Enrichment not enriching?

[Heavenly]

My daughter is turning 9 next week and is in grade 4.  She is in enrichment for everything they have available (math, science, language arts, spelling) but it still isn't challenging enough.  For example, for her spelling enrichment program they give them a folder of work to be completed each week.  She finishes the entire weeks worth of work in an hour and then has nothing else to do.  Same thing for the other subjects.  She was so excited when she was able to join all the enrichment stuff but even though it's harder than the regular grade 4 work it is still far too easy for her.  Any ideas on what we can do?

[moominmamma]

Time to schedule a meeting with the teacher, I would think.

Miranda

[Bekka]

Can you suggest something?  A project that is open-ended that she pioneers the ideas for herself?  (All about a specific culture/people/time in history, or some kind of animal?  After she finishes all the "enrichment" stuff, she could develop her own learning project for the remainder of the work time?  It would be more fun than just sitting and reading, as wonderful as reading is.

[spedteacher30]

An hour of spelling in a week seems reasonable for a 4th grader. It may very well be that her work is not challenging enough, but the amount of time she spends on it is s bad indicator of whether or not it is appropriate.

Even if her work is challenging, she shouldn't have more than about 2.5 hours of homework each week total for all subjects.

[Heavenly]

I'm not talking about homework.  She's in a completely pulled out spelling program.  She finishes the whole weeks worth (4 days of spelling x 45 minutes of class work plus 5 days of homework at 15 minutes each day or a total of
4 hours and 15 minutes worth of work in an hour or less).  With no effort whatsoever.  It is definitely far below her level.  She can spell words that are on the 8th grade list with little effort.  And it is like that in every subject.  Teacher meetings in the next couple of weeks and we'll be discussing it for sure.

Originally Posted by spedteacher30 

An hour of spelling in a week seems reasonable for a 4th grader. It may very well be that her work is not challenging enough, but the amount of time she spends on it is s bad indicator of whether or not it is appropriate.
Even if her work is challenging, she shouldn't have more than about 2.5 hours of homework each week total for all subjects.

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by Heavenly 

She finishes the whole weeks worth (4 days of spelling x 45 minutes of class work plus 5 days of homework at 15 minutes each day or a total of
4 hours and 15 minutes worth of work in an hour or less).  

I've never had a kid in elementary school, but isn't that a heck of a lot of time in the school schedule to devote to spelling? My perception is probably warped by the efficiency of homeschooling but we don't spend 45 minutes a day on anything, let alone a tiny sub-skill within the general language arts area. I would not want my kids to have four hours a week of spelling work. Heck, they've never done any spelling work at all, none of them, not at any age. For my kids advanced spelling ability has come naturally from advanced reading experience and there was absolutely no necessity to "give them challenging spelling work" any more than a kid who has never had a cavity needs to work harder at dental hygeine. 

I can see your point if there are similar issues in math and science and reading and so on. But I think on the spelling issue I would be grateful she isn't spending much time at it. 

I agree with suggestions above about finding open-ended projects or creative pursuits she could work at when she has free time at school. My 8-year-old spends 20-40 minutes a day at structured academics and is cruising along progressing nicely at a 7th grade level. If your dd is similar, there is no way anyone is ever going to fill 5 or 6 hours a day of school time with challenging academics. There's really no point since she's likely progressing already with her own brand of ruthless efficiency in learning, and busy-work would be worse than just letting her be. Finding ways to "let her be" without being aimless, bored, disruptive or distracting to others is likely going to be the key.

Miranda

[pigpokey]

Yes, if you need her in full day school, can she just be allowed to go to the library instead of enrichment?