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Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?
Posted by a gen ed K teacher-- LONG! on 8/18/08

I commend you for writing on here and taking suggestions well.
Typically gifted parents usually are defensive and are not
willing to hear the "general ed" teachers' suggestions.

As a K teacher who has had dozens of gifted kids, I highly
suggest you do NOT home school him. You may give him a stellar
education but when will he learn about social skills, sharing,
routines, schedules, getting along etc... all that is in a
school?

Not all, but many gifted kids are so intellectually advanced,
that they have lacking social skills. You said your son has
always been with you. I infer that that he has not been in a
weekly preschool. This is why K is so important for him!

If you send him for the first time in first grade where the
kids are expected to work at at desk independently, he is going
to go nuts. he is used to having YOU next to him 1-1.

I can tell you that the first grade teachers in my bldg cringe
when they get the "advanced "child who skipped K. They are
usually the whiniest most immature and dependent kids in the
class and then when the parents are notified the answer is
always the same: my child is just bored!

Now some of the GF may disagree but I assume that your son is
going to be a regular ed classs and not a self contained gifted
class.

I suggest you start him now. Of course he does not want to
go.He has no idea what to expect. He has no foundation or
nothing to compare it to. There are many kids who are nervous
but that dissipates quickly.

He needs time with his peers without you ( that is not a dis-
just a fact that kids need to be in a school without Mom and
Dad). He will love to play with blocks, kitchen (yep, the boys
love it too!) and playdough. Don't worry about how he is not
getting the academic challenge. He needs to play and socialize
and problem solve! Now maybe your son does, but how well
without you around in a structured setting? I can not stress
to you enough the importance of sending him to K for the
socialization. I have seen so many kids who do not get it as
parents push the academics. They become socially inept and are
made fun of. They get labeled the nerdy kids. It is sad to see
a 4th grader (who never went to prek or K) and has a `170 IQ
who cries when he is not first in line. Why? He did not have
the social skills instilled in those early childhood years.

Don't worry about him leaving a few months into the school
year. Kids are resilient and he will make new friends.
Actually it will help him transition easier into the new school
year. He will walk in and say, "oh my K teacher had that too!"

NOw I don't know what the deadline for TX K to start. Many US
schools are Sept 1. If it is the same, then your child is an
older one. He IS ready to be there.

And... do not worry if he is coming home with "easy" things
like letters and pictures. The K teacher has 20 + kids all over
the developmental board and more often than not is the only
teacher in the room. The first month of K truly is about
establishing routine, schedules and learing how to get along.

I had boy last year who was reading at a 4th grade level on the
first day. Of course I thought, "Eh!! This matching letters to
sounds is too easy!" But he needed to be there for the
socialization. He wanted to do the letter matching ( he wanted
to fit in ) He wanted to play with the dolls and sing our
songs. He was intectually advanced but he was still emotionally
a Kindergartner. Once I got to really know the kids, I worked
out some separate differentiated activities for him. Instead of
mathing letters, he wrote words ( advanced for the average K in
the fall), he played various higher level games and eventually
wrote some good "reports" that he would read to the class.

Oh don;t worry about him not wanting to write. Again, he is a
TYPICAL KINDERGARTNER! His motor skills which are physical
skills are at a normal rate. He may be so advanced in his
language and math, but his body is still 5. Again, another
reason he needs to be in K!!!

I wish you good luck and know that whatever you do will be the
best for your child. Thank you for asking our opinions!

On 8/13/08, Oldtimer wrote:
> On 8/11/08, gtchild wrote:
>> hi all. I don't even know if i'm allowed to post on this
>> site but here it is. i'm a stay at home mom. we just moved
>> from CA to TX. My son was tested for the GT program and got
>> in. We are now moving from Houston to Sugarland (still in
>> TX) in a couple of months. School starts next week and my
>> son will be starting kindergarten.
>>
>> My question is this. Do you think I should just keep him
>> out for the school year? He has never been away from me.
>> I'm not sure about putting him Kindergarten for a couple
>> months then pulling him out and putting him in another
>> school. He has told me more than 1x he does not want to go
>> to school. Any suggestion as to if I should just keep him
>> home for 1 more year and maybe put him in some type of
>> childcare center for maybe a couple hours a day?
>>
>> He is 5 and was sight reading since he was 3. Is doing
>> multiplications (he can add and subtract too). He knows his
>> multiplication 0,1,2,3,4,5 and 10 (5s and 10s up to 100 all
>> others up to 20+). Learns mostly on his own.
>>
>> He hates to write and his handwriting shows it. Any
>> suggestion as to how I can get him to practice writing
>> without it being "boring work".
>
>
>
> I would suggest taking the child's lead on this one .If
> at all possible I would homeschool. I speak from experience
> because often written output issues can be very much
> understood in this population . Oftentimes the child as
> bright as this one may be called lazy or stubborn because of
> the reluctance with pen and paper work. Many can't figure
> out how a child this bright in other areas cannot write and
> color inside the lines.
>
> Many yrs ago we did surveys on several board poulated
> by gifted parents concerning written output issues. It came
> as a bit of a surprise to find the number of gifted children
> that have difficulty in this area. The saddest thing is when
> this child is a highly gifted writer such as my youngest son
> and not given his choice of tools to write with. You can
> advocate at the school level for this child but I strongly
> suggest using that valuable time at home to teach him. While
> advocating at the school level for my son his self esteem
> suffered terribly. Thank God we recognized what was happening
> and took another route . He never lost that wonderful gift.
>
> Here is a good resourse for written output issues. I
> hope this thread works as I said it has been a long time.:)
>
> http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/giftedcanada/
>
> I feel I have a little more knowledge in this area
> than some having also experienced this with my three sons. If
> you have anymore questions I would be more than glad to help.
>
> The best of luck to you and your child!
>
> This board continues to be one of the very best resoures for
> the teaching of gifted children. I drop in every now and then
> for old times sake.:) It is never disruptive and the teachers
> are really here for the children. Lots of good ideas
> bouncing back and forth and they even tolerate us parents
> sometimes :) The route we took mentioned above was on the
> advice of a teacher at this board and I will be forever in
> debt to her.
>
> Thank you for being there for the children !
>
>
>
>
>


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Posts on this thread, including this one


• writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/11/08, by gtchild.
• Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/11/08, by Debbie.
• Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/11/08, by gtchild.
• Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/11/08, by GT Teacher.
• Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/12/08, by Rebecca.
• Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/12/08, by Kimberly in TX.
• Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/12/08, by Kevin.
• Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/13/08, by Oldtimer.
• Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/18/08, by a gen ed K teacher-- LONG!.
• Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/19/08, by Debbie.
• Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/19/08, by Jamie in MO.
• Re: writing lessons/skip kintergarten?, 8/26/08, by gtchild.