Getting bored in school....?

[Oceanmamma77]

My ds will turn 7 yrs old in Dec and is in Gr. 2 (French Immersion prgm). He loves school and when he initially was starting, I was worried about him being younger than the class and not being able to keep up. Now that he is in his 3rd year in school, I am facing the oposite problem. He seems to get bored in school and not getting enough challenge. He is always first one done and gets it all right. I am very proud of him for being such a smart cookie, but what will happen when he goes into the higher intermediate grades? He has the tendancy to be a follower and I am scared he will start to goof off in class, due to the fact that he is bored.

Is there anything we can do outside of school? He LOVES math and figures small equations out quicker than I can even think of them, lol.

I have thought of homeschooling, because my dh's family all homeschool their kids and then they work at their own speed, sort off. Right now, I personally don't think I can homeschool.

Any suggestions on how we can challange him at home would be great. I am thinking of going out and buying those math work books for higher grades for him to do after school and on weekends. On the other hand, he just wants to relax and not think of school when he is home.

Sorry that this post became so long-winded

[lauren]

Hi Jenny. Do you know for sure that he is getting bored? Does his teacher talk about him getting into things he shouldn't now? I also have a fairly bright 6 y.o. in first grade public school. He tends to act like a clown when things are not stimulating enough for him. I think schools have a hard time recognizing the boredom factor.

The thing we have tried to do to keep him interested is to go to libraries and get books out about things he wants to learn more about. Also field trips. We have a terrific hands-on science museum nearby I think one of the dilemmas is, that then he might be even further ahead of his class, or else he can end up sounding like a "know it all." We value his knowledge, but public school and peers don't.

I think it is a tricky problem without easy answers. I didn't hear you saying that there are currently any behavioral issues, just that you fear for this in the future. Have you talked with his teacher yet to get his/her perspective on how challenged and adaptable he is?

If math is his thing, could you get him involved in solving actual problems that would help out the family? Things like how much money you need to put gas in the car, adding figures for a portion of a budget, etc.? It seems this might give him extra practice and make him feel very valued at home too.

[Music-mommy]

School is so boring, I remember being bored in school....

If he likes math, he would probably like music. Musicians are good mathematicians, and vice versa. Maybe he could do something like that which would stimulate him, he would probably love music theory if he loves math problems, and could learn an instrument at the same time?

[NoHiddenFees]

Originally Posted by Oceanmamma77

Is there anything we can do outside of school? He LOVES math and figures small equations out quicker than I can even think of them, lol.

I'd recommend reading "Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School" by Grace Llewellyn and Amy Silver. If he decides to supplement math at home, I'd recommend something like Challenge Math rather than generic math workbooks --- why give him more of the same? I'd also recommend reading "Genius Denied" by the Davidsons and perusing Hoagies for more ideas.