First of All...

[lydamorehouse]

In case you didn't already know it, our president ROCKS. naomikritzer turned me on to this picture last night...




Secondly, I had a very illuminating conversation with one of the moms from Mason's school this morning. In Kindergarden and Pre-K, Mason had a colleague who was also an early reader. Both Mason and this other young man tested into Capitol Hill, our gifted and talented magnet in Saint Paul. The other young man transferred. We didn't. By chance, the other young man's mom was at our school today dropping off a sibling. I asked her how Mason's friend was enjoying Capitol Hill. She gushed. "Oh," she said, "There's homework every night. Plus, we're required to do TEN minutes of reading EVERY NIGHT!!"

I felt instantly grateful we stayed at Crossroads. Crossroad is actually more rigorous, as we're required to do 20 minutes of reading every night (though Mason easily does more). Secondly, I think busy work homework is a fast track to burn out (ESPECIALLY for gifted kids), and Mason only has the ocassional math sheet every so often. The rest of his "homework" is usually the sort of thing he can do and be done with quickly so we can get on to reading adult-level books or exploring dinosaurs or whatever interests him.

The other mom also went on about this big presentation her son was invovled in at Capitol Hill. It sounded pretty fun until she confessed that, really, the parents were doing most of the work, down to creating a power-point presentation for their son to read from for his speech.

Sounds fun for the parents.

It also sounds like a great place to be a "high achiever" (which is actually quite different than being gifted. For a great chart, check out: High Achiever, Gifted Learner, Creative Thinker) High achievers like school and school work. They are motivated by getting good grades (I, for instance, was a combination of a high achiever and a creative student. Creative students are also very different from gifted kids -- although they have more in common with gifted kids than high achievers). Gifted kids aren't always motivated to get good grades. They don't always even like school particularly. They, like Mason, would rather do their OWN thing and, honestly, find school kind of distraction from their own pursuits.

There is, I discovered, a school in the Minneapolis/St. Paul school system for profoundly gifted students. Perhaps, if we needed it some day, it will be there for us. In the meantime, Mason is happy where he is (and, it turns out, being challenged to read more!)

Comments

[naomikritzer]

There is, I discovered, a school in the Minneapolis/St. Paul school system for profoundly gifted students.

Really? Which school are you talking about? (Also, what do you mean by the Minneapolis/St. Paul school system?)

I know of one in Bloomington, and one in Minnetonka, in addition to Capitol Hill.

[lydamorehouse]

The one in Minnetonka was the one I came across. The Daniels Institute for Profoundly Gifted Students had a link to it.

[parzi.livejournal.com]

I like that people are starting to recognize the distinctions. In my gifted program in high school, I think it was about half high achievers, who all went on to do amazing things. Some of us were gifted learners I guess, and ended up doing things like delivering pizza or working for barely above minumum wage at the library (me), but we love what we do, no matter what. My mom always assumed I would be a doctor or something so I think my path perplexed her. But my dad totally gets it.

And there was one guy who I think must been the Creative Thinker/Learner type...his grades were always pretty bad, but he was fascinating. He used to do weird projects like making zen gardens in his backyard, and filming himself doing things like pouring liquid into glasses, then taking the VHS tape apart and putting it back in backwards so he could watch the liquid flow up. He's awesome; I think he's in a band now.

[iraunink.livejournal.com]

As the mother of three high intelligence children, I'm glad to hear that Mason isn't bored with school, yet. It was a challenge to get my son and elder daughter to do their homework. They had learned the concepts and considered most homework redundant. Some children don't need rote education. It sounds like Mason is one of them.