And, there's a chance that the lack of extreme academic challenge will breed the same issues we had in preschool (terrible behavior and a really angry, frustrated kid) - but possibly not because the teachers and principal seem excited by having DS instead of burdened by him...
Hi NTT,
Great to hear about you choices and thoughts! Loved reading the advice you've heard so far.
First of all, I'm totally pleased that you have even these level of choices - wow!
But yes, past performance is a wonderful guide to the future. If your son was angry at being denied opportunities to learn, then he isn't a candidate for heterogeneous classroom, although having wonderful, flexible teachers may really really help. If there are so wonderful, have you shared your pasted experiences and hear them say - oh - we'll send him to first grade (or second grade )for reading and math if he starts getting antsy. BTW - the 130 program with a gradeskip or two sounds VERY attractive.
I think your post wasn't long enough. I'd like to know more:
How did the teacher of the self contained group seem?
Were the children 'playdate' material?
How did the material seem in comparison to the material he's using now? It's the end of the year - do you see your child doing the level of work one year from now? (Too bad you don't have a friend in the program who could lend you some worksheets from September to look at!) If you haven't already - buy a few worksheet books from the bookstore and see how he reacts to them at the level the class would be at in September.
Is your son a slow processor on the IQ tests?
By IQ score, would he be at the bottom of the class, top of the class, or right in the middle?
Does your son have the personality that you thing would be inspired by being around a lot of hard working kids? (My 'angry behavior availible' boy does, although I don't!)
What happens if you try the K program and hate it?
What's the goal? Happy enough and Challenged enough to learn how to learn. I'm sure that there are some children who would know be happy enough without the kind of K program you've outlined. And the only way to know is to let him have at it! The preschool experience tells me that he needs something 'quite' out of the ordinary! The fact that the school wants to put him there means that it's likely he can handle it. And you can always try it and negotiate with the teacher if it's more pencil work than he can handle, yes? I do suspect that the '2 hour thing' is a bluff, or only for the bottom quarter of the kids, and I don't hold that against them - unless you try it and it makes your child miserable!
Smiles,
Grinity
As an aside: There isn't a school on this earth that I would trust to handle having a young child in the helper role in the classroom. I strongly feel that this is an area should be under your or your partner's personal supervision. Let him tutor afterschool at 'church' or for money or start a lego club, but I just do not have enough faith that any teacher can track a kid of that age thoughtfully in that role.
