Child Genius (C4)

[TheFirstOfHerName]

Anyone planning to watch this?

I was a little like these children; joined Mensa as a child, but used my ability to coast through school/university rather than to achieve anything noteworthy.

DS2 is also of this ilk. We are not doing any of the things these parents are doing, although when opportunities arise through school then obviously we let him participate.

Micro - a potential new (online) free school I'd marketing itself at gifted groups (amongst others).

I agree though that expectations are high. Usually someone comes along and says 'it's unfair because kids with SN automatically get the help they need' which is so far from the truth it's laughable.

That article says more about parental expectations about a school rather than the failings of individual schools IMO. I imagine it will be very difficult to find a school if your starting point is that no school is up to the task of stimulating your child and coaching them intensively. No school can offer what this child already receives at home and arguably no school should attempt to either. School is about much more that enhancing cognitive powers. A good school gives a child common ground and shared experiences with others in addition to covering the curriculum adequately. I'm surprised some of these parents don't set up their own schools if they are so passionate. Ultimately parents are a child's primary educators so if school isn't providing the tailor made enrichment programme they feel their child needs I see no reason for them not to supplement that themselves, most seemed to be in any case.

Gifted children aren't such a rarity that they can't be found in most schools and communities. My (average) son is in a class of 20 and 4 of the children in it are gifted. One skipped a year too. It's the same story in the four other classes in his year. It's a bog standard community school. I don't see a clamour from those children's parents expecting rafts of special programmes for their gifted kids. There's a gifted programme in a uni 15 miles away if they feel the need for that. The school links in with the uni's accelerated programme for a module each year but in the spirit of equal access they bring an entire class for the accelerated module rather than selected kids. The non gifted kids benefit too and cope perfectly well with it if the topic is of sufficient interest to them.

Seems the gremlins in my tablet aren't gifted!
Saintlyjimjams (great name conjures up an interesting image!) I thought you must be psychic to be able to respond to my post before I'd posted it. Then I realised it went up twice, again. I really wish there was an edit function on MN.

That's interesting about the online school. There are many good resource online too like Khan Academy, TED and a newer one whose name escapes me at the moment.

Seems the gremlins in my tablet aren't gifted!
Saintlyjimjams (great name conjures up an interesting image!) I thought you must be psychic to be able to respond to my post before I'd posted it. Then I realised it went up twice, again. I really wish there was an edit function on MN.

That's interesting about the online school. There are many good resource online too like Khan Academy, TED and a newer one whose name escapes me at the moment.

Nooo not again sorry folks

Anyway the other site is called Alison I think

[Presses "post" gingerly]

I think Aliyah looks like she needs some chips and a play in the park.

Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit of a waste of time? I can't see the point of memorising tube stations or packs of cards. But then I'm a bit at Mensa anyway. It's a glorified quiz club, IMO.

Agree with the wtf to Mensa.

No you're not the only one. It's a very narrow view of intelligence anyway. But I have thought wtf Mensa? For years anyway

I wish C4 would hurry up and put the second episode on the app.

I watched it online yesterday?

Here is the lady who got Aliyah to put plastic bags on her feet.

Maybe I should try on the laptop-on the iPad it's not showing up on the app.

Yes I watched on laptop

Vonnie is interesting. It says she appears in future episodes.

I agree with the poster who said the problem with Aliyah not having a school is likely to be failure to meet parental expectation. There is an excellent school in Brighton that even I have heard of (don't live in SE) and one would have thought that Aliyah would be bright enough to go there. But if her parents made demands, such as asking for her to be accelerated two years, why would the school offer her a place when it is oversubscribed?

i think the schools see the parents and put the full sign up

( after putting plastic bag on their feet obv)

The crazy parents on child genius will just make the plight of normal parents of gifted kids even harder.

You already get a lot of flak for asking teachers to give them more differentiated work so they don't get bored. Now you will get stared at as they image the crazy regime you must be putting your child through if they are way ahead of their year group.

We have stopped doing ANY work or reading with our child at home to try to slow him down so that eventually the work at school will catch up.

Not sure what the answer is really...

but talented kids shouldnt need this.
IME they are autodidacts - they need to be left alone. Not given more of the same

with my son and reading records I went into school and said to his teacher 'Look we both know he can read, can we just leave it at that?" and she was cool

I don't think that's true, pitt. Plenty of children with high IQs (and maybe that isn't the same thing as 'talented') do need stretching and don't self-motivate.

Bet they don't benefit much from this specific stuff, though!

Is this available on YouTube? Sounds...interesting.

Maybe - they are all fricken individuals. Mine has been through various stages - baking ( did choux at 9 yo) bee keeping (!) and the periodic table to name a few

Well, you are the one who made the generalization, not me!

My precise point was that what you said wasn't universally true.

sorry - didnt mean to sound snippy

My fault - tone on internet, etc.

I have just watched the first episode and I am halfway through the second one.

Eleanor seemed like a nice girl. Feel sorry for Tudor. Crying because he memorized 63 cards. Some of the parents are awful.

Also why was the narrator pronouncing Aliyahs name wrong?