I wrote in a while back about a grade skip offered to my 2nd grader, and said that we had a choice between the current bi-lingual school and new school that groups kids by ability, not age. We were torn because of the 2nd language issue. Well, we decided on the new school.
The thing that did it was an abysmal meeting I had with one of my kindergartner's teachers on Friday. I had asked if she could help him with his reading. He wasn't really into reading until Christmas and since then he's become enthusiastic and has moved pretty quickly. I figured it would be nice to get something at school. You know, just a little something.
She told me that kids his age are too young to learn long vowel sounds, which can damage their ability to learn to read. I tried to explain that some kids can learn at this age, even younger, but she cut me off and said she'd heard people say this before, and knows it's not true from experience. She said kids need to learn how "to track from left to right" at this age, and that's what she's focusing on. Argh. She kept cutting me off.
I got so frustrated, and even said so. She let me speak at that point, but in retrospect I think she was arguing with me internally while I was talking.
Oh well!
Val
