This whole thread is a side track
I will weigh in on several of the ongoing conversations. First, with respect to the Hunger Games, my DS8 is relentless in his requests to read the books because according to him "everyone in his class is reading them." He is a grade skipped 3rd grader in a 3/4 HG classroom and I believe that many of the kids in his class are reading the books (though not all) but I just don't think he is ready for it in the same way I have made him stop at the 4th HP book for now. There are many books for him to read and I would just like to save some of the more mature themed, violent books for later. But, I don't judge those other families for allowing their kids to read even though it puts more pressure on me to stand my ground with my own DS.
On the subject of those awful behavior systems, I just don't get it. Why does it seem so obvious to us here on this board that many of those humiliation techniques just won't be effective and can even be damaging for kids. At the end of last year, my DS finally told me that he thought that his teacher tried to make kids be good by making them feel really bad about themselves. That broke my heart. Positive reinforcement is the best way to get my kid to behave and it is probably for most other kids too.
Finally, I had a huge disagreement with my DS's school last year about forgetting to sign his reading sheet. Even when it was clear that he had read and even written a sentence, if the parent forgot to sign, they made the kid skip recess and go to "homework hall." My child is very energetic and it would never be useful for him to skip recess. In my discussion with the principal about it, she said it shows that parents are involved and that is why it is required. This further infuriated me because at that time, I was helping our PTA organize and offer after school enrichment - I pointed out that this showed my involvement. Anyway it was resolved that my child would never go to homework hall and it never happened again. But, it really did feel sorry for the kids whose parents were not down there fighting for them to keep their recess.
