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Parents of gifted students often find that they are "ahead" of the rest of the class and/or that even when they miss school for some reason, they can catch up so quickly that it hardly matters that they were absent.

Some gifted students often find the time spent in the classroom tedious and frustrating and have other extracurricular interests they would like to spend more time doing.

So is it okay for bright and gifted kids to miss school more often than other students?

Well, yes and no.

Being gifted does not mean that the student has a special right to attend class less often than others. In fact getting into that habit could really create problems by the time they get to secondary and post-secondary education.

However, bright and gifted students, especially those with multiple talents or a high level of performance in a particular talent area, be it sports, arts, academics or other interests, sometimes do end up having very good reasons for missing class frequently.

Sometimes the gifted programming provided by the school system also involves time away from a regular home classroom setting for field trips, workshops or "pull-out" programming.

Leadership opportunities within the school from student council to clubs and sports can also mean time out of class as can travel and field trips, whether organized by the school or outside groups.

Most everyone would agree that some of the best learning happens outside the classroom.

However, gifted students need to regard time out of class as a special privilege, and the student and parents should take responsibility for ensuring it is as undisruptive as possible. Some great advice on handling school absences is found in our Schooling section.

If a child is falling into a pattern of avoiding attending school, this can be an important warning sign. Are they being bullied? Are they experiencing anxiety at school? Are they stressed out by issues at home or by an overloaded extra curricular schedule? Are they simply understimulated at school (aka bored) and it is time to try some new learning strategies before the disengagement gets even worse? If you suspect any of these issues it is important that you talk to your child, their teacher(s) and do more research to address the issues as quickly as possible. The organization SENG: Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted is a great resource for exploring these concerns in greater depth.