Posts: 12

I have a question- I have a 4th grader who has been in gifted classes since 3rd grade. This is when they begin in our school system. He is very bright, but also, very lazy. He does the bare minimum, and seems to get aggravated when he has to do anything. He enjoys doing things that interest him, but if they do not, he does not put his effort into it. I have wondered if he really should be in the gifted classes, even though he is smart enough, is it the right atmosphere for him. We wanted him in it, so he got used to it now, and had an easier time of it the rest of his school years. But now I am wondering if we started him to early, and should let him be a kid as long as possible?

Posts: 11

I can say from my friends's experience that sometimes you shouldn't overload the kid with extra classes. I'm sure, there are few children who do what is necessary. Most of them do what they like and when they like And of course, the child should have time for rest, just to do nothing

Posts: 12

Well, that is my dilemma, we put our kids to bed at 7:30 every night. They get plenty of sleep. And they have plenty of downtime, so that is why i am wondering why he feels he is overloaded. His classes are not in addition to, they are in place of regular math class and language arts...

Posts: 15

He enjoys doing things that interest him, but if they do not, he does not put his effort into it.

I hope that this is just because of his age, because I'm 21 years old now and have the same problem

Well, I think, such full of laziness and apathy behavior is just ordinary children protest against everything. It's normal. He wouldn't like to do interesting things if you proposed him to do them) Does he have any hobby? Maybe, he would show better results at school if there were not only boring things (school classes) but also smth interesting and funny ( additional sport, photo or other classes ) in his life. And, of course, free time.

Posts: 11

Well, that is my dilemma, we put our kids to bed at 7:30 every night.

That's great. When I was a 4-grader, I used to go to bed not earlier than 10 pm

In fact, it's a big problem to make a kid understand that he's responsible for something, for his classes at school, for his younger sister or brother and so on. By the way, does he help about the house and with the younger one?

Posts: 12

Well, I have to force them to....they throw fits every time I ask them to do something, but I make them do it anyways. They seem to get upset about everything.But you are right!

Posts: 2

There are boarding schools that doesn't entirely lean on the academics. They mix their curriculum with other extra-curriculum like sports and other outdoor activities. This way, the student get congested with school work.