Reaganaut1, I’m sending this plea to the Homeschooling ping list! They’ll be able to help you.
Sounds like you are doing what you have to do. Get her into more advanced math or do it yourself. You likely do not have many other options...JFK
Not sure that private school is the answer. You can continue to challenge her at home while she continues on at school. Supplementing the everyday work with interesting workbooks or projects may help.
You might also ask her present school if they would consider having her work with less gifted kids in math or working with younger children to help them with their math.
I would probably pull her out and homeschool, but I’m not sure how to apply that sort of thing mid-year.
Do whatever you can to encourage it. ANYTHING you can to encourage it. I was the same way, but they[school/pseudopsychs] slapped the ADHD label on me and my life has been cut short on the fullscale academic career. (Don’t ever, ever let your kid take ADHD drugs. This goes for anyone reading. Can permanantly damage the mind!)
Don’t kid yourself. Those educators know more than anyone else ever will. Your kids are damned lucky to have them. Didn’t you know that.
I realize you pulled this off another forum. I guess it’s just my frustration talking. What these educators have bought off on in the interest of our chidlren’s welfare, leads me to think they are unfit to have anything to do with children, let alone be teaching them.
Rather than try to put the girl only in a higher level math, have the parents tried to get her in a gifted and talented program? My son went from elementary thru high school in a G&T program and did very well. Most such programs will require that you do well over all (as opposed to one area such as math), but usually that’s not a problem.
It’s been a while, but I think that the G&T call is not one the classroom teacher makes, but is made thru the school district after testing. You might try that as an end run around the teacher.
My daughter took honors and joint enrollment courses all through high school. Her senior year they suddenly said she could not enroll for either of those kind of courses. I bailed out of work and went to the school where I finally cornered some assistant something who told me that there was a “note” in my daughter’s file. The “note” was a statement of opinion from an honor’s teacher the previous year. Said teacher had been removed from the classroom for improper behavior. The “note” opined that my daughter was an “over-achiever” and that the school should not enroll her in honors or joint enrollment classes as it would be detrimental. Just that a note, from a teacher that had been removed. Nothing more, no testing, no consulting with a parent, no checking with her academic counselor, nothing.
Anyone who thinks a public school is a good place for a gifted child is sadly mistaken.
You can go to the principal (and if no action is taken, then the school board), and demand that an IEP (Individual Education Plan) be put in place for your daughter. The school must pay for any testing, and provide an appropriate level of education for your daughter. And IEP Team is put together, and while one person may say that it’s not developmentally appropriate, there are others who will also be evaluating the situation. The school does NOT have an option to deny you this.
Additionally, I would suggest talking with your daughter’s math teacher specifically, requesting enrichment activities (all teachers are taught how to mainstream gifted and talented students, and teachers textbooks provide enrichment activities for them to use) for your daughter. If she is as advanced as you say, the math teacher will most likely also be recommending putting her in an advanced class. Teachers don’t want to see kids become bored.
Good luck!
Algebra changes everything
If a better private school isn’t an option, I’d get higher grade textbooks in math and let her work through those at home.
when she gets to high school she will be able to take higher level math classes right away.
In high school I was able to finagle taking pre-calculus (advanced algebra) and calculus at the same time. It is workable.
If the girl is in the right levels in other subjects besides math, I would just keep her in the public school and supplement the math with a private tutor who would push her ahead. Sure, she’ll be bored in the normal school math, but eventually she’ll be able to take advanced math courses in either middle school or high school. Some high schools (even public ones) permit advanced students in a particular subject to take a local college level course. My local school district does that.
This ping list is for articles of interest to homeschoolers. DaveLoneRanger has asked me to take over the management of this list. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping List. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added or removed from either list, or both.It’s not the school system, its the people who run the school system. Here in Valdez, a kid gifted in math can proceed at his or her appropriate level. For example, I have an 8th grader in college algebra earning college credit. I had him in 6th grade for geometry and 7th grade for Algebra II (this is my 22nd year of teaching high school mathematics).
what I would suggest is to have the person get singapore math books. Or start the kid on algebra. Math is pretty sequential in terms of the topics and difficulty. If this young lady has the maturity for math I suspect she does, then jumping her into algebra should not be a problem.
School districts resist placing kids in higher level math classes because it makes them uncomfortable. Its a bother and a pain to rearrange schedules, etc. Of course, their job is to teach _all_ the kids, but they think that applies to only kids at the bottom.
Another possibility is to find a sympathetic math teacher or two in the school district and see if they can help out. An experienced math teacher should be delighted to have a bright and energetic student in their class.
You know that the advice that she’ll get from the homeschoolers will generally be to homeschool her daughter. If the mother can’t handle certain subjects, then a community college would be a good resource.
It sounds like this girl’s is already above the level many kids enter community college at, so the mother doesn’t have to worry about her not being ready.
I’m pinging gabz too to see if anyone on the Public School ping list might have any suggestions on how to get somewhere with the school district.
The public school does not have any obligation to teach your child more, or better, than the other kids are taught. In some school districts, they don’t offer Gifted & Talented courses. They don’t have to.
Consider a charter school if that’s an option in your state. They will offer advanced courses. It’s like homeschool (it’s at home) but legally it’s like public in that it’s funded by the state. You don’t have to pay for it. They send you the curriculum and sometimes a free computer for the year.
If you can’t do anything else, go to the school board or the supt of schools and discuss the matter. Not the principal.
Another option might be advanced courses in a local community college, or “math camp.”
Don’t do nothing. It can kill incentive in your child. Give a damn. Always.
Been there, done that and am still angry about after 20 years! Pull her out.
We had the same type of problem with our daughter. She was too advanced for math, english, everything. When gifted children are bored, behavior problems soon follow.
Anyway, we went to the school counselor to get our daughter at least bumped up a grade, but we got the usual blather about “Oh, we don’t want to do that. It would hurt her emotionally.” Basically she gave us the ‘I know better than you, attitude’.
We told her that we weren’t asking, we were telling her to get it done. Our daughter was moved up immediately. She’s now a senior in college and pretty happy.
Many times public schools don’t have the programs or the inclination to deal with gifted children. They would rather they all were exactly the same (average). Unfortunately, children aren’t like that.
If you can get your daughter into private school, by all means, do it!!! I wish we could have afforded it. Our daughter would be even more advanced than she is now.
Be persistent and do not let them intimidate you. You might be forced to consider a neighboring district that has more challenging program or will let your daughter advance a grade. This is what I ended doing with my daughter along with about 6 other gifted students. We went to another district. Hard choice being that she had to leave some friends behind but well worth it.
Ask what exactly your "rights as a parent" are. Ask for things in writing. Ask if there is a liaison who helps parents. Ask to speak with the assistant principal, the vice principal, the principal. Ask the principal if this is his/her decision or if s/he is obeying an order from someone higher up.
If it's from someone higher up, ask for their name. Ask for their contact information. Ask for their exact title.
My point is, be there IN PERSON and politely drive them right up a wall. Ask, ask, ask, ask, ask. "What about if we do this? What about if we do that? Is there a provision for this sort of thing. Is it that the 7th grade teacher doesn't want her in there? Can I talk to that teacher? Can I, can we, what about, how about..." nag them until one of you gives up.
Could you send her a link to this thread? That way she can read the comments herself instead of you transmitting them. It’ll save you a lot of work.