Thanks for all the input so far. I agree on telling him the teacher is trying her best and has kids at all different levels. DS isn't complaining about anything, but he has never been the type to complain. He likes going to school to be with the other kids. I know he really likes gym, music, some of the science lessons. He likes being in the "Minecraft Club" that he set up (with kids who have no idea how to play Minecraft LOL). In terms of social skills, he has made a lot of progress. Last year for several months he resisted going to school and this year he says school is "just fine". It took him forever to make friends last year, but this year he acts like a social butterfly and is a totally different child. School has helped him to gain a lot of social skills. So I can't see homeschooling. I also can't see transferring schools in the middle of the year, because he is reserved and that would probably send him backwards about 10 steps socially. I guess I need to figure out how much to push "listen to your teacher" or let it go if he slacks off. If he doesn't feel like arranging words like "dog" into a column, I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to do it either. I feel like letting ALL of the high-ability kids slack off and telling them that I will check the units off on the checklist and it's Ok if they don't feel like doing it. But of course I won't do that because it gives a totally wrong message. I'm on the schedule twice per month. I go back tomorrow and I'm dreading it. DD's first grade teacher did not do things the same way at all in terms of the literacy/reading block.
With the 5+2 math homework, his teacher said that she is sending it home because he doesn't have time to finish it in class and it's "not fair to him" (she has the kids do the front side of the math sheet in the morning before the bell rings, and take the back side home as homework, but DS wasn't even finishing the front side). I must have looked confused by the "it's not fair to him" remark, because she then said that she needs a record of his handwriting for his IEP to show what progress he is making, and if he is rushed in the morning and not finishing, that is not a fair record. Well, why can't she use his journal or just about anything else as a record? I think she just wants him to do the first grade math curriculum (and it's not fair if we make him do harder work!), but that really does not make sense because according to the out of level testing she did (which I asked her to do) he has already mastered the second grade curriculum so is at least two grades ahead. I'm debating sending in a note saying that she can use the Singapore Math and any other work he's doing in class as a "record", and I will not be having him do first grade math at home anymore.
