I smiled at aeh’s question re: informal homeschooling. I’m going to second her suggestion of architecting your own part-time enrolment option if such a choice isn’t available formally and KG isn’t mandatory.

Academic work, like letter learning, should be easy to resolve if there is some play-based learning in the schedule too. If your child is capable of reading, no decent educator will deny her that opportunity. All that is needed is a comfortable nook or seat and a selection of appropriate books. It might be worth asking if a resource teacher can work with her 1-1 selecting books from the library and providing weekly reading lessons/ discussions at level if grade acceleration is rejected, or if you decide acceleration isn’t appropriate at this time.

You might also ask that your DD be exempted from nose and toe counting to work on a math curriculum of your choice, that you supply from home. You could spend 20 minutes a week at home introducing the subjects (the Singapore series is excellent in this context.) I would not be strict abiit math output in the school setting, though. smile

If you end up in negotiations, put them on the back foot and have them justify why your daughter shouldn’t learn to read (or learn X skill, that she’s capable of doing at a more appropriate level independently in parallel). It’s a rather unethical and embarrassing argument for an educator to make. Try to do this sweetly. If you sense there’s no support for acceleration, you might want to take a sequential approach and start with reading accommodations, then wear them down. No money or resources in budget? A cost effective solution that doesn’t require scheduling gymnastics or a panoply of interventions is acceleration. After all, you’re a team player...! wink

In our case, this bought my DS a grade 1/2 telescope instead of an initial acceleration, and a supportive school team. In yours, it might buy you a year of runway to finagle your ideal work schedule!

Please excuse my subversive approach. I find these negotiations enjoyable, and have no problem colouring outside the lines, but then I’m constitutionally disposed to advocacy.


What is to give light must endure burning.