We just moved to PA recently from another state. My son has entered first grade and has expressed an interest in going to some sort of real brick-and-mortar school rather than homeschool.
HOWEVER...one month in and still the teacher has not challenged him appropriately. She is noncommunicative--I emailed her and followed up with repeated phone messages to call me because I want to get an impression of what her plan was and how she structured her classes. NO answer. (She claims the email bounced , but I have informed her that my phone is in good working condition.)
In the meantime, my son (who is not G/T by the standard in his old district but reads chapterbooks and does, with me, 4 digit math/early algebra concepts and moves form concept to concept VERY rapidly) has been complaining that it is "too easy" and "miserable" (his words) and that he really wants someone to teach him something new. Almost a month in and no one has taught him anything! The only things I have seen in his folder are coloring pages, drawings and exercises in which they must place the word "the" in a sentence by cutting and pasting.
It wasn't until my husband had to retrieve my son from school that we even knew what his teacher looked like and she mentioned that if I really felt the need to meet with her before the one month open house, then I could drop by in the morning any day. So... we went there at 7 am with the 2 year old and 6 year old in tow. Eventually, when she came out of a meeting with the staff, we were able to meet with her. She interpreted our meeting as an attack from the beginning! She offered us about 20 minutes of excuses and justifications for keeping him in the same program with all the other kids. She insisted on being rigid...that until her testing phase was over she would not have a feel for the kids and so WOULD NOT consider adding any supplemental materials to at least help him feel challenged over the course of a day. She actually told me that it was my job to pick up the slack for the school's inadequacy by teaching him "extra things" in the evening.
when he is no longer able to focus on anything, let alone actually explore and play/share time with his sister. (Major WTF!)
This is creating behavior problems at home because after sitting through mind-numbing "lessons" in phonics and coloring, he has a hard time focusing or listening. (The equivalent of making an adult watch Barney for 6 hours--positively excruciating for the poor kid!) I ask him...after 3 weeks...whether he got a chance to read. "Not today, but the teacher did." I ask him if he did any math. "Only little bit on the computer, but it is too easy still." (The computer game apparently gets progressively harder.) There have been no books checked out from the library...no communication with parents about what they will be learning this month or next month or even over the course of a year.
I have a message outstanding with the principal today to address the possibility of getting him into gifted and talented and possibly into a different classroom. The only thing keeping me from using the online charter school at this point or homeschooling him outright is that he has expressed a desire to go to school and fit in with other kids...even now. Unfortunately he is starting to interpret the lack of attention at school as a kind of rejection...that there is something wrong with him.
I am floudnering here. Praying for greater wisdom...asking advice if you have any to offer for dealing with this joke of a school in PA.
Anne
