Off-Topic Child Bragging

[Brassmask]

Every parent is proud of their kid and rightly so, but today I'm really proud of my kid.

The Memphis City Schools has a program called CLUE. 

CLUE is an education program designed to meet the needs of academically talented and gifted students in the Memphis City Schools. The curriculum incorporates both group and individual strategies focusing on creative thinking, critical thinking, communication, leadership, group dynamics, and problem solving.

CLUE currently serves preschool, primary, intermediate, middle, and high school students. Placement is based on individual assessment.

So, Benjamin's teacher at his daycare suggested that we take him and have him tested to see if maybe he might be eligible for their pre-school program.  She had said that was very verbal and that he would have a good shot at it. 

So, my wife took him to be tested.  The test meeting is kind of odd because they don't allow the parents to be in the room during.  They don't tell you right after as the results of the testing have to be evaluated.  They call you for the meeting to let you know if they qualify and what their test results were.

So, she just sent me an email after going:

As far as his IQ testing went, 100 is considered average.  He scored 129 which is in
the superior range.  His verbal skills were off the chart.  He was also tested on
academic stuff (reading, letter ID, Applied problems, etc).  He scored a 97 in
Academic Knowledge.  This puts him above the 95th percentile in that area.
Apparently this is impressive because he is four and has not actually been in a
school setting where he would get academic knowledge.  He was way low in spelling,
however she said boys always are.

Of course, I am so super proud of my kid but it is also great to know we haven't failed as parents and perhaps, have even done pretty well.

It's a red-letter day at our house today and I thought I'd share.

Back to the political grudge matches. 

[kimba1]

forget him brass
congratulations
people don`t understand the art of parenting is a most challenging vocation not to entered lightly.
I praise anyone who does it well.

[Amianthus]

One thing I remember about my daughter - this was like at 1 year old. The pediatrician was testing her basic reasoning skills, and he took out a box of raisins and an empty bottle. He gave my daughter a couple of the raisins to show her that they were good (she had already had raisins, but I guess it's part of the testing) then put a couple in the bottle. He put the bottle in front of her and put the box of raisins back in the drawer. Obviously, the test was to see if she could figure out how to get the raisins out of the bottle. My daughter looked at the bottle, looked at the doctor, looked back at the bottle, got up, walked over to drawer, opened it, and took out the box of raisins. Then she shoved the bottle over to the doctor and sat down and started eating raisins from the box.

[sirs]

I'm glad you're happy Brass.  It's ususally a good and healthy thing to brag about one's child.     

[BT]

Congrats Brass.

[Brassmask]

One thing I remember about my daughter - this was like at 1 year old. The pediatrician was testing her basic reasoning skills, and he took out a box of raisins and an empty bottle. He gave my daughter a couple of the raisins to show her that they were good (she had already had raisins, but I guess it's part of the testing) then put a couple in the bottle. He put the bottle in front of her and put the box of raisins back in the drawer. Obviously, the test was to see if she could figure out how to get the raisins out of the bottle. My daughter looked at the bottle, looked at the doctor, looked back at the bottle, got up, walked over to drawer, opened it, and took out the box of raisins. Then she shoved the bottle over to the doctor and sat down and started eating raisins from the box.

Nice!

[Brassmask]

Thanks y'all.

[Kramer]

Thanks y'all.

How goes the brainwashing?

[Brassmask]

Thanks y'all.

How goes the brainwashing?

Pretty good.  But I'm way ahead of you.

When he starts getting about 12 or 13, I'm going to start pretending to be really conservative and bible-thumping so that when he is rebelling against anything I say or do, he will be more inclined to rebel by getting all liberal and agnostic!

[Michael Tee]

<<One thing I remember about my daughter - this was like at 1 year old. The pediatrician was testing her basic reasoning skills, and he took out a box of raisins and an empty bottle. He gave my daughter a couple of the raisins to show her that they were good (she had already had raisins, but I guess it's part of the testing) then put a couple in the bottle. He put the bottle in front of her and put the box of raisins back in the drawer. Obviously, the test was to see if she could figure out how to get the raisins out of the bottle. My daughter looked at the bottle, looked at the doctor, looked back at the bottle, got up, walked over to drawer, opened it, and took out the box of raisins. Then she shoved the bottle over to the doctor and sat down and started eating raisins from the box.>>

LOL.  Also impressive that she walked at age one.

And congrats to Brass.

[Plane]

Excellent Brassmask.

This is good news for us all.

I just received some good news from my son in Colledge , he is doing very well there and I am very proud of him.


So I know exactly how you feel , good isn't it!

[Amianthus]

LOL. Also impressive that she walked at age one.

Err, no. That's normal. According to this poll, about 72% of babies are walking by age one. Which agrees with what we were told by the pediatrician - he said around 3/4 of babies are walking by one.

Guess all that ice and snow up there impedes development of walking skills - they gotta learn how to handle the snowshoes first, eh?

[kimba1]

my brother and me has parents with lower expectation.
they`ll just happy we made it to adulthood.
seriously we inherent our dads natural ability to dumbly get in trouble.
it really a miracle none of us ever saw jail,let alone be alive.

[Stray Pooch]

Hey Brass, that's pretty cool.  I'm glad Memphis has a program like CLUE.  The truth is (and I'm not picking a political fight, just pointing out a parenting issue) many places have banned programs like TAG (Talented and Gifted) and the like because they single out children and, apparently, make the other children feel bad.  My kids were in TAG in Massachusetts but eventually they did away with the program.

Just something to keep in mind for the (not-so) far off future.  There is a great program called Odyssey of the Mind (OM) for Middle and High School kids. (It may be available at Elementary age, but I don't know.)  It encourages kids to be imaginative and solve problems.  My eldest son was in it in HS and they were asked to build a vehicle powered by a car bumper jack. His HS team worked on it and came up with a solution but didn't have sufficient time to put it together.  Rather than risk embarrassment at the competition, the whole team dropped out except Chris.  He worked all night to put together the design and it worked.  When he ran the course with it, the jack fell off halfway through.  Thinking quickly,, he simply used the jack to push the wheel to the finish line.  While he was technically disqualified, the judges congratulated him for creative thinking in dealing with the breakdown.  He then received an award called a Renatra (or something like that) for having the guts to show up when the rest of the team quit. 

Glad you are having such a great experience, but then being a Dad is the greatest experience you can have.  I'm not surprised your son is such a prodigy.  We often disagree politically, but I have never doubted your intelligence. 

[Amianthus]

He then received an award called a Renatra (or something like that) for having the guts to show up when the rest of the team quit.&nbsp;

More information about Odyssey of the Mind and the Ranatra Fusca Creativity Award.