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    #80117 07/12/10 06:15 AM
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    JJsMom Offline OP
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    Well it's almost that time again, for some of us... I register DS6 tomorrow for 2nd grade. Since we moved, even though we're in the same town, he will be attending a new school. Seems the school is very fitness focused, which I LOVE since DS focuses so much better with regular physical activity. I just hope that he gets a good match with a teacher and that his Target teacher was as great as the one he had last year.

    We have Meet & Greet on the 3rd and then school officially begins on the 5th for us.

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    Thanks for starting this thread, JJsMom. I really enjoyed keeping up with everyone last year.

    DD6 will start 1st grade at her gifted school in August. A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to informally meet one of the teachers she may have for first grade (and will almost certainly have for math - as this teacher instructs the higher ability math groups).

    She and dd had a conversation that went like this:

    Teacher: Nice to meet you, (dd). What are you looking forward to about 1st grade?

    dd6: Umm ... hopefully we can have some challenging math. Not like kindergarten which was 0+0, babyish!

    Me: Come on, now. I don't think kindergarten math was like 0+0.

    dd6: Well, it was on our end of the year test!

    (turning back to teacher)

    dd6: Kindergarten was all single digit numbers - and only addition and subtraction. Personally, I am much more comfortable with 4, 5, 6, or 7 digit numbers.

    Teacher: Ok! I will take note! (DD) wants more challenging math.

    Then teacher turned to me and said quietly ... I actually was just hearing about your dd and how she needs to be challenged in math.

    ***

    I was so happy about this conversation because dd did an unexpectedly good job of advocating for herself and because the teacher apparently has dd on her radar. Yay! Now let's hope this year lives up to the expectations.

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    Our summer term only finished on Wednesday, so next year is still a way off (September) but I love these threads so I'll play anyway :-) DS6 will be starting P3, equivalent to second grade. Broadly looking forward to it. He had some hiccups last year that I posted about, but they improved, and by and large it was a good year. Certainly he learned a lot in all kinds of ways.

    I don't know his teacher for next year at all, but DS liked her on the "taster day". My two biggest concerns are how he'll handle the increased-again writing demands, and how she'll handle his maths. The plan (discussed with his this-year teacher) is to make problem-solving be the main focus of his maths next year, with new content a minor element, but how well that works will be quite dependent on how comfortable his teacher is with the kind of problems he needs to work on. After next year, maths is taught by maths specialists, at which point things should get easier again.

    He'll continue piano and start voice lessons. Currently he wants to play the 'cello as his second instrument, which I think is a great idea (not as painful as the violin, but still an orchestral instrument with plenty of slots per orchestra, so good for socialising, and a great repertoire), but he's still changing his mind fairly often so voice for at least one year seems wise: we won't have to buy him an instrument that he may go off after one year, it'll be good for him to think about intonation etc., and he'll have another year for his motor skills to develop before he has to deal with bowing and fingering.


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    Quote
    After next year, maths is taught by maths specialists, at which point things should get easier again.

    I am so jealous of this. DS6 would LOVE to have an actual math class! They have math & science lab, but it's not the same thing. They don't do the separate math classes until middle school here!

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    Irisheyes - that cracks me up! DS6, when asked what he liked about school at the end of the year, added that the teachers should've started on multiplication and division... here's to hoping his 2nd grade teacher might throw some in there. I don't think they start that until 3rd grade here.

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    Love catching up with everyone! smile The fitness-focused school and the self-advocacy bode well for your kids, JJsMom and Irisheyes. Yay!

    DS6 was in public school K last year with no accomodations except occasional--VERY occasional! Like one question per day, tops--math differentiation. It was tolerable for him because it was only half-day. He made friends, but he needed to do a lot of "hard math," as he called it, at home in the mornings with me.

    Testing this summer has shown us that he may be a DYS candidate (we applied for him July 1), and that he has some sort of 2E issue going on as well, which is probably why he is so tough to figure out and why he's not reading well yet, even though he is a verbally strong kid. Grade-skipping doesn't seem like a good thing to try with him. Our schools are not very supportive of an HG+ kid, let alone an HG+ kid with LDs.

    So, we have chosen to homeschool him for 1st grade.

    Well, sort of... wink He is going to be attending our school-for-homeschoolers 4 days a week, so it's really almost like he's going to a private school.

    Our DS9 goes there 2 days a week and adores it. DH and I lovingly (and privately!) call it "The Island of Misfit Toys" because it is such a good place for kids who need something different than mainstream schools offer. Both gifted kids and LD kids thrive there. (And probably normally developing kids do, too!) DS9 has a friend with Tourette's, a friend who transferred over from a school specializing in LDs, and friends who are all over the gifted spectrum.

    The small class sizes, the fact that classes are not one-year only but ranges (like 6-8yos all in one class), and hands-on teaching philosophy of the school are good for our "misfit toys," and everyone is kind to one another, very accepting of differences. DS9 told me that he has never seen anyone--child, teen or adult--be mean to anyone else. Never! It's a lovely atmosphere.

    However, I'm a bit concerned about the math for DS6. The teacher for his class is apparently more traditional than most of them are, and I'm not sure her worksheets will work for him. frown I'm very skittish about that class. But I have Singapore Math workbooks, and I will change out any assignments that seem too easy for ones that are harder. Worst case, we'll pull him out of the class, but I'm hoping we can find a way to make it work.


    Kriston
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    Kriston - that sounds LOVELY! I hope they get the right fit with math for your DS! I know for mine, he would do the school work and then be excited to come home and do an extra worksheet out of the "harder" books. smile

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    It's a pretty long day for a 6yo, though. It runs 9:30-3:30, and it's roughly a 30-minute drive each way. (We're actually hoping to sell our house and move closer to the school next year, which would enable the boys to take one class here or there instead of having to take a whole day at a time.)

    Happily, that includes 2 hours of free time if you include the whole 60-minute lunch time. Most kids eat for half of that and play for half. So he should have a good amount of time to relax and play. Plus his history class is Lego history, as in history taught through the use of Legos. Things like that should help. smile

    Still, I'm not sure how he'll do with the homework. It will be new.

    On the bright side, it's ultimately homeschooling, so if it doesn't work for him, I can just refuse to have him do the homework.


    Kriston
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    DS6 will start his 2nd year homeschooling. He is a 1st grader on the paper but that's where it ends. Homeschooling has been going pretty well for both him and his older brother, but I am sure glad it's summer now wink This is only our 2nd week of summer break so to me school seems really, really far away right now.

    Unfortunately the boys will no longer attend a small private school couple of afternoons per week like they did for the last two years. This option is no longer available frown We will have to do with weekend gifted programs and homeschooling/after school class here and there. It's not optimal but unfortunately our choices are quite limited. I wish we had a co-op like Kriston has.

    Kriston, good luck with the DYS application.


    LMom
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    Oh, LMom! I'm sorry that the school isn't letting the boys attend anymore! That seemed like such a good solution for you. frown

    You know, this school was started by a homeschooling mom. Some 10 years into it, they now have their own building, hire teachers, own "school stuff," etc. She started it because it filled a need that she experienced in her own life as a homeschooler and saw others having. Maybe it's time to start something?


    Kriston
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