WAG Transitioning to Middle School with Gymnastics

[AgingHippie]

My DD is starting middle school next year and the bus will pick up at 6:45. This is a huge difference as now she does not even have to wake up until 7:30. In tandem practice hours will be extended another half hour on the back end getting her home around 9:25. She only has 1/2 hour in between school and going to gym so no homework is done then and she eats both ways in the car so no homework time there either.

We just got her class recommendations and she has been recommended for all GT classes this fall. She has been in GT Math the last two years in elementary school so that one is a no brainer, she has to stay in GT or she will be working on things she did in 4th grade. That is the only subject that offers GT in the elementary school. My concern is with the other classes and if it will just be too much.

I called the school and they said they can easily switch her into a GT class if she is too bored in the regular classes if we decide to decline some of the placements. They also advised me that in History the class work is generally the same but in GT they do a lot of research projects at home that do not necessarily correlate with the day to day curriculum.

Has anybody been in a similar situation and what did you do? What was your experience?

FWIW, DD will be a level 7 and is on the younger side for entering middle school, she will turn 11 in late summer, right when school starts.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Seeker]

I would keep her in the math but not the history. She likely won't have time to do independent research projects and history isn't the kind of course you really need to get ahead on IMO. No sense in overwhelming her right out of the gate.

 

[AgingHippie]

I would keep her in the math but not the history. She likely won't have time to do independent research projects and history isn't the kind of course you really need to get ahead on IMO. No sense in overwhelming her right out of the gate.

Of course, history was my minor so I would love for her to do it but I was thinking the same thing.

What are your thoughts on English Language Art and or Science?

 

[gymnastbeth]

I always had the mindset of, if you really enjoy and excel at a subject, take it at the high level. In high school I was recommended for all higher level classes, but chose only to take the ones that I was actually interested in. Does she enjoy English language arts or science? I found that the more I was interested in a subject, the easier it was to keep up with the work load. Especially with so many hours in the gym, there's no sense devoting huge amounts of time and effort into classes just for the sake of taking them GT.

 

[mommyof1]

I have some experience with gifted kids, and my perspective is that it's risky to put a gifted kid in regular classes, especially English and math. It can be incredibly frustrating and demotivating for these kids not to be taught at the proper pace. It's even worse if all the other gifted kids are pulled out so there is not a wide range of ability levels in the class and the gifted kid is the sole outlier.

 

[gymdoc]

ODD was borderline for gifted English and we waivered on whether to enroll her in it. Her school counselor said the higher level English class in middle school does correlate with higher ACT and SAT scores in high school, as their vocabulary base is much higher and they have more defined critical thinking skills. Something to consider

 

[skschlag]

Here are a couple of questions:

What time does school start and end?
What time does practice start and end?
Can she take an "off" period? (DS is a TA one period which gives him time to get work done.

Just anecdotally it sounds like a really long day. If she is in school/gym basically from 6:45-9:25 (from leaving home to returning) you are going to need to get creative with school work anyway you go. If she does better with the more challenging work, then I would say go that way.

 

[profmom]

Our system does not get to advanced social studies until high school. All three of mine were frustrated by the slow pace of history/social studies in junior high. They'd have killed for an advanced history class.

I'd ask myself how she's doing now. Is she keeping up with some effort, managing, or thriving and enjoying all of her advanced classes and being bored in the non-advanced ones? If she's thriving, don't deny her the challenge. If she's expending a lot of energy now to keep up, then dial it back for next year.

Signed, Owner and operator of a ninth grade gymnast currently enrolled in AP World History, Honors Biology + Lab, Honors Geometry, Honors English, Spanish, Orchestra, and Studio Art -- and a seventh grade gymnast currently enrolled in Accelerated Science, pre-Algebra in preparation for Honors Algebra next year, Honors English, Social Studies, Spanish, Art, and Band. The one compromise DS made to adjust to the junior high was opting not to go out for select band, but he's doing jazz ensemble and intends to add choir next year. For my crew, busy and challenged = happy and out of trouble.

 

[AgingHippie]

It is going to be a really long day. Luckily we drew one of our evening practices on a Friday so that should help a little with two week nights off. School starts at 7:20 and goes until 2:25. She will get off the bus at 3:05 and practice runs 4:15 to at 8:45.

If I drive her to school in the morning it will giver her an extra 15 minutes but I am not sure that will make a significant difference really.

They do get a free period on Wednesday and of course that is one of the nights we actually don't have gym so that's not all that helpful.

She would be most interested in adding the GT Science but I am leaning towards not adding anything at all or adding the GT English which is her least favorite subject at all. That is kind of
odd because she reads every chance she gets.

My ODD is in middle school and she really does not seem to get a lot of homework but I suspect she is in the lowest of the on grade level in most of her classes so I'm not sure that I can use her experience as a baseline.

 

[AgingHippie]

Our system does not get to advanced social studies until high school. All three of mine were frustrated by the slow pace of history/social studies in junior high. They'd have killed for an advanced history class.

I'd ask myself how she's doing now. Is she keeping up with some effort, managing, or thriving and enjoying all of her advanced classes and being bored in the non-advanced ones? If she's thriving, don't deny her the challenge. If she's expending a lot of energy now to keep up, then dial it back for next year.

Signed, Owner and operator of a ninth grade gymnast currently enrolled in AP World History, Honors Biology + Lab, Honors Geometry, Honors English, Spanish, Orchestra, and Studio Art -- and a seventh grade gymnast currently enrolled in Accelerated Science, pre-Algebra in preparation for Honors Algebra next year, Honors English, Social Studies, Spanish, Art, and Band. The one compromise DS made to adjust to the junior high was opting not to go out for select band, but he's doing jazz ensemble and intends to add choir next year. For my crew, busy and challenged = happy and out of trouble.

Holy Moly! That is crazy and encouraging to hear. She is in all above grade level classes (and the GT Math) and getting straight A's with very minimal effort. I think it's just the unknown of what GT in Middle school really looks like that is freaking me out.

I heard horror stores about GT Math in Elementary school and so far that just has not been our experience.

 

[profmom]

Mine are also on the bus at 6:55 AM and have gym until 9 every night but Thursday. The biggest things around that really were making sure that they did as much as they could over the weekend to get ahead and encouraging them to get enough rest on the weekends. We also were very strict about not shoving the "must dos" to the one night off gym. It's crucial for them to have the free night really free. Yes, they use it to put out homework bonfires, but we also do some binge TV on most Thursday nights. I make a point of almost never nagging about homework or chores on that night. It really helps them to preserve their emotional balance.

 

[Ali'sMom]

I have a gifted overachieving middle honors student who gets home from gym by 9pm 4 weeknights... finishing up 7th grade, with high school honors algebra credit (and next year will be high school science and geometry), and currently in honors 7th/8th grade accelerated science.

I will tell you - it hasn't always been easy. We have had a lot of late nights. DD can handle the lack of sleep - I'm the one who can't wait until school is over (I can't, in good conscience, go to bed while she's still working algebra & science, when she might need some help).

I would totally keep the GT math. Otherwise she won't be challenged, and that's just as bad as too-challenged.
And knowing what I know now - I have to say, given the opportunity, I'd decline the History with the home-based research projects.

A couple of other posts have popped up while I've been typing and I'll agree with doing as much as possible on the weekends. We've had some moments when "everyone else is down the street at so & so's pool", but she has homework... I do my best to get her to take breaks, etc.

If the GT language arts isn't more work, just more mentally challenging, I'd keep it.

 

[profmom]

Given what I have seen from some recent undergraduate work, I have to weigh in strongly for as much good history as possible in elementary and secondary education. And I think kids are much more likely to succeed with what they love -- I'd go for history over language arts if she's a reader.

 

[munchkin3]

we are in the same boat......
IMO, its not the gifted classes or the levels that is the problem.....its the TIME and how much time she REALISTICALLY has to do everything. It would be very unfair to expect her to take on this workload and go to practice for several hours every night, if she has no time to do homework or relax a little.
The only way to accomplish everything is to ask the school to give her time to do her homework, or allow her to be excused early from school in order to do her homework at home. OR to give her no homework during the week........
But to expect that she is going to be up from 6:30 AM until 9:30PM with no real break, and THEN homework every night is a recipe for a very unhappy kid.

I feel your pain- I considered homeschooling simply because i hate middle school.....but DH said no way. So for DD it will be all advanced classes....(where she belongs).......we said NO to accelerated gifted math (this would be too much extra)...school starts at 8:30 so I can let her sleep until 8.....she will leave school early at 2;30 everyday on an 'athletic' exception to do homework at home...practice is at 4 for 4 hrs everyday......I will NO WAY let her stay up past 10 PM simply because she must sleep in order to function well, ( even regular kids!).....these gymnasts are under exceptional circumstances so 9-10 hrs of sleep is very very important....I do not have a hyper child. Mine needs her downtime to be happy in whatever she is doing. If she is tired, then she is stressed and sick. She is a straight A student and is a top 3 finisher for the most part, so I need to be very careful with burn out. sometimes we take a rest day from school, and sometimes we take a day off from gym to enjoy a restaurant. ITS OK.....

PLEASE dont load your kid up......i have seen SO many kids implode.....they dont need to take every 'xtra' thing offered...they dont need to be exceptional at EVERYTHING!
If you want her in high level gymnastics, then something has got to give in school
or
she can take ALL the super advanced workload and give up a little time from gym....
(we are giving up a bit everywhere.)

 

[oplei]

My DD just finished her 6th grade year and the homework was significant. I know that she spent many recesses trying to get her homework done because her day was long like your DD. What helped my daughter mentally was that we talked to her coach at the start of the school year and asked her whether it would be ok on the overwhelming days that we take her out of practice 1 to 1.5 hours early. Our coach agreed with this plan. I'll bet for the entire school year she left early 3 or 4 times but it helped her to feel like she was in control and it also drove home the point that school was expected to be priority #1.

 

[twocurlygirlz]

Start out with the full load- make an agreement to do it for the first semester- that is also the easiest in terms of travel/meets/etc. for gymnastics. Sit down and re-evaluate at end of first semester and see what worked and what didn't. Having two weeknights off and that extra period Wed. will help tons - I think if you don't do it you will also wonder "whati if". If you do try and it just does not work out no shame in dropping the most difficult subject/teacher for the second semester. Always keeping in mind that the likelihood of an academic scholarship far outweighs the likelihood of a gymnastics scholarship and a kid that smart should be allowed to thrive if she can pull it all off! Good Luck and keep us posted!

 

[munchkin3]

Start out with the full load- make an agreement to do it for the first semester- that is also the easiest in terms of travel/meets/etc. for gymnastics. Sit down and re-evaluate at end of first semester and see what worked and what didn't. Having two weeknights off and that extra period Wed. will help tons - I think if you don't do it you will also wonder "whati if". If you do try and it just does not work out no shame in dropping the most difficult subject/teacher for the second semester. Always keeping in mind that the likelihood of an academic scholarship far outweighs the likelihood of a gymnastics scholarship and a kid that smart should be allowed to thrive if she can pull it all off! Good Luck and keep us posted!

THIS!!!!

 

[mommyof1]

How much extra work will really be associated with the GT classes? It might vary by subject, e.g., extra projects in history class. But in some subjects, the volume of work may not be any greater for GT than for the standard class. My fourth-grader's accelerated math class seems to have less homework than the standard class, if anything.

As a side note, you are incredibly fortunate to have GT classes available in all subjects at the middle school level. Our district does not differentiate instruction in any subject in middle school. Kids who were on the accelerated math track in elementary school can take above-grade-level courses with older kids, but there are no honors courses. "GT" is an elective course where they do extra projects, and it displaces an elective such as music or foreign language.

 

[thefellowsmom]

My dd has been is a self-contained gifted program throughout elementary school and is entering middle school. She will be taking freshman algebra and a full boat of honors classes. I was concerned too about the classes being too much too and was told that kids that are academically strong should pick the honors classes that they find very interesting because the load will be challenging and being interested in the subject will be helpful. But for those who are diagnosed gifted in our district and went through the gifted program, any mainstream middle school class is going to be boring and they are already working at the rigorous level of the honors classes so it won't feel any different.

This spring I met with our middle school principal to discuss our situation. Dd is training level 9/10 at the gym 5 hours a day five days a week and the gym is 45mins each way. My child is not a kid who can just jump from one thing to another without recovery time and live without sleep so I knew something had to give and I am so grateful for how supportive her school has been.

We came up with a plan. She will take her core honors courses at school and leave at lunch time. She will stay and eat lunch with her friends at least a few times a week and have time to see her teachers if necessary and then I will pick her up. This will give her the time in the middle of the day to do homework and have some down time. Then she will take language as summer intensive through an approved online school so she gets her high school credits for that and pursue her electives independently. She is choosing to take private voice lessons and educate herself more deeply about her passion for photography. She will need to complete the health requirement by coming in for zero hour on designate days they will provide for us.

It feels like the right balance for her. I know not all schools are so accommodating but I was very surprised how open they were once I just gave them an honest, respectful full picture of what her life is like and that she takes both gymnastics and her academics very seriously and we have chosen to support her in that and we hope that they will support her too. I never demanded or asked permission, just insisted that we work together on it to find something we could all live with given the difficult circumstances. I was floored and so grateful that they were so supportive.

 

[mommyof1]

She is in all above grade level classes (and the GT Math) and getting straight A's with very minimal effort.

The straight A's with minimal effort thing has been a problem for us. It seems to have led to what Carol Dweck calls a "fixed mindset" and unrealistic expectations, such as "I should be able to do everything perfectly the first time" and "I should be the best at everything without even trying." So that's one reason to go for the more challenging courses, but that won't necessarily happen to every kid.

I think it's just the unknown of what GT in Middle school really looks like that is freaking me out.

Middle school freaks me out too, GT or not!