We have a gifted (99%) 8 year old girl, who is (at home) loving, creative, sparkling, demanding, busy, stormy, often sweet, sometimes rude, always singing, moving and flinging herself about. She talks non-stop, can be extremely kind or extremely mean to her siblings and is prone to fits of complete, raging fury (over perceived slights, too-tight socks, the unfairness of her life, the end of her allotted screen-time, a request to wear long sleeves in the dead of winter, being asked to tidy the humungous mess that seems to always follow her... etc etc etc ... after which she is often very contrite and apologises, saying she 'just felt overwhelmed'). She does really well at school and is absolutely no problem in the classroom - indeed her teacher describes her as a 'teacher's dream' thanks to her enquiring mind. She is sociable and generally popular but doesn't have a 'best friend' and feels that lack, I think.
We have had a couple of meetings with her teacher and gone through the ed psych report. The teacher is wonderful, thoughtful and very smart, and brought along texts she had been reading around giftedness etc. She says she is taking care to try to place our daughter with various children who can give her some challenge in each subject. However, there are 26 kids in the class so I'm sure there's a limit to how much priority our daughter's needs can be given! She is the youngest in her year and will next year go into a combined class with the year above, which is good - academically, though maybe not socially - I think. Her teacher says she is going to try to place her with the head of P4C (Philosophy for Kids) next year. Our daughter doesn't seem to be bored at school but LOVED her experience of the ODS open day. Her teacher thinks it is not necessary for her, but is happy for us to take her to ODS if we feel it is the right choice.
I recently spoke to a 'gifted school' teacher from another area, who said gifted programmes were only really necessary for kids for whom school wasn't working and it is advisable in the first instance to stick with 'normal' school if all is well, and supplement with a language, musical instrument, lots of deep conversations at home (which she gets) etc. I have also heard that some of the behaviour, attitude and social skills of SOME of the children at ODS is perhaps, shall we say ... not what we want encouraged in our daughter!!
I'd be really grateful to hear people's opinions about whether they think ODS is suitable for a mostly happy, mostly popular kid with a great teacher at her everyday school? She is keen to give ODS a try, but we're not yet convinced it's the best thing for her.
Thanks very much! (we are in the AKL Central ODS catchment)
Re: Is One Day School a good idea for us? Opinions PLEASE!
Author: SJW
Date: 23-08-12 13:44
On a purely pragmatic level, are there other things your daughter would like to do which you could use the $2500 (or thereabouts) that ODS would cost you for? If she is happy and thriving at school, and her teachers are both interested and actively providing for her, I'd investigate this before withdrawing her from school for 20% of her school week. It could be that that money could be used for music, dance, sport, drama, a myriad of out-of-school things that would also extend her. (BTW, I am not anti-ODS and have had mostly positive experiences with my kids there.)
Hi our son had started ODS this term and really loves it. I think it allows him freedom to learn in a different way. There are 11 kids in the class and yes there are a variety of personalities from what I can see! I personally would describe our son as being 'bigger than himself!' he loves normal school, is very sporty and socially well adjusted and liked. We wavered about mixing things up with adding ODS.
our son is a highly gifted visual spatial learner so constructing and creation are really big for him. ODS really foster this but also is flexibke in how the kids choose to explore different ideas. We waited 6 months before I Re approached our school about the possibility of him attending....I didn't want to piss any one off! I think they realised after this time that he could benefit from a day out of the normal routine of school. since he has attended he has accelerated in reading at normal school , which being a VS learner was a bit slower to get off the ground and amazingly his teacher has said his behaviour has dramatically improved. ODS seems to be agreeing with him, he does realise the kids there are different and commented he must have been put in the class with 'the strange people'?...but not meant in a bad way! As long as he is keen to attend we will send him however I'm sure there will come a point where he wants to stay at his regular school with his friends.
If you feel she will love it then she will. I'm not really sure how teachers at regular school are supposed to cater for gifted kids without falling into the trap of acceleration In all the regular subjects. ODS seems to foster lateral and divergent thinking on all levels and subjects.
Good luck I would go for it! Sorry if this is all over the place I am typing as I think!
Re: Is One Day School a good idea for us? Opinions PLEASE!
Author: Sue
Date: 23-08-12 21:50
Actually it's not hard to cater for lateral and divergent thinking in the regular classroom at primary school. There are heaps of fantastic resources available and it's reasonably easy to incorporate into topic studies. In literacy, tools such as Kaplan's Depth and Complexity Tools provide excellent extension if you don't want your child accelerated. All it takes is some flexibility on the part of the teacher and a willingness to differentiate appropriately.
I agree about ODS catering well for those kids who love to construct stuff and invent. It can be hard to provide for this in a regular classroom - there often isn't the space to allow for it or to store works in progress. My VS daughter found it really beneficial to her learning to be able to do the hands-on work at ODS and as the teacher always let us know what the topic was going to be the week before, she did all her research at home first. One of my other children was very 'bookish' and didn't enjoy ODS as much - often found it noisy and not very conducive for her love of writing and drawing - though the intellectual aspect of having kids who thought at her level was something she did enjoy.
Hi confused, our daughter sounds very much like yours! Very creative and sparkling, musical, often singing and daydreaming with fantastic stories in her head, loving yet sometimes moody and stormy, very sensitive yet also proving to be quite resilient in (or should that be, to) the ever more complicated world of 9-year-old-girl school social scene. Maybe they should meet up sometime? We're in central Auckland too (Mt Eden area).
She attended ODS for 2 terms last year (starting around age 8), and really enjoyed the experience. Like your daughter she generally loves school and was maybe a bit immature in the classroom but otherwise no problem. Her Year 3 teacher recommended ODS for her to keep the creativity spark alive, and she did really enjoy the topics and creativity that ODS encourages. But it was a bit disruptive to her other activities she loved, not school work so much, but clashed with choir etc, and also she tended to miss out on special school events that were often on the Friday of her ODS class.
As she had a very good, and flexible, regular teacher who really encouraged her in her areas of strength such as imaginative story writing and poetry(I agree with Sue, there are ways kidds can be extended in class without being accelerated per se), we withdrew her from ODS and she had a great rest-of-the-year just in normal school. But her teacher did think ODS had been very beneficial for her, improving her maturity and time-management skills considerably.
SJW has a point, extracurricular activities can extend a child if they are already happy in class anyway, our daughter does plenty of activities to stimulate her interests (art, piano, choir, dance and drama, plus thinking sports like orienteering, and other activities like swimming, flippaball).
Not sure this rambling is helpful really. We ummed and ahhed about ODS before deciding to try it (we could afford it OK, anther consideration), because if you don't try it you'll never know!
On another note I'm curious which school you are at, that has a Philosophy 4 Kids head teacher - I'd love to see something like that at our school (Maungawhau) and would be keen to find out more and make some recommendations to our SENCO/Principal.
Re: Is One Day School a good idea for us? Opinions PLEASE!
Author: Sue
Date: 25-08-12 10:07
Balmoral Primary School is a "philosophy for kids" school - all teachers are trained in P4C and it is a regular part of the school programme. Not sure if that is the school confused's daughter is at. Balmoral hosted the Philosophy for Children conference this year which was excellent.
Re: Is One Day School a good idea for us? Opinions PLEASE!
Author: confused
Date: 25-08-12 13:20
Thank you for all your contributions - yes, our daughter is at Balmoral.
We are extremely happy with the school, but our girl is very keen to try ODS, and we thought the open day was great too - hence our dilemma.
I kind of wish she could go to ODS on Saturdays - it was great fun, and seemed to her like playtime for the whole session. People asking her opinions all day - she loved that - and the make and create time had her jumping up and down flapping her hands, squealing "I've died and gone to heaven!"
But everyday school isn't failing her in any way, and her teacher is really great (in fact all of her teachers, and our son's, so far have been marvellous) there.
ODS does have its advantages, but our personal experience wasn't the best. There were a number of children who were completely uncontrollable in the class room. It seemed that being gifted was an excuse for not participating in the class. My suggestion is for you to go an observe the interaction of the children and the teacher prior to making your decision.
Our family is now starting to think of the next stage - University. We have found the MIT (Boston) site very interesting. Although the odds of an international student making it to MIT are difficult their suggested curriculum prior to arrival is interesting reading. It lists the tests, types of study, summer schools and areas outside of the class room they expect a student to achieve while at highschool. Amongst the usual academic requirements two areas were highlighted. The learning of a second language and creative/education activities outside of the classroom.
This reinforces my view that the family sets the curriculum of the education of our children of which school plays a part. Not the schools setting the curriculum of which the family plays a part.
Re: Is One Day School a good idea for us? Opinions PLEASE!
Author: Jessica Parsons
Date: 31-08-12 14:45
Hi,
If you haven't already considered this option, Auckland Explorers runs Saturday activities every other week during term time and various other cool things too.
This is a very budget-friendly to extend your school experience.
I have had two children through Balmoral, and attending ODS. Both started when they were six. The Philosophy for Children at Balmoral is great. But it is not done enough. I remember a time when my son was there he dropped the ball or whatever it was that they passed around when it was their turn to talk during the philosophy session (he was very compliant at school so I know him dropping it would not have been deliberate), so the teacher wouldn't let him have his turn. He then had to wait another week before they ran the 10 minute philosophy session again. The teacher's are great. But they all have a number of others in the class all at different levels so simply cannot provide the extra that these children need.
Both my children were happy enough at school but ODS has benefited them both in so many ways. They are both happy, confident learners and I attribute alot of their success to the ODS programme.
My son took some time off ODS when in year 7 but asked to return again in year 8. After his first day back there he was absolutely buzzing when I picked him up (as he always had been earlier), when I asked him what it was that he liked about ODS he replied "I feel normal there". I think that says it all. The power of being with like-minded peers was a great feeling for him.
My suggestion would be to give ODS a go. If it doesn't work for you after trying for a term then you don't have to return.
Good luck!
Re: Is One Day School a good idea for us? Opinions PLEASE!
Author: Sue
Date: 31-08-12 23:00
10 minutes for a philosophy session! Sounds like they're playing at it - you need 20 or so minutes in the junior school and up to an hour at senior school to do justice to a philosophical discussion. If you're using a picture book stimulus, you use 5 minutes of the philosophy time just reading the story and at junior school you should be teaching some of the skills as well, so 10 minutes amazes me.
Re: Is One Day School a good idea for us? Opinions PLEASE!
Author: confused
Date: 02-09-12 12:31
Philosophy -
My 8-year old daughter (year 4 at Balmoral) says "Philosophy is when we sit in a circle and talk about a certain topic, and then we have a discussion about it with the whole class. Sometimes the teacher joins in. It is usually once a week, and usually takes about 45 minutes. Once we zoomed through it and it only took 30 minutes. We take turns to speak about a particular topic (some they have covered: Friendship, Monsters, What are the themes behind 'The Lion in the Meadow' book). "Sometimes we start with a book or a story and the teacher asks us a question. If someone has a question or comment after one of us has had our turn to speak, they raise their hand and speak about their idea and then we get back to taking turns around the circle, so everyone gets a turn - kind of a discussion circle. I like the fact that everyone can offer their opinion, but its annoying when someone else has the same opinion as you before it gets to your turn".
They also have Rich Task, where they study a topic for a term (this term it is: "Who keeps the Stories Alive"). My daughter says they have "philosophy-type discussions around the Rich Task topics - talking about what they have learned and what they think - but it's not 'actual philosophy'. :)
I'd like to recommend you try ODS if you're thinking about it. Our daughter (11) in yr 8 at public school is very compliant and noise sensitive, keeps to herself and has nothing good to say about regular school. At ODS she says she "can be normal", found a friend, looks forward to her ODS day. Sometimes the topic coincides with regular school and she's commented "law and order was so much fun in ODS, why do they have to make it boring (in social studies)?". She complains about the behaviour of the kids in regular school, finds the cliques very unfriendly/mean, and has been overwhelmed by noise at assemblies. She's been attending ODS for 2.5 yrs (had a 1/2 yr once).
Re: Is One Day School a good idea for us? Opinions PLEASE!
Author: country girl
Date: 03-09-12 21:22
My 13 year old daughter attended ODS for 4 years (from 7 - 11 years) and enjoyed her time there and the friends she made there are all at her secondary school now (and mostly in her class as they have streamed classes) - they all continue to be good friends. I realised how important having like minds were when she told me the story of her playing with some building material at ODS and making a ladder and when she twisted it she said "Hey, it looks like a DNA strand" and everyone knew what she was talking about. Finally, children who didn't look at you like you were a weirdo when you made a discovery.
The classes were always small so even if someone was a bit boisterous it was never at the expense of the others' learning.
I think they usually have a psychologist interview and test your child before they are accepted and it is them that decide if ODS would be a good placement.
My daughter was not having any problems at regular school and loved it there - she actually loved it more when she missed a day as she had to catch up then (a bit more of a challenge).
I would do it all again in a second even though it was a huge expense ($600 a term for 4 years) because she found like minded friends which was worth its weight in gold.
Hi I started my 6 year old at ODS this year and we are doing explorers club aswell which is great for the whole family ( parents included) it took 6 months for my sons teacher to accept and embrace ODS but it has just become the norm now. How do I know its worth? the amaizing things my child comes out with and when questioned it invariably came from ODS discussions. Expense is nothing in comparrison to rates and insurance. Nothing ventured nothing gained is my philosphy.
Hi I started my 6 year old at ODS this year and we are doing explorers club aswell which is great for the whole family ( parents included) it took 6 months for my sons teacher to accept and embrace ODS but it has just become the norm now. How do I know its worth? the amaizing things my child comes out with and when questioned it invariably came from ODS discussions. Expense is nothing in comparrison to rates and insurance. Nothing ventured nothing gained is my philosphy.
