The two most frustrating things about the school year that's just wrapping up for DS7 have been his teacher's feeling that he "just needs to try harder" with writing (I've now got a dysgraphia diagnosis in hand, some ammunition for an IEP)
I hope you bring in good expertise to help with that project; dysgraphia seems like one of the hardest things to get school staff on board and working with. The (false) appearance of "not trying hard" is difficult for teachers to cope with.
"I know that math has been on the easier side for him this year, but these are the stepping stones to next year. The math curriculum next year will use the same terminology, tools, and strategies. However, with the new Common Core curriculum that we are moving towards he will be responsible for having to describe his thinking more in depth and talk about the strategies he used, as opposed to simply providing the answer. I have talked with Yourkid about that this year and I think he understands that this is his next step in the learning process- and it is a hard one. :-)"
What do you think about letting him work in ALEKS this summer, if he's interested, to improve the chances of subject acceleration? I know there's not enough information to answer that question, but what would you do?
From everything I have learned this year, the Common Core is indeed very wordy. Not only in the Everyday Math way, but wanting kids to use lots of explanations, sometimes three explanations for every process. (To me it looks like overkill.) Your DS may well be frustrated with it.
Because of that, my inclination (after raising my writing-challenged 2E) would be to remediate writing and drawing some limited amount of time every day (15 min? whatever he would tolerate), to bring up the weak points that will be bothersome under the Common Core, but also to offer some kind of math as a carrot if he really finds it fun.
Going as fast as he likes can eventually cause some planning issues: my DS worked so far ahead that there is no class where he fits well, and because we want him in a class, it's kind of unfortunate. Still, for my DS, math brings joy and a feeling of success; ultimately, it became a part of school that was enjoyable, which is really important. If you can keep the love for it alive, that's a tremendous good.
DeeDee
