Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Rob: I think there is a misunderstanding. It isn't that she is getting help with the work itself. It is that we, my teen and I - it is one or the other not both at the same time, only make sure she does her work in steps. If not, she would have everything out at once trying to do it at once. We make her take all her homework out, place it in a pile of work to be done and work that has been done. Then we make sure she works on one piece of homework at a time. This also helps me know that she has done everything because she is a sly little thing. She will say something has been done when in fact, it hasn't been. <grin> Some of her homework also consists of having papers signed by a parent. At times there are a LOT of papers to sign. Generally, it consists of her spelling test, a math tests, a reading test, the reading log which I will explain next, and other forms and such as the teacher has questions about work, her progress, and field trips, and now the AIG program has papers that have to be signed too stating that a parent has gone over the work done and acknowledges that it has been done. Then, every night of the week short of Fridays, she has to read to a parent then mark down on a reading log sheet what she read, how many pages, and then have a parent sign a space saying she read the book. There is rarely a day goes by that she doesn't have at least 5 to 8 different things for homework be they work sheets in math, reading, something called sequencing which I have no clue what it is but she does so that is great, a reading book which comes from books set aside for the 5th graders and those in the AIG program. It was called gifted and talented in my days in regular school. Again, it isn't that we, either of us, are doing her work. We are just trying to teach her to plan her work by placing it in piles of work to be done and work that has been done. Then make sure everything gets signed that needs a signature because if something is missed, she gets punished for it the next day. They have a system set up where you get prizes if you go all week and have all your work signed that is sent home to be signed. If you miss a signature then you get a little car on the wall, there is one for each child in the class, moved from green to yellow to red. It is like stoplights here. I am not sure if they are that way in your country or not. Please don't think me ignorant. <grin> I have just never had the pleasure of going to England although I have always wanted to. If the child's car stays on green all week, that is good and they get a good mark for that week. If it gets moved to yellow, that is not good and they get a letter sent home and do not get as good of a mark for that week. If it goes to red, depending on the reason it goes to red, it is not good or definitely not good considering the reason. Then a note is sent home and there could be a parent teacher conference involved. Moving to red would constitute if a child didn't get papers signed on more than one night of the week, for not doing homework, not doing a project, not reading and listing in their log every night, being disrespectful to a teacher will get you on red in a hurry, being disrespectful to another student will do the same, misbehaving on the school bus will get it moved over, talking while the teacher is teaching will get it moved after the first time she has had to tell you not to talk while she is teaching.... I hope that makes sense. They are really tough on these kids. I think in some cases, they are too tough. It isn't easy for a child that age to remember all that work every day. She has more homework at the age of 7 years old in the first grade than my 16 year old has and she is in the 10th grade! The little one is also punished far more strictly for the tiniest indescretion whereas the 10th graders have a considerable amount of leeway compared to the first graders. I hope I have explained it well. Neither of us hover. We just make sure she makes her piles and gets all her signed work together and takes her homework one task at a time. The reading part is generally done in the kitchen because the lighting is better in that room. The rest of the house has lamps with low wattage bulbs because I am sensitive to light. The kitchen also has hard wooden chairs that go with my kitchen table. I want a different one with soft cushioned chairs but that won't happen any time soon. That is why she generally reads to her sister instead of me. The reading is the last task to complete on most days unless there is a project that requires one of us to help with the use of large bottles of glue or cutting or something that is not exactly appropriate for her to work with alone. The last time she had a pair of scissors alone she clipped off a piece of her hair, granted it was a small piece but she clipped it off at he scalp and her hair is so long it goes way past her behind. She sits on it. It took forever for that piece of hair to grow out again. She is also not left alone with finger paints if a project calls for that. She has fingerpainted my floor and the refrigderator. She thought it was art. I was ticked off. She also decided to glue her fingers together once. Thank goodness for Elmer's glue. It is washable. She used the entire bottle of glue on her hands and fingers. I can't get to town to get these supplies on a moments notice so I have to be careful that she is not goofing off with them or she will be out and I will not be able to get more until I can get a ride up to the next town's Walmart or other department or office supply store. I have to be very careful planning errands because of my inability to drive due to my blindness. I can't just jump in the car and run to town for every little thing. But, as far as her work goes, she does all that alone and does it wonderfully. The trouble with making plans for the future, even when you can see the future, is that fate has a way of intervening and upsetting the best laid plans of mice and men. - Burns 1785 why put yourself through this extra pain helping with homework when you don't have to? Rob Chester, England. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Rob: I think there is a misunderstanding. It isn't that she is getting help with the work itself. It is that we, my teen and I - it is one or the other not both at the same time, only make sure she does her work in steps. If not, she would have everything out at once trying to do it at once. We make her take all her homework out, place it in a pile of work to be done and work that has been done. Then we make sure she works on one piece of homework at a time. This also helps me know that she has done everything because she is a sly little thing. She will say something has been done when in fact, it hasn't been. <grin> Some of her homework also consists of having papers signed by a parent. At times there are a LOT of papers to sign. Generally, it consists of her spelling test, a math tests, a reading test, the reading log which I will explain next, and other forms and such as the teacher has questions about work, her progress, and field trips, and now the AIG program has papers that have to be signed too stating that a parent has gone over the work done and acknowledges that it has been done. Then, every night of the week short of Fridays, she has to read to a parent then mark down on a reading log sheet what she read, how many pages, and then have a parent sign a space saying she read the book. There is rarely a day goes by that she doesn't have at least 5 to 8 different things for homework be they work sheets in math, reading, something called sequencing which I have no clue what it is but she does so that is great, a reading book which comes from books set aside for the 5th graders and those in the AIG program. It was called gifted and talented in my days in regular school. Again, it isn't that we, either of us, are doing her work. We are just trying to teach her to plan her work by placing it in piles of work to be done and work that has been done. Then make sure everything gets signed that needs a signature because if something is missed, she gets punished for it the next day. They have a system set up where you get prizes if you go all week and have all your work signed that is sent home to be signed. If you miss a signature then you get a little car on the wall, there is one for each child in the class, moved from green to yellow to red. It is like stoplights here. I am not sure if they are that way in your country or not. Please don't think me ignorant. <grin> I have just never had the pleasure of going to England although I have always wanted to. If the child's car stays on green all week, that is good and they get a good mark for that week. If it gets moved to yellow, that is not good and they get a letter sent home and do not get as good of a mark for that week. If it goes to red, depending on the reason it goes to red, it is not good or definitely not good considering the reason. Then a note is sent home and there could be a parent teacher conference involved. Moving to red would constitute if a child didn't get papers signed on more than one night of the week, for not doing homework, not doing a project, not reading and listing in their log every night, being disrespectful to a teacher will get you on red in a hurry, being disrespectful to another student will do the same, misbehaving on the school bus will get it moved over, talking while the teacher is teaching will get it moved after the first time she has had to tell you not to talk while she is teaching.... I hope that makes sense. They are really tough on these kids. I think in some cases, they are too tough. It isn't easy for a child that age to remember all that work every day. She has more homework at the age of 7 years old in the first grade than my 16 year old has and she is in the 10th grade! The little one is also punished far more strictly for the tiniest indescretion whereas the 10th graders have a considerable amount of leeway compared to the first graders. I hope I have explained it well. Neither of us hover. We just make sure she makes her piles and gets all her signed work together and takes her homework one task at a time. The reading part is generally done in the kitchen because the lighting is better in that room. The rest of the house has lamps with low wattage bulbs because I am sensitive to light. The kitchen also has hard wooden chairs that go with my kitchen table. I want a different one with soft cushioned chairs but that won't happen any time soon. That is why she generally reads to her sister instead of me. The reading is the last task to complete on most days unless there is a project that requires one of us to help with the use of large bottles of glue or cutting or something that is not exactly appropriate for her to work with alone. The last time she had a pair of scissors alone she clipped off a piece of her hair, granted it was a small piece but she clipped it off at he scalp and her hair is so long it goes way past her behind. She sits on it. It took forever for that piece of hair to grow out again. She is also not left alone with finger paints if a project calls for that. She has fingerpainted my floor and the refrigderator. She thought it was art. I was ticked off. She also decided to glue her fingers together once. Thank goodness for Elmer's glue. It is washable. She used the entire bottle of glue on her hands and fingers. I can't get to town to get these supplies on a moments notice so I have to be careful that she is not goofing off with them or she will be out and I will not be able to get more until I can get a ride up to the next town's Walmart or other department or office supply store. I have to be very careful planning errands because of my inability to drive due to my blindness. I can't just jump in the car and run to town for every little thing. But, as far as her work goes, she does all that alone and does it wonderfully. The trouble with making plans for the future, even when you can see the future, is that fate has a way of intervening and upsetting the best laid plans of mice and men. - Burns 1785 why put yourself through this extra pain helping with homework when you don't have to? Rob Chester, England. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Rob: I think there is a misunderstanding. It isn't that she is getting help with the work itself. It is that we, my teen and I - it is one or the other not both at the same time, only make sure she does her work in steps. If not, she would have everything out at once trying to do it at once. We make her take all her homework out, place it in a pile of work to be done and work that has been done. Then we make sure she works on one piece of homework at a time. This also helps me know that she has done everything because she is a sly little thing. She will say something has been done when in fact, it hasn't been. <grin> Some of her homework also consists of having papers signed by a parent. At times there are a LOT of papers to sign. Generally, it consists of her spelling test, a math tests, a reading test, the reading log which I will explain next, and other forms and such as the teacher has questions about work, her progress, and field trips, and now the AIG program has papers that have to be signed too stating that a parent has gone over the work done and acknowledges that it has been done. Then, every night of the week short of Fridays, she has to read to a parent then mark down on a reading log sheet what she read, how many pages, and then have a parent sign a space saying she read the book. There is rarely a day goes by that she doesn't have at least 5 to 8 different things for homework be they work sheets in math, reading, something called sequencing which I have no clue what it is but she does so that is great, a reading book which comes from books set aside for the 5th graders and those in the AIG program. It was called gifted and talented in my days in regular school. Again, it isn't that we, either of us, are doing her work. We are just trying to teach her to plan her work by placing it in piles of work to be done and work that has been done. Then make sure everything gets signed that needs a signature because if something is missed, she gets punished for it the next day. They have a system set up where you get prizes if you go all week and have all your work signed that is sent home to be signed. If you miss a signature then you get a little car on the wall, there is one for each child in the class, moved from green to yellow to red. It is like stoplights here. I am not sure if they are that way in your country or not. Please don't think me ignorant. <grin> I have just never had the pleasure of going to England although I have always wanted to. If the child's car stays on green all week, that is good and they get a good mark for that week. If it gets moved to yellow, that is not good and they get a letter sent home and do not get as good of a mark for that week. If it goes to red, depending on the reason it goes to red, it is not good or definitely not good considering the reason. Then a note is sent home and there could be a parent teacher conference involved. Moving to red would constitute if a child didn't get papers signed on more than one night of the week, for not doing homework, not doing a project, not reading and listing in their log every night, being disrespectful to a teacher will get you on red in a hurry, being disrespectful to another student will do the same, misbehaving on the school bus will get it moved over, talking while the teacher is teaching will get it moved after the first time she has had to tell you not to talk while she is teaching.... I hope that makes sense. They are really tough on these kids. I think in some cases, they are too tough. It isn't easy for a child that age to remember all that work every day. She has more homework at the age of 7 years old in the first grade than my 16 year old has and she is in the 10th grade! The little one is also punished far more strictly for the tiniest indescretion whereas the 10th graders have a considerable amount of leeway compared to the first graders. I hope I have explained it well. Neither of us hover. We just make sure she makes her piles and gets all her signed work together and takes her homework one task at a time. The reading part is generally done in the kitchen because the lighting is better in that room. The rest of the house has lamps with low wattage bulbs because I am sensitive to light. The kitchen also has hard wooden chairs that go with my kitchen table. I want a different one with soft cushioned chairs but that won't happen any time soon. That is why she generally reads to her sister instead of me. The reading is the last task to complete on most days unless there is a project that requires one of us to help with the use of large bottles of glue or cutting or something that is not exactly appropriate for her to work with alone. The last time she had a pair of scissors alone she clipped off a piece of her hair, granted it was a small piece but she clipped it off at he scalp and her hair is so long it goes way past her behind. She sits on it. It took forever for that piece of hair to grow out again. She is also not left alone with finger paints if a project calls for that. She has fingerpainted my floor and the refrigderator. She thought it was art. I was ticked off. She also decided to glue her fingers together once. Thank goodness for Elmer's glue. It is washable. She used the entire bottle of glue on her hands and fingers. I can't get to town to get these supplies on a moments notice so I have to be careful that she is not goofing off with them or she will be out and I will not be able to get more until I can get a ride up to the next town's Walmart or other department or office supply store. I have to be very careful planning errands because of my inability to drive due to my blindness. I can't just jump in the car and run to town for every little thing. But, as far as her work goes, she does all that alone and does it wonderfully. The trouble with making plans for the future, even when you can see the future, is that fate has a way of intervening and upsetting the best laid plans of mice and men. - Burns 1785 why put yourself through this extra pain helping with homework when you don't have to? Rob Chester, England. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Thanks for that great response. Things differ in so many ways between England and your marvellous country which I have had the pleasure of visiting twice as my sister in law is married to one of your fellow citizens. With the majority of postings on this site being from folk in your country you must excuse my ignorance as to the way things " work " over there. In healthcare, our system is so different and we are so fortunate to have the free healthcare system (well it is paid for from our taxes of course). With many of the postings I read I have to stop and remind myself about the differences in healthcare rather than going into print. My sister in law is a nurse (she visited us a couple of weeks ago) and she tells us about the amount of change which has (and still is) taking place over there much of which she really does not feel is always of benefit to the most important people - the patients. I hope I did not upset you with my comments. I don't know how you managed to write so much for me - I now have a much better understanding of the overall scheme of things and can better appreciate how this impacts on your family.You have explained the situation with great clarity. Gaining an improved understanding of a variety of issues which we face in our daily lives is what a group like this is about and it is good to be a part of it. There is so much ignorance about in relation to people who suffer with chronic pain - I learned that 10 years ago when I felt so low - found it difficult to raise a smile, to acknowledge people I knew in the street - at times you can feel so desperate but get the right team on your case and then you learn better how to cope. I must admit that something such as a smile even when it is the last thing you feel like doing can make all the difference to the attitude of those we meet. Spending so much time alone in the house during the day because you cannot raise the energy (or in some cases get the help) to get through your pain barrier can soon make you feel isolated. What a wonderful tool the internet is. With groups such as this it is like having people queuing at your front door to speak to you, words of comfort, words to challenge your on feelings of despair, words to bring you out of that despair - something I am sure so many of us have felt. When I get up each morning - that is if I even went to bed - I know there will be lots of postings from people I almost feel I have met - then during the morning here, things go a bit quiet because of the time difference but as we get to the afternoon thing start to filter through for the rest of the day. The time difference does mean that when I can't sleep it is at a time when many of you folk are busy on your keyboards. Thanks for taking the trouble to respond in such depth. You take care Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 6, 2004 Report Share Posted April 6, 2004 Sam, I have an advanced child as well, who was identified in the 1st grade, so I can understand your challenges. When they tested her reading comprehension level in the 3rd grade, she was on par with high school students. It was a hard decision, but we chose not to do the grade skipping thing. We wanted her to have a " normal " childhood, and the school's TAG (talented and gifted) program has done a fairly good job of keeping up with her and the other advanced students. They offer advanced " core " classes, math, english, and science, at the middle school level, and she's thriving, while not feeling like a " freak " to her peers. We also felt that emotionally, skipping grades would be stressful for her. I'm guessing that someday soon, she's going to be smarter than mom and dad, which is scary. Keep at her school to make sure they are meeting her needs. I know that here at our schools, they are required to identify and meet the needs of gifted children, just as they are for learning disabled children. I think it started a few years ago, but every kid that scores high on the proficiencies, or if it's requested by the parents, is supposed to be tested. Good luck! Jen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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