u/Big_Black_Cat

If you’re gifted or have a gifted kid, I’d appreciate hearing if you thought skipping a grade was beneficial. Did it make socializing more difficult? Did it relieve any boredom or were you still ahead of the class?

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My son's only 3, very young for anything definitive, but I still have giftedness on my radar just in case because he's so atypically advanced in certain subjects. Most of his strengths are in math, though.

I'm asking this because I'd like to get an idea what school might be like for him in the later years. I know gifted kids can really struggle with boredom in school, so I'm wondering if it's mostly just math that I'll have to worry about or if it's multiple/all subjects. I have a lot of anxiety over this (most of the stuff I read on here is very negative).

I'll list some of the stuff he's currently doing below and if it sounds at all like your kid, I'd really appreciate any insights you have on how those skills translated to school.

Also, I hear so often that it's too early to tell at a young age because a lot of this depends on what parents are teaching at home. So I'd also appreciate opinions on whether you think these skills fall within that realm of 'normal' or if this seems outside of that. I just want to know how proactive I need to be about this. Most of what he's learned has been self-taught. I don't think I've done anything that special. If anything, I've always tried to focus more on the social aspect to make sure he's well-rounded. I even picked a fully play-based daycare for him that doesn't do any academics. So far, he seems to be doing well socially and still spends a lot of time doing pretend play and outdoor time and all the typical stuff.

Anyway, this is currently where he's at:

• Math: Can count forwards/backwards to any number, can skip count with most numbers between 1-12, can multiply most numbers between 1-12, can add/subtract mentally any number with a single digit/sometimes double digit, can do long addition (but can't carry the 1), mostly understands fractions (ex. knows what 1/4 looks like visually and knows that equal 0.25 and that multiplied by a 100 it's 25%), can read the time on an analog clock to the nearest minute (and knows the 'military time' equivalent with am/pm), can use these math skills with things like the time or birth year/ages (ex. it was 5:58 and we were expecting someone at 6:30 - he told me "oh they'll be here in 32 minutes").
• Reading/writing: Was fluently reading by 2, he's now writing mostly legibly and spelling mostly accurately full sentences or stories. He doesn't use punctuation accurately, though, and uses mostly uppercase when writing. His comprehension seems average as far as I can tell.
• Memory: His memory is really remarkable. He has several family members' phone numbers, license plates, addresses, and birth year memorized. He's currently into maps and has our whole city memorized and can draw it mostly accurately. He can tell you the speed limit on different streets. He memorized French numbers from 1-100 within a day and knows 1-20 in German, Arabic, and Mandarin. He randomly came to me one day having memorized the first 10 digits of pi from his calculator. Also has other random interests memorized like all the phases of the moon, planets, digestive system, planets, etc. It isn't just rote memorization because he uses what he's learned out of order and in different contexts.

Hi. Hope it's okay to ask this here. Would love to get the opinion of fluent Arabic speakers.

I'm trying to pick a name for a baby boy and would love something that works in both English and Arabic (baby is mixed - half Iraqi). We live in an English speaking country, so I'd prefer something that works more in English or uses the English spelling, but has an Arabic variant that also works.

For example: Joseph as birth name with Yusef as the Arabic pronunciation.

I'm wondering if some of the names I've picked out are more of a stretch. My top names right now are Rowan, Alden, and Harris.

For Rowan (pronounced ro-in in English), I'm hoping the Arabic pronunciation would be like the boy name Rayan. But my mom is saying it sounds a lot more like the girl name Rawan instead. Would you think Rowan is a bad name for a boy as an Arabic speaker?

For Alden, even though it's unconventional, I'm wondering if the Arabic pronunciation could be Al-Deen (like the last name). Or is it really weird to have an Arabic first name starting with 'Al-'.

And Harris would be Haras in Arabic (meaning protector). But my mom says people don't use that as a name and it's primarily used to mean security guard, and thinks it'd be weird as a name.

I only have her opinion to go off of here and she's unsure about some of what she's saying, so just wondering what other Arabic speakers think of these names.

And any other name suggestions would be appreciated too. Thanks!

Most of the stuff I hear on Reddit is pretty negative about these kids and their experiences, both from parents and teachers. How these kids end up hating school, being extremely bored, acting out, and never building proper work ethic, so they end up struggling when they're older. I had a mom tell me recently that homeschooling was my only option and that no school would be able to offer the proper amount of differentiation, whether public or private. I'm just trying to figure out how realistic that viewpoint is since I know the loudest voices tend to be from those who are venting and have negative experiences.

I spoke to one of my son's soon to be teachers and asked her about how differentiation works at their school. I mentioned that he's currently 4 years ahead in math and reading/writing and she made it sound like it wasn't a big deal at all for the school to differentiate for that and they get kids of all sorts of levels here.

It really surprised me and I'm hoping it's true, but also doubtful. Is it more likely that she didn't believe me and is just trying to placate me or can a regular public school really offer that level of differentiation? I can also go into more detail in the comments about what he can and can't do in that helps and I'm mistaken.

Basically, I'd just like to know if I've been worrying over nothing. Anytime, I read about this topic online, it feels like I have no good options. Math is the one I'm especially worried about and hoping there can be some differentiation, since the differences there seem to be the greatest.

Also, because I know this comes up a lot, this is something I'm only worried about in the later years with my son (grade 1 onwards). I just want to understand how things work, so I can be proactive about it rather than wait for my son to hate school before anything is done. I'm not worried in the kindergarten years (JK/SK here) because I'm hoping the focus will largely be on play and socialization.

And because this also comes up a lot, he is doing well socially right now and our focus has always been on play and socialization at home. He goes to a fully play-based daycare and we're not pushing him to learn any of this stuff. He just loves math and absorbs information about all sorts of different topics very easily. If anything, I'm trying to find ways to steer him away from it, so he's not so ahead. A lot of our time is still spent doing pretend play and crafts and music and outdoor time and focusing on life skills.

My son will be starting junior kindergarten this year in September (we're in Ontario). I've been hearing a lot how technology is being overused in schools and it's been making me feel nervous.

We visited his school yesterday and my heart dropped when I walked into his classroom. They had a beautiful huge whiteboard and it was completely covered up. It was filled with good stuff (posters on behaviour, rules, numbers, etc.), but still completely covered and unusable. On one side in front of it, there was a small smart screen with some animations playing.

I know my reaction will seem extreme to most, but my son has a whiteboard in his room and I constantly rave about it. We've had it for 2 years (from 18 months to now 3.5), it's huge, fills up most of the wall, and gets hours of play every single day. I can't think of a better tool for both teaching and just exploration. I've hardly done anything and my son is years ahead with reading and math and a bunch of other subjects and it's all just him exploring different subjects he's interested in on the whiteboard. I've used it to draw and write out stories for him, write out daily routines, draw scenes for pretend play, teach him about obscure things he's interested in like the water cycle or phases of the moon or telling time on a clock. He loves math and will spend time on his own just doing math problems on the board. I think part of the reason he's an early reader is because he's watched me slowly write and sound out words on there from an early age. And the only reason he has legible handwriting and decent spelling at 3 is definitely because of this whiteboard as well. Doing things on a piece of paper or a smaller screen doesn't have the same affect. It doesn't capture interest or attention as well, at least from everything I've experienced.

I guess I was just hoping all the negative things I've been hearing from others on technology use has been exaggerated or not the norm. But seeing an essential teaching tool like a whiteboard covered up makes me feel hopeless and very worried about the later years.

I’m 18 weeks pregnant. I’ve called around 15 places today. Most aren’t accepting patients this late. One was but the hospital they’re a part of would be a 45 minute drive. Is it possible at all to have my family doctor take on this pregnancy? Any other options I have?

I’m dreading seeing my OB again. She makes me feel like complete garbage. This is my second pregnancy with her and I don’t know what I was thinking going with her again. I know it’s my fault for not planning this earlier. She’s made me cry multiple visits and was so dismissive about my concerns my last pregnancy, which potentially ended up causing harm to my baby. I think I stupidly thought she’d be different this time, especially considering my history. I really really don’t want to go through this again with her :(