Man… Sort working with my kiddo on this particular root issue. Getting to the answer is great. Do it fast for sure. But learning the skill of sustained effort is an important skill to develop. We’re using piano as our entry point. He’ll be able to get the piece down in about 45 to 60 minutes. So we’re working on developing creative expression in a piece, improv that allows for techniques learned in the piece, and then just introducing the next piece. I’m looking forward to him creatively engaging the same piece for an extended period of time.

“Gifted” education has come a long way since I was a kid. We know acceleration isn’t the only or even best tool for kids. And many gifted kids come with different executive functions so rote repetition feels like torture. Employing a depth of knowledge schema and circling back to previously learned concepts coupled with individual expression has been great! That and developing emotional tools for self regulation have been the primary efforts for the last few years. It’s been getting a lot better!