6 Yr Old Bored at School

I always wish there was a hybrid of homeschooling where kids went to school 2-3 hours a day, and did the rest of their work at home.

We homeschool now, but my kids were in school for a long time. I think, for some kids, it's just alot to sit in that traditional school atmosphere all day. It alternates from being over-stimulating with all the other kids, noise, lights, things on the walls, etc. - to being really dull content-wise sometimes. I didn't like it much as a kid, yet I loved college. I think part of what I liked in college was going back to my dorm, having a break, and then going back out on campus.

I'm not sure what I would do if this were my daughter. I wouldn't like the faking of illnesses, but I would strategize with her on ways to make school a better fit for her. I would also thank her for being honest with me about it.

Good luck.

Ah, the "I'm bored." answer.

I'd suggest you schedule a conference with the teacher and find out what exactly is going on at the times your daughter is dismissing herself from class. To a child, the word "bored" could mean: overwhelmed by the noise, too tired to attend, hungry for protein, not liking the subject, or even, being bored! :) Once you and the teacher know what is going on, you can discuss options for helping your daughter. All my best.

I think a talk with her teacher is in order. Maybe suggest something extra for her to work on when she finishes her work, so she is not just sitting being bored while others are working?

~My 1st grade son is like this, at our last parent/teacher conference we discussed how he has already topped out in math and reading for the school year and they can't test him any higher, the teacher has printed off ditto sheets of more advanced math and harder spelling words (my son specifically asked his teacher for harder work) and she compiled a large stack of ditto sheets (that's what copies were called back in my day) and put them in a special basket for him, so when he is done with his assigned work, he can just go up and grab a sheet to work on all by himself. He does the math sheets and then writes the spelling words 3x each and then writes sentences for each of the words.

Maybe you can set something up for her like this?

Nothing is worse than a bored kid at school, IMO.

Start by finding out exactly what the class was doing before she asked to go to the nurse's office. See if you can detect any sort of pattern.

My child used to always get annoyed in class because the math was too easy. Early on, I discussed with her teacher some options for her when she finished her assignments. She had a folder at her desk she was allowed to work in (with more challenging work, with art pages she could color, etc) and she also was allowed to take out a book and read (which she LOVES to read). It helped.
I also have found that, like most kids who are generally well behaved, it gets really boring really fast if the REST of the class is not paying attention and the teacher is having to spend a lot of time addressing disciplinary issues. Even I can remember sitting in my desk bored out of my mind and annoyed because the teacher was giving another 10 minute lecture about paying attention in class, after having to call out 2 or 3 kids for misbehavior. I'm sure it gets old as a teacher, but as a "good" kid, it gets old, too.

So if you can tease out from your daughter what is precipitating her boredom, maybe you can figure out some solutions, or an angle you can discuss with her teacher. Or, it may be a matter of telling her to suck it up, ya know?

ETA: I, too, thought of GATE, but hesitated to mention it since you didn't seem to indicate she wasn't being challenged academically. My daughter was in GATE, and was absent an entire day of school every week (to participate in the pull out program and go to the Challenge Class at a different school). She still had a folder and book for the days she was in class.

Time for a parent-teacher conference to talk about enrichment in her favorite subjects. You might also want to talk about the 'loud kids upset me' part. The teacher may be able to move her seat so she's next to a kid who is a little more mellow.

You also may want to ask, in writing, that your child be tested for the gifted program. Many schools don't routinely test or if they do, not until 3rd grade or later. But in Pennsylvania, they are required to do it within 90 days if you request it in writing.

My son tested into the GATE program in kindergarten. Now he gets to go to the GATE teacher for 90 minutes per week to work on cool projects - right now he's building a paper mache solar system. Pretty fun for a first grader. It definitely keeps him interested.

If the nurse called me to get my son in the middle of a school day, there is no way he would get to play at home! No way no how!

School is for learning. It is not for entertainment. Learning can be fun but if its boring, she needs to stick it out and learn to deal with the noise and distractions. She's 6...that means she has at least 11 more years of school.

Some kids need to be challenged more, but in public school, they won't be challenged in K or even 1st grade. She probably gets her work done quicker than her classmates and just doesn't want to wait on them to finish. If she's bored, handwriting can always be perfected. Tell her to practice writing her letters and numbers to look just like the examples on her worksheet or book or even the teacher's wall. Or tell her to find words on her worksheet and memorize how to spell them.

So.. I see two things here..

1. sounds like the "loud" kids are driving her crazy and she can "rest".. she is finding what she needs at that time to make her feel better. Maybe it is overwhelming to hear the kids talking and the teacher.. so she can not pay attn, gets board, then goes to the nurse. that allows her to shut down her mind and make her feel better. --- she is getting herself out of a situation that is overwhelming to her and making her feel off.

2. The subject just does not interest her, and she has to work harder to stay alert.. Who loved every subject in school, I know I did not. So here is where the teacher/parent conversation comes in. How can the teacher spice it up a little, to keep your kiddo interested.

Good luck

Talk to her teacher first and foremost. Kids get "bored" for many reasons, she'll probably have some insight as to what's going on. For example, my daughter had a pattern of going to the office, or to the bathroom, or whatever, during writer's workshop. Well, her teacher noticed the pattern and sure enough my daughter told her (and me) that writer's workshop was "boring." But in fact she just didn't like writing and didn't want to do it (it was tedious, which is not the same as boring IMO.) So the teacher and I came up with some ideas to keep her engaged and motivated. She never really loved writing that year, but she learned how to make the best of it!

I would have her tested to see exactly how intelligent she is. She may be brilliant and bored. Unfortunately is she is so bored in school she may not do the work required and may end up getting low grades because of this.

This happened to my son. He is extremely smart but got almost straight Fs in school because he refused to do the work, due to being bored and hating school. he was also dyslexic and no matter how many times i tried to tell them he was dyslexic no one listened. Finally during 5th grade I was told, hey he's dyslexic!!! Ya I've been trying to tell you that for years.

For the sake of your child find a place out of your school district, a local university for instance, to get her tested.

From what I have understood from my kids, some classmates go to the nurses ALL the time. They are probably not anymore bored than the rest of the kids. They have just figured out a great work-around for it and are not afraid to use it. Talk to her teacher and ask that she use her discretion but really try to not allow your daughter a trip to the nurse unless she is obviously in distress.

When pressed for a while about WHY she would go to the nurse if she wasn't sick, she finally came up with the excuse I was bored. (50-50 chance she was bored)
Whenever I've heard a Kindergartner say they were bored in school it meant "I want to play more" not I want to learn more. An extremely bright child who is not ADD or on the spectrum or ... finds ways to challenge him or herself throughout the day.
Sure there are the occasional students who are bored with the work they are given but a decent teacher notices this. I assume you have met with this teacher this year to hear how your child is doing? Did she give you an indication that your daughter was above and beyond the other students? Did she mention your daughter had trouble sitting still, paying attention, waiting for her turn or did she give you the picture of a typical Kindergarten student?
Yes you should talk to the teacher and get her opinion, but dont jump to conclusions based on the "excuse" given to you by a Kindergarten child.

I agree that you should talk with the teacher, but I also think this may be something normal. She probably figured out that going to the nurse is fun. A lot of the kids in my daughter's kindergarten class figured this out last year and my niece also did it when she was in kindergarten. The nurse gave them a sticker or a band aid on some imaginary boo boo, it was fun. I would tell your daughter it's not appropriate to go to the nurse if she's not sick and maybe brainstorm with her about what she can do if she's bored or feeling overwhelmed. I do think it's a pretty normal thing to do though.

Talk to the teacher and let the school figure it out. They need to know why she's doing this and that she's finding fun ways to manipulate her circumstances.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions and automatically assume your child needs more challenging schoolwork.

I think you have to remember that when a 6 year old says they're bored, it doesn't necessarily mean they're bored with the schoolwork they're doing. Kids this age are not the most factual, so I'd start with the teacher and go from there.

It's possible that your DD has found out that she gets more attention and a break in the nurse's office and that the boredom is made up. Kind of like when a child responds to a request from a parent to do something with "I'm too tired", or "I don't feel good" when you know darn well that they're just being lazy.

My son didn't work out the same strategy, but he was much like your daughter. Instead of leaving, he spent half of second grade quietly blowing off whatever was going on in class and drawing comics in his notebooks. Yet he still had top marks and top test scores (which should not have been possible in a well-run classroom, but that's another issue). Anyway, he tests as scary gifted, and moving him into a more challenging academic environment has made a huge difference in his level of engagement. Do you have a gifted class option available to you? If so, I'd have her tested. It may be that the material in class is just not interesting to her because it's not a challenge.

Also, in your shoes I think I'd go observe in class. Spend long enough there that you blend into the back wall, and see what there is to see. If her classroom environment is too chaotic for her, this is something that can be addressed. If it's a classroom management issue, that can be dealt with through conversations with the teacher and principal. Be polite but persistent. Observe more than once to see whether the classroom environment has improved.

If your child finds a normal level of classroom activity too loud or chaotic to be comfortable, there are things that you can do to help her. One of my friends has a daughter with sensory issues, and normal classrooms were overwhelming the poor girl with too much stimulation. Her mom bought her a pair of noise cancellation headphones that have helped immensely. The family and teacher have also worked with the school counselor to come up with a few strategies the girl can use to help her cope. One of them is that as long as she asks her teacher for permission, she is allowed to leave the classroom and go to the front office for breaks of up to 10 minutes.

A few things. Find out when she gets bored - is it during a certain subject that she just doesn't like? Does she finish her work faster than other kids and then have to wait around while they finish? Is there a subject that they work on for a particularly long time and she is just ready to move on to something else?

Get more answers from her, first. really determine what bores her and why. Once you know that, talk to the teacher and find out if there are ways to keep her stimulated and motivated. Maybe she needs more work to do. Maybe she needs a different kind of work to do (as extra stuff, not in place of the regular work). Maybe she can be given a special job to do.

It sounds like something you can probably solve pretty quickly. You also need to have a talk with her about how faking illnesses just isn't ok.

I would schedule a meeting with her teacher if you are that concerned. Hopefully you can explain to your daughter that going to the nurse for a made up reason is dishonest and not acceptable behavior. Then you can address the boredom with her teacher, maybe she's not being challenged enough.

When my kid was bored I switched schools.