If you keep your ears and eyes open, you’ll find out pretty fast what kind of ‘supplemental’ activity is welcome. I loved the projects my mom did - she worked with the first astronauts, and we mapped the orbits on our globe at home, then did research projects on one of the countries the string passed over that day. I was all of 2, but I still remember it. If we loved something, it showed, and that was the kind of project that came back around again! I loved geography from early on, and funny, maps showed up in a lot of my mom’s ideas for things I’d like.
I would have enjoyed some of the projects that evilbeth hated. You can’t just pull projects from a book willynilly and expect them to excite. You gotta know the audience. Thre’s SO much to play with, you can easily pull in a lot of variety and depth in a direction your daughter will enjoy - even if it is ‘just’ reading! Provide the opening and some information about options, and let HER decide which kind of project she likes. In almost every case, a bright child will drag the parent along, not the other way 'round. If you have to push, you’ve got the wrong approach/content/style/subject…
Check with your local Montessori schools, too, if you have one. I get a booklet of activities from a teacher at one of them (you can often buy the booklets) that includes all sorts of cool stuff to do, usually local and CHEAP. Our state also produces a newspaper-like magazine for parents (free) that has tons of activities and ideas listed. At 2 1/2, my son isn’t old enough for a lot of them, but soon!
Athena, I had the same situation in penmanship. I transferred between schools in the third grade, and the one I came from hadn’t done cursive yet, but the one I went to was well along with it. This probably accounts for my terrible handwriting all through school.
By the way, I also skipped a grade, and I don’t think it was all that great an idea. As someone else mentioned, it didn’t even begin to solve the boredom/challenge problem, and it certainly made me more shy and introverted socially. Impossible to say if it ultimately had more positive or negative impact on my life overall (would be pointless conjecture and speculation with no specific objective markers on which to measure, since countless other things have greater impact), but I doubt I would do it if it were my child. If drastic action is called for, this isn’t it. If drastic action isn’t called for, she’s probably better off staying put and skipping the extra emotional burden, since the improvement is so minimal. I’m sure some would disagree, but that was my experience.
Athena, that sounds horrible. The way kids skipped grades in the school district that I went to was that the teacher in the grade they were in would go through the whole year’s curriculum with the kid at their pace and then start on the next grade level’s curriculum. If they finished that, before the end of the year, then they might get bumped past that grade level. That was really rare though. Then they quit doing it at all. In elementary school my (now) husband was dealt with by putting him in the hall to do extra credit work. One of my friends had to take her GED because by taking correspondence courses she was ready for college at age 15. She’d come tell me how neat it was sometimes, but we lost touch after awhile. I’m sure she wizzed right through the 2-year community college and went away to a university and that’s why. I miss her though.
I rode the bus in high school with a girl that had skipped 2 grades while attending Catholic school for elementary and jr. high. She was very pretty and tall for her age and therefore known as “Jailbait” by the boys. That’s terrible, isn’t it? Whenever I talked to her she struck me as being dumb as dirt, but now that I’m older I realize she was more naive than dumb. I’m sure going to public school fixed that. Anyway, I’m not unfamiliar with some of the social problems that come from skipping grades.
I was voracious reader myself. Our school library only allowed one book per week. I remember in 2nd or 3rd grade going through the Nancy Drew section and being so frustrated because I would finish each book the afternoon I got it and have to wait a whole week for another. Our weekly trips to the public library were very important. I remember reaching whatever magical age it was that allowed me to get an “adult” card, because I could take out as many books as I wanted.
At 7 or 8 I very much enjoyed the Dr. Doolittle series, Black Beauty, and another series about horses that I only fuzzily remember. (Black Stallion?)
At 9 or so I discovered Louisa May Alcott. Her books are more difficult because of the time in which they were written, but I found it very much fun to work out the unfamiliar stuff. (Though I didn’t figure out what a velocipede was for many years.) I also enjoyed science fiction-Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov especially. I brought “Tomorrow’s Children” with me to Girl Scout camp.
My 8yo son is enjoying Harry Potter. Actually, we all are. We’ve preordered 2 copies, so we can send one to our 10yo at camp when it comes out and have one for ourselves.
As far as skipping grades, my 10yo daughter is the youngest in her grade level (late August birthday; Sept. 1 cutoff) and she sometimes runs into “being younger” issues even with that little difference. Her clasmates are definitely maturing faster and I think she sometimes feels a bit left out. I imagine it would be even more difficult the greater the age difference. I would probably look into homeschooling before I would let my child be skipped.
On the other hand, classroom work today is very different than it was for me. (I’m 37.) So much of it is done “at your own pace”, or in small groups. Kids just aren’t sitting in rows, diligently working on the same thing at the same time, as some of us might remember. Good communication with the teacher should allow almost any child to remain interested and challenged in class.
SoHo, sounds like you’ve done a good job so far. For every child/parent relationship like yours, there are a hundred ( or more) of parents who had kids and ignore them.
If your daughter gets bored this summer, you can send her to my house for non-dippy like activities, like, count the grunge marks in the toilet with the scrubber.
I just wanted to let you know that I also understand what a lot of people here are saying. By grade 4, I was 6 reading levels ahead. I was also a fast reader, so I could check out a dozen books a day and be at the library the next day looking for new ones. For those of you surprised at the amount of books, usually only one 200 page book, 4 or 5 80 page books, and a collection of Asterix, Tin Tin and Peanuts were a favourite mix for quite a while.
I hope you find a solution to the boredom problem. I was also really bored in school, and never did find a solution. I maintained average grades, but never studied or paid any attention during class. Cleaning out old boxes at my dads house, I found a TON of assignments and homework that I didn’t even bother to turn in, and I still passed all of my classes. I finally did wind up dropping out of school during grade 11.
Right now I’m taking upgrading at my local college (finishing off my high school levels so I can move onto University) and I’m STILL finding the same problems. Physics and Chem are so ridiculously easy that I feel like stabbing myself with a pencil just to stay awake. I now see why I dropped out of school the first time. I wasn’t mature enough to handle the frustration level (and sometimes feel like I can NEVER be mature enough to handle it).
I really think that they need to offer more accelerated classes. Skipping grades isn’t an answer (my sister did this). You still have to learn the stuff that they’re teaching. However, a bright child will be able to learn much faster than the rate that they are teaching at. Solution? A class where they can learn the same stuff but at their own (faster) pace.
I would suggest looking into other schools. There must be some schools that offer accelerated programs for gifted children. There must be a way of skipping all of the unhappy years of frustration that I experienced.
Hey, lolagranola. At least you can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. In college you have control over how many classes you take and can skip some lower level ones. I, on the advice of my advisor, did not test out of College Algrebra even though I had already completed Algebra II in high school. The advisor said that it would bring up my GPA and refresh my memory since I took Algebra II in my junior year. Well, I did get an “A” so I guess it brought up my average, however, I didn’t need any refreshing. I just went through all of my assignments early and had more time for partying and hanging out. It was probably a bad way to start off my university career. It wasn’t until my sophomore year before I learned how to schedule studying and homework. People expect you to make mistakes as a freshman, so THAT’s the time to take chances. Test out of every class that you can. Well, that’s my take on it. Good luck to you!
I’m all for unguided reading, particularly during the summer.
On the reading tests they gave I was reading at college level by the fifth grade. I pretty much lived at the library and was never guided in my reading. My parents didn’t know what I was reading and I never got into trouble.
Just make sure she realizes that she is welcome to use parts of the library other than the children’s/young adults sections. Once I realized that (sometime in the second grade) I was finally able to read satisfying stuff. Sure I read stuff I didn’t understand but I was happy and could explore the entire spectrum of fiction and non-fiction.
One thing that I have always hated was having someone tell me what to read. I hated every boook I ever had to read in school but usually loved them when I read them again on my own.
As another young reader, I must again nominate letting your daughter pick her own books. By the second grade I was reading Beverly Cleary, Judy Bloom, and things like that. By the fifth grade I had moved on to Adult fiction. By the time I got out of Junior High, I had read every Stephen King book published to that point.
Something you might consider is to find books you both might enjoy. Several people have nominated The Hobbit, a book that I have read numerous times, including last week again, and enjoyed every time. Here’s a reading list I would suggest for the young and old readers alike:
Charlotte’s Web: E.B. White
The Once and Future King: T.H. White (though “The Sword and The Stone” section is best suited for the youngest readers)
The Hobbit: J.R.R. Tolkien
Watership Down: Richard Adams (a suprisingly entertaining read for adults too)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH: forgot the author
The Dragon’s Eye: Stephen King
The nice thing about all of these books is that they aren’t watered-down, unchallenging stories where everything nice always happens. All of these books are exciting stories, dealing with fun characters in chalenging situations. Several of these books I have re-read as an adult and thoroughly enjoyed. Each has an element of childlike fantasy in it, dealing with talking animals, magicians, and the like, but they all also deal with some surprisingly mature topics, making them a wonderful intelectual read as well. These books can provide something for you and your daughter to read and enjoy together.
Hey, Dragon’s Eye. That’s on our book shelf. My husband was given that as a Christmas present in college. It won’t count for her summer reading program if she doesn’t check it out from the library, but have no fear. When she’s done with that, I’ll make sure she knows which books are OK to read here in our house. I’ll have to organize our books. Actually, maybe I better hide the dirty books for now. My mom is sending the Reader’s Digest Young Readers books which is what I was raised on. Well, what my nieces haven’t carted off. I have all of my very favorite real books from about 3rd-5th grade. I wonder what happened to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Maybe it’s at Mom’s. Oh sorry, I’m wandering.
She’s having a lot of fun reading James and the Giant Peach. That’s slowed her down. She’s been on that book for 3 days now. I think maybe she’s found a good level of reading to last her the summer. They can only do so many of the lists of 10 books (5, I think) because they earn a book every time they finish a list. At the rate she was going with the short easier books, she would have been done in the middle of July.
I am so surprised that no one has mentioned Madeline L’Engle yet (A Wrinkle In Time and all the others). They have enough fantasy to engage the imagination: try imagining a universe where everything is two-dimensional and the children protagonists are still in three-dimensions. I may only be a frosh in college, but I do remember reading beyond my grade level early on. I have a sneaking suspicion that “reading grade level” is skewed in favor of the slower readers, because most everyone at my school (a private school) read beyond our “grade level.”
If you daughter eventually shows an inclination toward the sciences in any way, introduce her to “Discover Magazine” and the weekly “Science News” mag. They both offer stories on the intriguing side and lots of small synopsies (perfect for the “why” and “how” questions), in addition to the longer articles. “Discover” also has brain puzzles at the end, which are fun at most any age. I still read these magazines all the time. I also reccomend everything Micheal Crichton wrote before, and including, Jurassic Park. Again, only if she shows an interst in science. (Would it surprise you to learn that I am an art major?)
In lower school, we had to turn in “current event” reports each week. I remember my science teacher once asking me where I got my articles. When I told her, she asked my if my parents helped me read the reports. Of course they helped with words I didn’t know, but I read them on my own. Later, I asked my mom why my teacher would ask about my sources; my mom told me that “Science News” in particular was written at a college level. :eek: Yikes, that surprised me.
You may want to read it first, to make sure it’s OK. Your young daughter sounds quite mature, but IIRC, there was a word or two in there (like piss or fart) that may be inappropriate depending upon your child. The plot and situations of the story, however, are quite neat. Stephen King wrote the book for his young daughter when she complained that she wasn’t allowed to read any of his other books, so he wrote that one. Still, with proper guidance, I don’t see how it could be out of the range of acceptable reading for a child. The other books I listed are entirely without controversy, language wise, but a few (Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH or Watership Down) deal with death, which can be a touchy subject.
And let me second Madeline L’Engle as a great author. Her books are marvelous intelectual mind candy, sort of an “Einstein’s Dreams” for younger crowd.
And don’t overlook A.A. Milne. The Pooh books are quite fun read for a young one.
Madeline L’Engle is great
Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Lewis Carrol’s Alice books.
Edgar Eager’s books about magic.
Frank L. Baum’s OZ books. They are even online free!
Beverly Cleary’s books were wonderful. I love Ramona the Brave.
Shel Silverstien’s poetry
George MacDonald’s the Golden Key
Pyle’ The adventures of Robin Hood
The hobbit
And never ever get any condensed easy read version of anything!! I saw a condensed Alice book the other day. What a crock!
Skipping grades is not as bad as you might think. It depends. If the child is not the most poplar anyway, skipping can sometimes help. At least there is a reason for a difference and it can even be easier for them to get along. I met a friend in college that had skipped grades. He is doing quite well. He was small for his age anyway in school. Skipping ahead made the size difference less apparent.
I did not skip though I was in the top percentile in most standardized tests. My mother felt that skipping grades was bad. I regret her making that decision. I also regret that she did her best to prevent me from learning to read before 1st grade. I was ready earlier and hungry to learn. I picked it up so fast in first grade my teacher’s head spun. She got mad at me for reading ahead.
The main thing is that you keep supplying books. I about went insane during the summers. No library acess, not many books at all. I read our encyclopedia front to back. I was starving for something to read.
Anyway, I’m not unfamiliar with some of the social problems that come from skipping grades.