Why do so many parents say their kids are bored at school?

[Anonymous]

OP you sound insecure.

Some kids are bored because they are too advanced, and some kids are bored because of the way material is presented, and some kids are bored because they have adhd. If you're a 5 year old who wants to be playing and your teacher has you memorizing sight words, that's boring. Sorry if that offends you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first grader just asked her teacher if she could bring in a chapter book to read after she finishes her work. I had no idea she'd made the request until she asked me if she was allowed to write her name in her book she was bringing in so it wouldn't get lost or misplaced. She's never said she is bored to me, but that's my take away from the situation. She had periods with nothing to do and was bored. She's a well behaved kid and found a way to solve the problem.

I’m glad she’ll be able to read during downtime, but beware; voracious readers often resent having to put down a page turner to listen to a lesson that goes on for 25 minutes even though they grasped the material in the first 3 minutes, and they can’t even participate in the class discussion during the lesson because the teacher doesn’t call on the kids whom she knows fully understand the content.

My dd and her friend were very upset that they rarely got called on. My dd started pretending to be daydreaming, in the hopes that it would entice the teacher to call on her. When that failed, her friend suggested they talk to the teacher. The teacher told them that she calls on people to see if they understand the lesson, not because she likes them better. School is boring when you’re not the person being taught to. My dd’s not a super genius, she’s just bright, curious, well read and very competent.

Remember that although public schools want to see growth from every student, their primary objective to get everyone to reach at least a minimum benchmark, not to help each child reach their own full potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My first grader just asked her teacher if she could bring in a chapter book to read after she finishes her work. I had no idea she'd made the request until she asked me if she was allowed to write her name in her book she was bringing in so it wouldn't get lost or misplaced. She's never said she is bored to me, but that's my take away from the situation. She had periods with nothing to do and was bored. She's a well behaved kid and found a way to solve the problem.

I’m glad she’ll be able to read during downtime, but beware; voracious readers often resent having to put down a page turner to listen to a lesson that goes on for 25 minutes even though they grasped the material in the first 3 minutes, and they can’t even participate in the class discussion during the lesson because the teacher doesn’t call on the kids whom she knows fully understand the content.

My dd and her friend were very upset that they rarely got called on. My dd started pretending to be daydreaming, in the hopes that it would entice the teacher to call on her. When that failed, her friend suggested they talk to the teacher. The teacher told them that she calls on people to see if they understand the lesson, not because she likes them better. School is boring when you’re not the person being taught to. My dd’s not a super genius, she’s just bright, curious, well read and very competent.

Remember that although public schools want to see growth from every student, their primary objective to get everyone to reach at least a minimum benchmark, not to help each child reach their own full potential.

THIS. An unfortunate reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard parents say this in preschool, elementary and now middle school. The worst behaved kid at our preschool was supposedly bored so he acted out and hit and bit classmates. I have a kindergarten child who loves kindergarten and I find it insulting when parents say their kid is bored. They are implying that their kid is so much smarter and more advanced than the other kids in the class. I have 3 kids and they all do well in school. They are happy and don’t complain they are bored. They get good grades with minimal effort.

I think some kids ARE bored. My kindergartener can read and do multiplication - and his class is talking about “reading the pictures” and sorting the counting bears into groups of 10. But he loves kindergarten and has never said he is bored. He does know that word because I hear it on the weekend all the time.

My oldest was also ahead, but not nearly as much because he has a late summer BD and is young for his class. We do talk to our kids about listening respectfully and not saying rude things like “I already know that”. My kids tend to think they are an expert once they have done something twice - so I reinforce the concept that it’s important to have a good foundation built in practice and that teachers may give them new ways to solve the same problem or tricks to do it faster. I call it “adding tools to your toolbox”. I also tell them if they want more challenging work, don’t skip or be sloppy with tasks you think are easy or “babyish”. If you want your teacher to give you more challenging work, you have to demonstrate that you can complete the current work quickly and accurately without disturbing other students.

I have a son who was a late reader. He didn’t learn to read until he was almost 7. He had a friend from preschool who could read and multiply in kindergarten. In first grade, the boy had excellent writing skills and I was shocked at how good his spelling and memorization was. The boys are now in middle school. My son had excellent study skills and is a straight A student, plays multiple sports at a high competitive level and academic extracurriculars like Science Olympiad, Model UN, debate, etc. The very smart boy continues to be bored at school and is getting poor grades, plays no sports and hangs out with the bad kids getting into fights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you sound insecure.

Some kids are bored because they are too advanced, and some kids are bored because of the way material is presented, and some kids are bored because they have adhd. If you're a 5 year old who wants to be playing and your teacher has you memorizing sight words, that's boring. Sorry if that offends you.

I am not insecure. I think my child is amazing. She went to a play based preschool where they played outside all day. When she talks about kindergarten, she talks about her friends and tells me stories about the other kids in her class. She loves school.

We are considering private for many reasons. I want my child to be outside and play more! Other parents are considering private for other reasons like their child being bored in public. I know my child will do great in public or private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard parents say this in preschool, elementary and now middle school. The worst behaved kid at our preschool was supposedly bored so he acted out and hit and bit classmates. I have a kindergarten child who loves kindergarten and I find it insulting when parents say their kid is bored. They are implying that their kid is so much smarter and more advanced than the other kids in the class. I have 3 kids and they all do well in school. They are happy and don’t complain they are bored. They get good grades with minimal effort.

I think some kids ARE bored. My kindergartener can read and do multiplication - and his class is talking about “reading the pictures” and sorting the counting bears into groups of 10. But he loves kindergarten and has never said he is bored. He does know that word because I hear it on the weekend all the time.

My oldest was also ahead, but not nearly as much because he has a late summer BD and is young for his class. We do talk to our kids about listening respectfully and not saying rude things like “I already know that”. My kids tend to think they are an expert once they have done something twice - so I reinforce the concept that it’s important to have a good foundation built in practice and that teachers may give them new ways to solve the same problem or tricks to do it faster. I call it “adding tools to your toolbox”. I also tell them if they want more challenging work, don’t skip or be sloppy with tasks you think are easy or “babyish”. If you want your teacher to give you more challenging work, you have to demonstrate that you can complete the current work quickly and accurately without disturbing other students.

I have a son who was a late reader. He didn’t learn to read until he was almost 7. He had a friend from preschool who could read and multiply in kindergarten. In first grade, the boy had excellent writing skills and I was shocked at how good his spelling and memorization was. The boys are now in middle school. My son had excellent study skills and is a straight A student, plays multiple sports at a high competitive level and academic extracurriculars like Science Olympiad, Model UN, debate, etc. The very smart boy continues to be bored at school and is getting poor grades, plays no sports and hangs out with the bad kids getting into fights.

This is one of the initial drivers of creating GT programs in schools, way back when, FWIW. It's unfortunately not that uncommon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard parents say this in preschool, elementary and now middle school. The worst behaved kid at our preschool was supposedly bored so he acted out and hit and bit classmates. I have a kindergarten child who loves kindergarten and I find it insulting when parents say their kid is bored. They are implying that their kid is so much smarter and more advanced than the other kids in the class. I have 3 kids and they all do well in school. They are happy and don’t complain they are bored. They get good grades with minimal effort.

I think some kids ARE bored. My kindergartener can read and do multiplication - and his class is talking about “reading the pictures” and sorting the counting bears into groups of 10. But he loves kindergarten and has never said he is bored. He does know that word because I hear it on the weekend all the time.

My oldest was also ahead, but not nearly as much because he has a late summer BD and is young for his class. We do talk to our kids about listening respectfully and not saying rude things like “I already know that”. My kids tend to think they are an expert once they have done something twice - so I reinforce the concept that it’s important to have a good foundation built in practice and that teachers may give them new ways to solve the same problem or tricks to do it faster. I call it “adding tools to your toolbox”. I also tell them if they want more challenging work, don’t skip or be sloppy with tasks you think are easy or “babyish”. If you want your teacher to give you more challenging work, you have to demonstrate that you can complete the current work quickly and accurately without disturbing other students.

I have a son who was a late reader. He didn’t learn to read until he was almost 7. He had a friend from preschool who could read and multiply in kindergarten. In first grade, the boy had excellent writing skills and I was shocked at how good his spelling and memorization was. The boys are now in middle school. My son had excellent study skills and is a straight A student, plays multiple sports at a high competitive level and academic extracurriculars like Science Olympiad, Model UN, debate, etc. The very smart boy continues to be bored at school and is getting poor grades, plays no sports and hangs out with the bad kids getting into fights.

This is one of the initial drivers of creating GT programs in schools, way back when, FWIW. It's unfortunately not that uncommon.

Pp here. My son was admitted into the FCPS AAP program in third grade while the other boy was not admitted. The dad said the boy was a bad test taker. I didn’t ask back then but I don’t think he tested high enough to be in the AAP pool. My son is a good test taker and has very good visual and number sense so he tested super high. I was surprised how well he tested given the fact he could barely read at age 7. I didn’t realize the teachers read the questions aloud for the test. If he had to read the questions himself, he would surely have failed the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you sound insecure.

Some kids are bored because they are too advanced, and some kids are bored because of the way material is presented, and some kids are bored because they have adhd. If you're a 5 year old who wants to be playing and your teacher has you memorizing sight words, that's boring. Sorry if that offends you.

I am not insecure. I think my child is amazing. She went to a play based preschool where they played outside all day. When she talks about kindergarten, she talks about her friends and tells me stories about the other kids in her class. She loves school.

We are considering private for many reasons. I want my child to be outside and play more! Other parents are considering private for other reasons like their child being bored in public. I know my child will do great in public or private.

OP, you have very limited experience with public school so far, so you're making incorrect assumptions. Some teachers are especially good at engaging advanced kids, exempting them from the rote tasks that they mastered ages ago, or at least letting them bring in their own materials. Other teachers do nothing for advanced kids or give them obvious busywork. Some teachers are engaging. Some are just flat out boring.

Both of my kids were reading well before K and advanced in all subjects. K was fine. They both loved K due to all of the playtime and socialization. First grade, on the other hand, was a complete slog for both kids. The teachers were focused on the bottom, ignored the advanced kids, and just forced them to do a lot of rote tasks that they had mastered in preschool. There was also much less playtime and much more sit at desks and do busywork time. For grades after first, they've had a mixed bag of teachers who tried to engage the more advanced kids in the room and the teachers who did nothing whatsoever for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you sound insecure.

Some kids are bored because they are too advanced, and some kids are bored because of the way material is presented, and some kids are bored because they have adhd. If you're a 5 year old who wants to be playing and your teacher has you memorizing sight words, that's boring. Sorry if that offends you.

I am not insecure. I think my child is amazing. She went to a play based preschool where they played outside all day. When she talks about kindergarten, she talks about her friends and tells me stories about the other kids in her class. She loves school.

We are considering private for many reasons. I want my child to be outside and play more! Other parents are considering private for other reasons like their child being bored in public. I know my child will do great in public or private.

OP, you have very limited experience with public school so far, so you're making incorrect assumptions. Some teachers are especially good at engaging advanced kids, exempting them from the rote tasks that they mastered ages ago, or at least letting them bring in their own materials. Other teachers do nothing for advanced kids or give them obvious busywork. Some teachers are engaging. Some are just flat out boring.

Both of my kids were reading well before K and advanced in all subjects. K was fine. They both loved K due to all of the playtime and socialization. First grade, on the other hand, was a complete slog for both kids. The teachers were focused on the bottom, ignored the advanced kids, and just forced them to do a lot of rote tasks that they had mastered in preschool. There was also much less playtime and much more sit at desks and do busywork time. For grades after first, they've had a mixed bag of teachers who tried to engage the more advanced kids in the room and the teachers who did nothing whatsoever for them.

My daughter's worst grade was 2nd because there was such a push to get the non-fluent readers reading well before 3rd. That seemed to be the only real goal that year. Kids who could already read well were ignored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first grader just asked her teacher if she could bring in a chapter book to read after she finishes her work. I had no idea she'd made the request until she asked me if she was allowed to write her name in her book she was bringing in so it wouldn't get lost or misplaced. She's never said she is bored to me, but that's my take away from the situation. She had periods with nothing to do and was bored. She's a well behaved kid and found a way to solve the problem.

Kudos to you for raising a child who recognizes what is proper behavior in class, suggested a solution when she presented the issue, and advocated for herself! That’s a really mature 1st grader.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you're in a better school than the rest of us. And I mean without poverty problems. My school rarely gets around to teaching, there's just too many other problems. My dd spends most of her day on her own computer assigned various tasks. She is not challenged, not given age appropriate material. The teacher's attention is needed elsewhere (and rightly so, but it's still hard for my dd to understand) Instead of pep rallies for grades/honor roll, they get attendance pep rallies. Or pep rallies for filling out the free and reduced lunch paperwork (which my dd was excluded from). There are no field trips, room parents or school parties. I wish there was differentiation, but I think that would be too hard on the teachers. What teacher wants 20 kids in a 1st grade class who can't read?

[Anonymous]

I think what's going on is OP learned that other students in her child's/children's class(es) were getting differentiated/harder work because those students truly were bored with the grade-level material, OP tried to get the same deal, it didn't work out, and now she's lashing out.

This thread is so amusing to me because there was falling out in a parent friend group at my DD's school due to jealousy over whose kids got accelerated work and whose didn't. It started when Larla's teacher saw Larla was pretty advanced, started giving Larla work at her level. One day Larla's classmate Lulu accidentally got Larla's work. Lulu's parents saw it and got mad because they thought Lulu was just as smart as Larla. Not sure what happened in the middle, but story ends with Lulu's parents harassing Larla's parents. Crazy.

OP, get over it before you start acting out offline and alienating whatever parent friends you have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My straight a teen/tween girls find school hideously boring 75% of the time. They are perfectly behave. I am a teacher too, and I don't have any trouble believing or accepting that some teachers are just phoning it in and are not very engaging. My daughter's science teacher literally "teaches" via slides she puts on Schoology that the students read to themselves and fill out worksheets. She doesn't verbally teach them any of the material. Then they complete online activities on their computers. There is no groupwork or classwork or anything other than just solitary computer time the entire 80 minute block. And not just occasionally. Every single day. I think we can all admit this is not okay.

This sounds very much like my 7th grader. Straight As, well behaved, unofficially tutors her friends during breaks, and so on. The only year she was not bored in school, was when she had one amazing and one good teachers, in ES. She remembers everything they taught that year, even social studies, which she otherwise has no interest in. Science this year has been abysmally disappointing. Pretty much as you described, every single block. I am so sad for them, because science should be hands-on, interesting, and instead, they're all... bored. I'm told that 8th grade science is pretty much the same.

[Anonymous]

Have you sat through some of these classes with no coffee/tea? Some classes are like watching paint dry, even the honors classes. It has a lot to do with the way the class is taught, the subject matter, time of day, and the kid. I have a kid that gets all A's in all of his classes (most of which are honors classes) and one that isn't doing nearly as well. They both complain that some classes are boring, so its not all about knowing everything.

[Anonymous]

As a kid who was bored in school, I sympathize with my kid who is bored at school. Combination of the (WTF PP) "destructive" behavior from ADHD, and previous comprehension of the materials or topic. My kid does what I did -- reads his novel under his desk. He gets yelled at for it occasionally, as did I.

And yes, he'll miss opportunities sometimes if he doesn't try hard enough, but that's a lesson I want him to learn, too. It isn't all about being smart, and I can only help so far in getting him to try harder without completely taking over.

There are classes that are really great and engaging and he'll engage with those, and be excited about learning but it is so hard to have 100% of those classes all the time, even in a GT program.