My son is 6.5 and nearing the end of year 2/grade 1. He his seemingly not been unhappy this year although he admits he would like harder maths. His report says is mature and a joy to teach.
BUT: he is using a lot of baby talk (he says it because if one kid in his class but the kid is not someone he plays with), he is sucking his thumb/fingers/clothing for the first time in his life except when very young or teething(he hasn't lost any teeth yet so maybe it is a teething thing). He is having more tantrums/meltdowns than he used to, and he has taken to walking round the lounge in circles when tired and he is getting sick more often (fever type sick).
Any one of these things could be explained but all together I am starting to wonder if what i am seeing is stress/unhappiness related. I know my family and the school will tell me i am looking for problems and imagining things but i really starting to doubt that explanation. And if one more person starts telling me how schools are different now i am going to scream. Everyone assumes i didn't like school because it wasn't fun and the teachers were scary and while that is TRUE it was the lack of challenge and the other kids that was the real problem. I do not see any evidence of more academic content and at least when i was at school i could ignore the kids during class - now they have grouped desks and teamwork.
So would you be concerned? And if you were going to ask for a particular teacher next year would you ask for the GT co-ordinator who handed you extra basic facts worksheets when you asked about extension or a teacher who is inexperienced and has no GT training but is willing to listen to parents and work with them?
