School dont know how to handle her brain power and neither do I.

[rosie1977]

When my DD was on placed on the Gifted and Talented list at Primary School i didnt think anything about it just knew i was oh so proud.
Yesterday i went to meet with my daughters teacher as part of an informal chat about her first 3 months in Jrs. Apparently they have never dealt with a child as focused or as intelligent as my daughter. Her reading is well about 12-13 year olds but school have told me they want to slow her down because after she has read all their books they really wont know what to do with her.
They want to make sure she understands the content of what she is reading but asking her questions on characters, settinsg etc and i will definately do my bit at home. Have agreed with school that the books i buy I will read first and then ask her detailed questions after.

I really have no idea tho how to really help her. How do i ensure that her educational needs are being met? How can I make sure that what i am doing is good enough?

Her thirst for learning is incredible, she actually asks her teachers if she can do extra research at home, her homework is completed within a few minutes and never really causes her an issue. she has even used a word in a sentence before that i had to google to check it was a real word and to make sure it was used appropriately and it was.

So please any advice anyone has i will be grateful. Hopefully all the above makes sense its almost 4am and since yesterdays meeting I have been troubled.

can i just rofl at 'she asked me how she'd got 110% attendance and i looked at her as if she'd gone mad'?

that's made my day, that has. i can see the counter thread 'my mum can't keep up with me and doesn't understand percentages. wwyd'.

When my sister and I were younger our local library had a reading club where they put together a list of books for children to read but before you could progress to your next book you had to go and talk to the librarian about the book. Nothing complicated, just to show that you had read it and processed it.

Might it be worth seeing if something like this either exists at your local library or if it is something they would be interested in starting? It's the sort of thing that can benefit lots of children, but because the discussions are 1 on 1 your DD could be really stretched.

Hi, I was actually in the same position as your child, and neither my parents nor the school knew what to do with me. I was made to feel as though it was a guilty secret that I was bright, and told not to tell my brother (who was below average in his reading abilities) in case he became discouraged.

So I would underscore the point that you should encourage her, let her know that she is advanced. I understand the teacher's point about not turning her into a 'know it all', but this can go the other way (and this seems to affect girls/women a lot!), and she could potentially feel insecure in her abilities.

With hindsight, the most important thing, apart from encouraging your child to do activities which mean that she interacts with her peers (I ended up being very shy, as I would rather sit 'with my nose buried in a book' than interact with other people), I would recommend that you keep stretching her, and, although she is very young, try and introduce some structure and discipline into her day, which may be lacking currently, as schools often, as mentioned by another poster, leave bright children to their own devices.

Indeed, I was myself left to my own devices, so I would finish my work and then read some fiction that I wanted to read, or stare out of the window/daydream, and I think it's made me into a bit of a lazy, complacent adult. I'm 'successful', but I feel like I lack discipline, and have achieved results through last minute cramming and all-night essay writing sessions! If she finishes her work early, perhaps she could spend some time doing creative writing?

I know she's incredibly young, at 7, but I vividly remember what it felt like at 7, and I have a feeling that only reading novels is too narrow a horizon for your child. I agree that going to see plays is a good idea, and she may also be interested in art and art history, I know that I found these avenues exciting and interesting, when I stumbled upon them at around age 10.

Good luck, and you sound like a lovely mum!

Aksi try recommended book lists from the US, there's a surprising lack of overlap, especially in books from a decade + ago.

I was thinking earlier what other things she does and total forgot the afterschool clubs she does like gardening and swimming. In fact last term we stopped her doing clubs 5 days a week because we feel she needs some time with us. Sounds silly i guess but I miss seeing her because she is always busy.
She has zumba and something else after xmas too.
She has started to write a short story, which i have to say is lovely.

Her teacher has said she needs to remind herself my daughter is in the class because she is so efficient and bright that she rarely needs extra help in the classroom.
Cant say I am a lovely mum i am just a mum doing my best to make sure all my childrens needs are met no matter what. Im doing research on the language courses recommended. She does French already at school and i am no expert but she sounds pretty good.
Going to look at local plays too and see if we can get her signed up to a amateur dramatics society or something.

Thanks Again

Hi, you said you were considering brownies, don't forget beavers is open to girls too (waiting lists can be long, so casting a wide net will help). Would definitely recommend them, especially as your dd seems so driven, lots of badges for her to work towards - trying lots of new things, could even find new interests, to satisfy her craving to learn.

40 books in 3 weeks is a bit bonkers. I've always read, and am always to be found with a book in hand (when ds1 SHUTS TF UP I am planning to go to bed to read tonight for a few hours :heaven:), but you can't actually process/digest 40 books in that time. I think that does need slowing down. Ds3 can be a bit like that (he's 6) and wants to tick off how many chapters/books he's read. I make him tell me about them.

Do you have a good readers circle or whatever it's called these days at the local library. I enjoyed doing something like that as a kid, it involved reading books which came with different numbers of points depending on the difficulty, but you had to meet with a librarian to discuss the book after you'd read it and to get a stamp on your card. So many points and you earned a bookmark, then a badge then a shield. Ds2 did something sort of similar one summer (although I don't remember the discussion with the librarian about the book -maybe you'll need to do that at home).

Look for a Chatterbooks group at the library (that's what they are called here anyway)

Or set up one yourself!

I'd second those who say that the school seems good to be acknowledging her difficulties and that they will need to think outside the box a bit more to meet her needs.

I'd suggest a few things. I'd definitely try and get her involved with an outside club that is more about social skills than academic learning. Brownies/Beavers/Cubs or a drama club might be ideal.
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I'd not push any furter learning at home, but if/when she is asking for more learning you could try some of the following:

Take her to W H Smiths or somewhere like that and let her choose 1 or 2 workbooks of things she thinks she might like to learn - don't worry too much about the level - let her choose according to what she fancies and thinks she can understand. I'm guessing this might be some higher KS2 maths or some KS3 geography or history or whatever (or she might be an English Grammar fiend or whatever!!). Then when she is desperate for more learning she can use this as a "backbone" and do additional research to supplement it (and maybe take some of it into school to do if she finishes other work quickly etc). I'm not for one minute saying such a workbook is an adequate way to learn on its own but if she is self-motivated you and she should be able to use it as a guide for her own learning. I particularly like the CGP series of books myself.

With reading I think it will be most important to talk to her about the emotional sides of the books she reads - how the way characters feel, leads to their actions or decisions and about how she feels or reacts emotionally to different parts of the story. Often v gifted children have a less well developed emotional understanding and this will help it develop.

She might enjoy doing verbal-reasoning and non-verbal reasoning exercises for fun. Bond do a series of books of these. Maybe start at a book 2 (8-9 year-old level) and progress from there if they are too easy. They also do Maths and English papers/exercises that she might like to challenge herself with. If she comes across a question she can't do, she could research (or you or school could help her find out) how to do it! You can get these books from the likes of W H Smith or online.

There are lots of "activities" that aren't formal learning. Try Su Doku, chess, board and card games (lots of probabilities to think about and calculate). I adored logic puzzle books when I was about her age (AFAIR they are meant for adults, but were great). Could she make a web page about something that interests her, interview a teddy/ doll for a "radio" program?
I would also second the "wider" skills, like socialising, craft, physical activity that is within her ability.
But I'd also emphasise the need to let her be little while she can! (I think I may have missed out on some of that, was probably like your dd in many ways as a child)

Edward de Vere, the genuine Shakespeare, graduated from Oxford (or Cambridge? I forget) at 8 - admittedly not a full degree. There are people like that. I wouldn't be surprised if the best thing you could do is give them the run of a library - H G Wells, and Bertrand Russell, learned a lot from books. If you want to help the human race as a whole, give them chalenging alternative stuff.