The problem is not with your daughter. I feel for your family. Having a very bright child is a blessing, and her brilliance is very sorely needed if humans are to solve the significant survival problems facing us. I also have a very bright child who has had a mixed experience with teachers competent to understand and extend him. Your magic daughter’s behaviour is entirely consistent with contact with a system that has insufficient flexibility to cope with individuals who are exceptional. While the Education authorities are required to ensure all children grow and are extended each year, the practical resource limitations mean that teachers have limited capacity to extend individuals. Most of them haven’t done the free online training for working with gifted and talented students, even when teaching Ignite stream students. Having full marks while attending intermittently and saying it’s “all good” and that attendance is the most important thing shows you two things. Schools highly value attendance, so it’s possibly a metric used to score them (it’s also a legal obligation on parents). Secondly, that attaining their expectation of “high marks” satisfies the school that they are doing their job. If you were employed as a forensic accountant and your boss required you to paint rocks for 7 out of 8 hours a day... how long would you last before refusing to be so misused. The need for challenge and stimulating activity to feel alive (wagging school is a risk taking behaviour that’s stimulating), her difficulty doing boring things and fast and high level thinking ability suggests a condition at the core of her issues but the guidelines prevent discussing it. My son only does half the assigned math questions because once he’s done 3 examples to prove he knows what he’s doing, he says “Why do I have to do these 6 that are the same ?” The Uni level work sounds like a possible idea, if practical. Uni work requires consistent attendance for continuity as more difficult material relies on having learned earlier stuff. Unless she’s just auditing a course for interest. CSIRO also has online material for science nerds that she might enjoy. Homeschool might help, where she can move through material at her pace in 2 days a week and then focus on her own development activities. There are also entrepreneurial organisations which provide extension for students just like your daughter, but guidelines prevent me identifying them. Your daughter is a sharp tool, easily blunted by contact with rigid thinking. She’s fortunate to have such persistent and dedicated parents.
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