blackcat, my child is a happy boy with a very optimistic attitude. He would scribble something down to go through the motions rather than put any effort into his work in his K class last year. He said outright to me that he did not care enough to try to do his best because school was "silly". He did not comprehend that the teacher expected 100% accuracy before she would accelerate him. His day at school had a max of 10 minutes of math (and that too was not every day) with teddy bear counters and 4+3 kind of stuff. Eventually, in February, I told him that there was no hope for him to get any advanced stuff if he continued to goof off. So, he started shouting out answers to math problems before other kids and it acted as a self-advocacy strategy. Though the teacher complained about it, she gave him advanced math worksheets - and it turned out to be 14+13 instead of 4+3. Not much help for him.
What I am trying to say is that our only way to keep the learning going was to afterchool intensely using various curriculum choices. He does not goof off at home, is intensely focused and does a great job. I used school last year for his social needs and I refused to pull him out because of the great attachment he developed towards his teacher, his friends and the school community. This year, he is in a private school with good academics and now he tells me that it would have been great to have changed schools in the middle of last year and that he did not know that he had a choice. We still afterschool math because the current school does 2nd grade math with him and he still finds it easy.
Good job on continuing the SM at home. Check out the Beast Academy series starting at the 3A level. DS just started it this Fall and is loving it.
