I am quite concerned that his schooling is insufficiently challenging, and that he'll encounter problems in a few years, when things do become more difficult. When we met with his teacher, and I told her that I worry that if he's not challenged academically now, he will not learn how to master things that are difficult, and may lose his innate desire to learn. Her reply was that there are those people for whom everything in life comes easily, and perhaps he's one of them. ~S from MD
Hi S,
Welcome! Seems like you've hit the nail on the head right here. You aren't making this up. Our kids need to learn how to learn like everyone else.
Your DH is correct that your son is learning lots of stuff, and that stuff is important, BUT, all that important stuff isn't an excuse to be passive when your child is in a situation where they are not learning how to learn.
Testing might be helpful at this time to help you, your DH, and the school see that your son does have 'special educational needs' that should be accomidated. This can be done through subject accelerations, gradeskips, independent studies, online classes. Depending on your son's LOG (level of giftedness) saturday classes may be enough, but if he is 'more than the usual gifted' and isn't particularly good at adding challenge to his assignments on his own, then you are going to need something, IF you want to insisit that he 'learn how to learn' like everyone else.
I would try to take a few hours and spend a day in your local public school, and see what they offer. Nothing replaces seeing it for yourself. Also spend time in your current school's classroom, particularly the grades one and two years older than your child.
Question: is 7 old for 1st grade in your neighborhood? Perhaps instead of a gradeskip, you can frame it as 'making up for a late start?'
I think that looking at other private schools is a good option. His teacher has as good as told you that she doesn't see the need for him to learn how to learn at school. Is the current school large enough to have several teachers for each grade? Does it have several grades in the same class? If next year he will be in a room with a different teacher and 2nd and 3rd grade students, you might have something worth salvaging there.
If it really is your only alternative, then you had best start requiring that he does 'double homework' each day. If possible, add or substitute an assignement that is similar to the one he gets in school, but at his 'readiness level.'
Other things to think about: Does he have friends? Does he have to mask large parts of himself to have friends? How does he feel about the schoolwork?
So glad you are here!
Grinity
