(x-posted in homeschooling)
The short version is that I am looking for online resources--games, activities, or things that can be printed off and used pretty much independently by a student in the classroom who is just not at the same level as everyone else there.
Here's the more complete version--we live in tiny (100ppl) rural town in Alaska. DH is the secondary teacher (grades 6-12, he has 9 students) and then there is an elementary teacher who has 5 students--it just so happens that 4 of the students are in 2nd grade, and my DS is a gifted 3rd grader. She teaches them all together at one level, which is (obviously) totally inappropriate for DS. He was woefully under-stimulated last year, to the degree that I wanted to pull him out this year. Unfortunately, tiny district that it is, the elementary teacher also happens to be the superintendent, so DS's teacher is also DH's boss...so we can't pull out our son because that jeopardizes DH's job, and he needs to keep this job one more year. (We are hoping/planning to move next year but that's a whole other story.) Anyway, for political reasons, we have to keep DS in school.
We have spoken with the teacher about better stimulating DS, and it has become clear that she is a moron. I mean that in a very literal way--she's incompetent on multiple fronts. Another 'joy' of this tiny school is that they take who they can get...she's willing to be here long-term, so they keep her even though her license has expired and she's twice last year failed the competency test to re-certify. But of course we can't just say "the reason our son isn't doing much in your class is that you're too dumb to properly stimulate our gifted child"...and there are no other teachers...so we have been working on another solution.
My son is in 3rd grade, although he's ahead in math and a little behind in writing (reading is ok, but he fights writing). He's a very sharp kid, but gets lazy if he's not appropriately stimulated (ie, if it's boring he doesn't want to bother, if it's too hard he'll refuse to try). I am working with him on the attitude side (encouraging him to do his work regardless--even if it's boring, giving it a try--even if it's hard). We have found though that when we give him activities of the right level, his interest levels are high and there is no problem with him focusing. So our solution has been to help the teacher have more level-appropriate things for him.
This teacher really likes to rely on the internet. I have subbed for her a few times (I'm also a certified teacher, though I stay home since having kids), and I found that she likes to print off probably at least 1/3 of her curriculum. In other words, she would rather not prepare lessons herself, but prefers to use things others have already made. This makes a unique situation--we've realized that if we can point her to a lot of resources that are appropriate for our DS, she will probably use them (happy to not have to do it herself) and he should have a much better year.
SO, if anyone can recommend websites that have things available (not curriculum to purchase, but just things that are already available online) I would sure appreciate it! I've been googling and found some really neat things already, so I know there's good stuff out there.
The short version is that I am looking for online resources--games, activities, or things that can be printed off and used pretty much independently by a student in the classroom who is just not at the same level as everyone else there.
Here's the more complete version--we live in tiny (100ppl) rural town in Alaska. DH is the secondary teacher (grades 6-12, he has 9 students) and then there is an elementary teacher who has 5 students--it just so happens that 4 of the students are in 2nd grade, and my DS is a gifted 3rd grader. She teaches them all together at one level, which is (obviously) totally inappropriate for DS. He was woefully under-stimulated last year, to the degree that I wanted to pull him out this year. Unfortunately, tiny district that it is, the elementary teacher also happens to be the superintendent, so DS's teacher is also DH's boss...so we can't pull out our son because that jeopardizes DH's job, and he needs to keep this job one more year. (We are hoping/planning to move next year but that's a whole other story.) Anyway, for political reasons, we have to keep DS in school.
We have spoken with the teacher about better stimulating DS, and it has become clear that she is a moron. I mean that in a very literal way--she's incompetent on multiple fronts. Another 'joy' of this tiny school is that they take who they can get...she's willing to be here long-term, so they keep her even though her license has expired and she's twice last year failed the competency test to re-certify. But of course we can't just say "the reason our son isn't doing much in your class is that you're too dumb to properly stimulate our gifted child"...and there are no other teachers...so we have been working on another solution.
My son is in 3rd grade, although he's ahead in math and a little behind in writing (reading is ok, but he fights writing). He's a very sharp kid, but gets lazy if he's not appropriately stimulated (ie, if it's boring he doesn't want to bother, if it's too hard he'll refuse to try). I am working with him on the attitude side (encouraging him to do his work regardless--even if it's boring, giving it a try--even if it's hard). We have found though that when we give him activities of the right level, his interest levels are high and there is no problem with him focusing. So our solution has been to help the teacher have more level-appropriate things for him.
This teacher really likes to rely on the internet. I have subbed for her a few times (I'm also a certified teacher, though I stay home since having kids), and I found that she likes to print off probably at least 1/3 of her curriculum. In other words, she would rather not prepare lessons herself, but prefers to use things others have already made. This makes a unique situation--we've realized that if we can point her to a lot of resources that are appropriate for our DS, she will probably use them (happy to not have to do it herself) and he should have a much better year.
SO, if anyone can recommend websites that have things available (not curriculum to purchase, but just things that are already available online) I would sure appreciate it! I've been googling and found some really neat things already, so I know there's good stuff out there.
