Intelligent 8-yr old doen't care

My 8yo daughter (9yo next month) is in 4th grade this year. She is very intelligent. At the end of last year she was testing on an 8th grade reading level and scored a 4 out of a possible 4 on her end of grade tests. This year she was placed into a 4th/5th grade combination class. We have been starting homework at 3:30PM and the earliest we have finished this week is 7:20PM. She says the work is too hard (her father told her that she was getting a mean teacher this year and the work was going to be hard, he's an ex for a reason and I ran all the damage control I could on that comment) but the work is a review of last year. She cries, she whines, she complains, she even started to have a panic attack a few nights ago. What do I do? I do not want to see a gifted childs ed go down the drain!

[RockRose]

That's too long for an eight year old to sit and do work.  All day long in school,  and then 4 hours at home is way,  way beyond her capabiity to focus and you will not make ANY progress making her work that long.

At our school,  most of the 4th graders read on an 8th grade reading level - that's an indication of a child who comes from a good,  organized and supportive home,  not really an indication that she has exceptional capability.  It certainly doesn't indicate that she can work for 11 hours in a row!!

In fourth grade,  she should be doing a max of 40 minutes of work each night.  You will break her back,  and spirit with this kind of schedule.

Can you talk to the teacher?  I'm sure the teacher would want to know that child had to work 4 hours to complete the assignment - no teacher wants that.

Best wishes.  

[m31dd]

I agree that this is entirely too long. This is my issue. I meet with the teacher next week, but the other kids aren't having this problem. It's almost like she doesn't want to do kid things. She is the oldest of three but I have made every effort to not put too much responsibility on her. I do push education and she knows that schoolwork comes before any rec activities. She loved reading before last year and now she doesn't seem interested (I blame the new AR system partially, last year her teacher had her reading an hour each night and taking at least one AR test daily but this left no time to read the books she liked that had no AR test and chapter books were out all together). I've even contacted a child therapist to see if they can help but where we live the earliest I can get her in is September. Breaking her spirit is the last thing I want to do, do I send her to school with only the homework she completes in an hour? Then her grades suffer, but is that better than the alternative? She's a straight A student. Is she just testing me?

[RockRose]

I'm surprised you say they wanted a 3rd grader to read an hour each night,  and test daily.  This just seems so counter productive.

I live in an extremely academically competitive school district,  and none of my kids ever had to do this.  They go to a top 50 in the US high school,  so it isn't like they're getting a slacker education.

What's going on here?  I would be very,  very surprised if "other kids aren't having this problem".  Maybe they aren't complaining,  but asking a 3rd grader to read for an hour EVERY NIGHT is way,  way too much.  Especially if they aren't allowed to choose books of interest.

[m31dd]

Thank you so much for that last comment! I have been saying that for the last year! Everyone in my family and at the school disagrees with me on this. It is nice to know I'm not the only one who feels like this is too much on a child. We had an interview last year with a private school that is one of the top rated in our state and they were ready to accept her, but the workload was worse than the public school she is in now. Needless to say, we decided to turn that down, financial aid to the tune of $700/month and all. I just want my children to get a quality education and be CHILDREN all at the same time. Maybe the meeting next week will be productive. Thanks for your comments!

[kitcurious]

That is WAAAY too much homewrok. I wouldn't of 4 hours worth of work after I got home from a long days work and I am interested in what I do.

I agree with RockRose about the reading level. It would not be an indication of giftedness. Find out how longn some of the other students are spending on their homework. If  it's much less time for many of the kids , maybe it's not the class for her.
If most of them are struggling then they need to re evaluate the program.

[peekawho]

I agree.  See if you can contact some other parentst to see how their kids are doing.  If several are having problems, talk to the teacher again.  

Also,is a lot of her time spent whining, rather than just doing her work?  My oldest son used to spend hours upon hours crying about homework he could have done in 15 minutes, if he had just knuckled down to do it.  Instead he would cry, get up for water, bathroom trips, fall off his chair every 5 minutes, cry some more, make random marks on paper...anything but do his work.

[girliegrl1723]

sounds like what i do now....at work! haha. except for the falling off the chair part. i only do that on mondays after a long weekend!

sorry, i just had to say that.

[ang7880]

I am also in AR.  I have a 3rd grader who is in a split 3rd/4th class this year.  His teacher was the same as your daughter's last year... had an AR test nearly every other day.  He did do well, but is also ADHD, so is on medication.  I was quite surprised that he was chosen for the split class.  I mean, he is very intelligent and very capable...but needs one-on-one guidance and help with his work...to stay focused.  During the beginning of school this year he had hours and hours of homework each night.  And had a lot of trouble remembering what assignments he was to complete.  He has an assignment notebook now, in which he writes down each assignment in each subject first thing that morning.  Whatever does not get completed during the school day is brought home to finish.  The past couple of weeks have been much better and the homework load has lessened.  

How is your daughter doing now???  Please keep me posted!