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    Welcome DCDad43!

    Hello everyone!

    Nice to have some updates.

    My DS 5.75 is becoming more bored with each passing week. Of course, he unleashes his frustrations at home with me and at school is the model kindergartener. >grr<

    Parent teacher conferences are the week after next week., I am hoping to plant the seeds of requesting subject acceleration. Unfortunately, I am sure I will get blank looks from the teacher. That is what happened the last time I tried to speak with her about that my ds needs more than is in the regular K class.

    Today when I dropped ds off, she made a comment about not even really needing a conference since he is doing so well.
    Well, ok he is not struggling. But he is not learning anything new either (especially in math). sigh.

    Last edited by EastnWest; 02/26/10 11:51 PM. Reason: typo
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    Kriston:

    Overall, I think year is going okay. He's not saying he's bored; I think teacher is balancing giving him work that's too easy (like in centers that the whole class does) and then doing pullout giving him some things at his level. I think she could encourage him to do more and there's no question in my mind that he'd be fine with it and learn as fast as she'd teach him.

    Part of why I'm not too stressed about any classroom deficiencies, though, are b/c I've thrown away all the K homework. I've hired back my former nanny for afterschool with instructions for her to talk with the kids in Spanish and challenge him with learning a new language, and I've got him doing Singapore Math workbooks for homework at his real math level. Makes me wonder sometimes whether I'd be better off home schooling him, but it's just not possible now that I've gone back to work full time.

    EastnWest: Sorry to hear about DS's challenges. My fingers are crossed for you that you can get some subject acceleration.

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    The afterschooling sounds like it's going well. That's good. smile I'm glad. How is he liking the Singapore Math? I think that's a good choice, personally.

    We're still in okay-land (just okay) ourselves. If anything, I think the teacher is doing less differentiation than she was the first semester. *sigh* But it's only half a day...

    We're still seriously considering homeschooling for next year. I volunteered in DS5's class this past week, and once again I was reminded that he's further ahead than I remember him to be. I think I need to volunteer more than once a month, because in the in-between times, I start to doubt. Then I see the class--4 of the kids don't know all their letters yet!--and I wonder how 1st grade can possibly work for him.

    Give me a few weeks and the denial will return. <eyeroll at myself>

    We are awaiting test scores to make the final decision. More info will at least help me to feel more secure about our choice, whatever it is. I like to have done my research, you know?

    BTW, it is possible to homeschool even if both parents work. It's not easy, obviously, and it requires REALLY good child care and a willingness to do a lot of school at odd hours. But it can be done. It might be worth doing a little reading up to see how people who work full time make it work. I always like having a back-up plan, and if homeschooling appeals to you, that might be a back-up plan for you.

    Just a thought. Feel free to ignore me! wink


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    Originally Posted by JJsMom
    How frustrating!!! And speaking of behavior, DS6's teacher emailed me last night (got it this morning) to say DS is being "silly" during lab & group time. And even after being reminded to behave, he starts acting out again. I know part of it has been due to lack of physical exercise since it's been cold here, but the other part is he's bored. I'm not even sure what to do at this point. I notice he's been antsier at home lately, partially again due to lack of being able to go outside for more than 30 minutes. But I fear it may be more.

    And now of course, my own ADD won't let me focus on work b/c I'm too bothered by this and NEED to talk to him NOW. *sigh*


    That is frustrating, let us know how things go. I have a child that is "silly" at school when he gets bored too...so I can relate. One day he told me that it would be too boring if he doesn't do silly things. Thankfully he does pretty well at home...he saves it all up for school I guess.

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    the equation is as follows:

    lack of physical exercise + boredom = DS6 being silly

    the solution:

    teacher writing DS6 notes (lack of physical exercise + boredom) = (DS6 writing back * expressing his feelings) - DS6 being silly


    or something like that.
    Anyway, his teacher started writing him notes about his behavior but included what he does well (behavior wise, etc). and it's helped!

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    Thanks mom2twoboys!


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    Kriston:

    DS6 likes the Singapore Math books. He prefers the textbook much better than the workbook. I think it's largely b/c the textbook is in color and the workbook isn't, but it also lets him move more quickly. I tend to take the textbook away every so often and only give him the workbook to make sure he really gets the practice and know that he's learned what he's supposed to.

    I don't know why Singapore Math doesn't just do everything in color, even though it might cost a bit more. My older one had the same issue -- loved all the color placement tests and textbook; once he saw the b&w workbooks, he simply decided he'd learn math another way. Seems so silly!

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    Probably because of kids like my son. He actually prefers the B&W stuff. He's very visual, and I think the color and pictures distract him. He loves the "Key to" math series because it's all B&W and has no pictures. He can focus better.


    Kriston
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    Okay, here's a positive post on K progress and challenge. We only see the homework coming home, so were concerned about the challenge in K. We had DS6 assessed at CTY and provided the report in advance of our conference to the K teacher. She has been challenging him and took the recommendations from CTY seriously. She just started him on an independent research project on the subject of his own choosing (Dinosaurs, of course!). He is going through books and tabbing new facts he is learning and will eventually put together a powerpoint presentation for the class on his project. Wow! We had no idea about this project because DS6 isn't very forthcoming about his schoolwork, but we like what we heard from his teacher. We still are concerned about his math instruction (Everyday Math), but otherwise are happy with the challenge and progress he is making. We would like to see him placed with the more advanced learners in his school next year. Hopefully our teacher next year will be as accomodating. DS6 told us not to tell his teacher that he was bored (a common complaint at the beginning of the year), but that school was still too easy. I think it is progress. We are still applying for the magnet next year, but if we get another teacher that is willing to challenge our DS6 in 1st like his K teacher and the reading and math specialist, I think staying where we are won't be the end of the world. We are working on getting more challenging homework. Right now he gets the same as everyone else, which is about a half an hour a week max. I feel much better after seeing what he is actually doing in school. Keeping the lines of communication open with frequent conferences (our third this year) seems to be doing the trick. We are also doing EPGY. Our DS6 seems to have found his level around 1.7 in math. He also enjoys the LAW program, but it moves more slowly with all of the drag and drop problems. Just wanted to update our progress.

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    thanks for sharing.

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