is high energy. If he isnt using his mind, he wants to use his body. He also isnt a daydreamer. Not every gifted kid is. The kids cant talk because they are distracting other kids. They cant move around because its unfair to the kids who are still working.

This isnt like a kid at home choosing to go read or build legos or make up a ninja game/storyline outside. These are kids stuck in chairs in rooms sometimes with no exposure to sunlight or the outside. Luckily my kids school has outdoor views in every classroom. This helps him just like it helped me when I was in school. I can zone in nature but I cant zone under flourescent lighting with nothing to do.

Yep. My kid is gifted (99th percentile IQ), but has ADHD (hyperactive type) and dyslexia. So she has a combination of 98th/99th percentile verbal comprehension and processing speed abilities, above 99th percentile visual/spatial skills, but low working memory (ADHD) and is barely at grade level for reading.

So when she’s bored, she will only want to read if it’s specific books she knows she can read. If you give her the opportunity to do a massive puzzle or make intricate things out of paper/tape/clay/fabric, she’ll be happy as a clam. If she could bring her Lite Brite and make complex patterns, she’d be in heaven.

But obviously, nearly all of that isn’t going to happen at school.

For 2E kids, public school is often kind of a disaster because they need a lot of enrichment in one area and a ton of support in other areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first grader just started school for the first time at MCPS. Prior to this year he was in a private Montessori-style school for pre-K and kindergarten. He seems happy enough at school so far, but every day he talks about how easy the work is and how he wants more of a challenge. For example, he's been reading some simple chapter books for a while now and the class is focusing on letter sounds right now.

I know the school year is very early and everyone is getting settled, but at what point would you reach out to his teacher and mention the fact that he's bored?

We were at a Montessori through K and my kid was BORED to death and did not learn anything new until end of 2nd grade. She stayed bored though so we moved her somewhere else after 4th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert: School is boring.

+1

Yeah, this is about the age where the enjoyment of school often wears thin.

That’s a great message to send to your kid.

that not everything is fun, but we do it anyway bc it has other benefits? Yeah, that’s a horrid lesson to learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert: School is boring.

+1

Yeah, this is about the age where the enjoyment of school often wears thin.

That’s a great message to send to your kid.

that not everything is fun, but we do it anyway bc it has other benefits? Yeah, that’s a horrid lesson to learn.

No, that school has to be this awful, boring place.

[Anonymous]

When I was that age, material was pretty easy so I would entertain myself while in school by teaching myself things like writing cursive, etc. Perhaps your child could figure out something to do that is not disruptive to class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was that age, material was pretty easy so I would entertain myself while in school by teaching myself things like writing cursive, etc. Perhaps your child could figure out something to do that is not disruptive to class.

Who said the kid was disruptive to the class? OP asked politely when the right time to talk to the teacher was about the kid being bored with the coursework, which is something I hear from half the parents I know in MoCo. But some on this thread prefer to attack the kid for being proactive enough to ask for further challenges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either there's something up with the kid or the parent. No kid says "I want more challenge" and no normal parent is agonizing over how to talk to the teacher about wanting more challenges for their kid on the second week of school. Not normal. Sorry.

And where did you get your psychology degree from? And have you met all kids, because both my kids are in MCPS and saying that most of their classwork is too easy and boring. Any legit professional doesn't diagnose a kid based on two sentences of reading something online. You just sound so ignorant and judgmental that I'm embarrassed for you.

+2 Sorry that the first PP hasn't met any engaged kids interested in learning more. Must be tough where you are.