Originally Posted by magicsonata
Originally Posted by doubtfulguest
the whole child.

it sounds so sensible, to think about the whole child! but it's funny how it gets used to avoid addressing specific concerns. "oh, but we must think of the Whole Child - what's the rush? she's such a little kid..."

This! In pre-k (4) he went in with math and reading at a 1st+ grade level, and in K (5) he was at a 2nd-3rd grade level in math (depending on topic) and reading at about 4th grade level (though he would much rather read picture books or encyclopedias not chapter books). I got sucked into the: the academics don't matter because he has them down pat, what really matters is balancing him out, the whole child must be developed and his behavior is horrible so we must focus on that for now, there is time later to teach him more math/science/reading.

It's right about then that I would point out my role in my child's life is to worry about development of the whole child, particularly behavior, and their role is to teach academics.