Bright 2nd grader & school truancy / part-time home-school?

H Schinske wrote:

Sue ) wrote:


Well imo, you are essentially telling your daughter that rules don't matter,
school doesn't matter and that she can stay home at any whim. What is she
going to do in the real adult world when she has a job? Stay home because
she feels like it.

And what are you telling your child when you say that school is important to
stay in even when you are not learning anything? I think that is a message that
is being put across to way too many bright kids, and one reason why so many
people don't have the guts to leave dead-end jobs or work to make their lives
more interesting.


Wellll.....yes and no. I agree wholeheartedly that
it's important to teach *all* children (and particularly
bright children) to be creative and make changes to make
their lives better. On the other hand, it is even more
important with bright kids to teach them to look for
acceptable ways to do that. It's important they don't
just decide they're so above and beyond everyone else
that the rules don't apply to them and they can do whatever
they damn well please (a thought process it's easy for
bright kids to fall into). They need to be taught to
know and understand the rules and to think of win-win
solutions and ways to get what they need that respect
the process and other people when they have a legitimate
need to work outside an established process.
A child who needs enriching activity should get
it, but not at the expense of undue burdens on others
when there are (or should be) other alternatives. I
was lucky to have a lot of accommodations, many quite
creative, from elementary teachers when I needed
enriching activities, but we always worked out a way
to do it that didn't create unnecessary hardships.
Now and again one may run into an unreasonable teacher
who isn't willing to be flexible at all, and then
maybe one has to work harder to find something
acceptable, but often teachers are *quite* willing to
help if only a reasonable approach can be found.
It seems to me that bright kids, in particular,
can be held to a high standard of being *creative*
and *respectful* in their efforts to get what they
need. If they're so bright, surely they can figure
that out--and those problem-solving skills will go a
long way toward helping them get what they need the
rest of their life, rather than just quitting when
the going gets boring! I'm not suggesting that
bright kids should be abandoned to figure it all out
on their own, or that if they can't come up with
a workable idea they should just be left bored and
underserved, or that they should be expected to deal
successfully with unreasonable adults. I'm just saying
that insisting on respect for rules and processes and
other people's time and energy *isn't* the same thing
as saying one has to do that mindlessly and accept the
status quo. There is usually a middle ground somewhere
for those with the patience, diplomacy, and tenacity to
find it--and gifted kids need to learn those skills
because they'll be using them *all* their lives to get
along in the real world.

Best wishes,
Ericka