Okay, I know we've been on this topic before, but I'm hoping it doesn't hurt to get fresh input...
Had a chat with DS8 (9 very soon)'s teacher today. I didn't want to, but he's going to visit a new school tomorrow (possible gradeskip to grade 6 next year). I had to tell her he won't be there tomorrow and why.
We talked about DS8 overall and moving DS6/grade 1 to 2nd grade reading. In summary, she said that mastery of a subject is very important and that a child can't move forward until s/he scores 80%+ on a subject exam. This is why she won't let him do 5th grade science in spite of his obvious interest in moving to that level.
She mentioned that she'd seen a big jump in DS6's reading abilities recently, and said she'd try him in 2nd grade materials, but she said "enrichment" rather than "acceleration."
<sigh>
I'm just not convinced about the need to master something before moving on. I mean, I thought that an important characteristic of gifted people is the ability to backfill on learning to suit their needs?
This is especially difficult because this school professed to be so open to the needs of bright and gifted students. Granted, it's open to whole-grade skips and is better than their last school in some ways, but it still doesn't seem to be living up to its promises. Most of you know how excited I was about this school. Unfortunately, it's not working out as we thought it would. Now I'm looking at a new school that's making promises and am feeling cynical instead of optimistic. I'm also wondering if my kids' abilities are in my imagination.
Okay, maybe I'm hitting too hard against reality of the least-worst option here, but this particular blow is a harsh one, regardless.
On the one hand, I don't want to push my kids so hard that they become unhappy. On the other hand, I don't want to let them languish in work below their abilities. My DS6 really shines when he reads books that are above his grade level, and it would be really nice if there could be some formal acknowledgment of his abilities. I'm told that he "struggles" with reading, but the fact is that his level of struggle with a third grade book is only marginally more than that with a 1st grade book (I wrote a post about his reading
here.) When I brought this up, the suggestion was that maybe he has ADD!
Sorry if I'm rambling here; I'm a little tired and feeling a need to get this out.
Val