When my son started kindergarten at age 5 I asked that he be allowed to read books at his level when he complained that he was told he couldn't choose the books that he wanted to read and could see on the library shelves. He had been reading Cam Jansen books at home and saw one he hadn't read at the school library. I had to ask the teacher to let him read these books. I could tell she didn't like it. I also asked the librarian if he could take accelerated reader quizzes, because he liked taking quizzes, but she said he would have to have permission from the teacher and none of the other kindergartners had ever been allowed to do this. Rather than cause trouble for anyone I let my son take quizzes on the books he read on bookadventure.com. He had plenty of time to do this at home since he was in half-day kindergarten.
When my son had to do letter of the week show & tell, I had him do a report to read to the class along with his show & tell item. For the letter E he just took his science encyclopedia and read a paragraph from it. The principal, a relative of mine, saw him do this. He told me they had never had a kid like him in their school and since it was a small town school they couldn't be expected to really provide an appropriate education and that we really needed to put him in private school or homeschool.
I volunteered at the school several days a week. I loved it. I felt like we were being kicked out of school because of my son's intelligence. I asked if he could at least play on the playground with kids at recess if we homeschooled but it wasn't allowed for insurance reasons or something even though I had been around the kids for an entire school year and they knew me.
I went through all kinds of emotions including stress and I complained in public about their school. I was not able to successfully repair my relationships. Not fitting in and being judged was to be my future.
Last edited by Lori H.; 03/21/12 11:23 AM.
