Parts of our library were off-limits, too. We just went to the county library, so I didn't fight it. But then they started sending home books for homework. When I gently requested via e-mail that harder books be sent home than the ones we were seeing because DS was reading chapter books, our 1st grade teacher responded quite nastily that "There are many good books for this age range that are not chapter books."
"Okay," I thought to myself, "Then send THOSE home. But this See-Spot-run stuff is for the birds!" Shortly after that, DS7 was assigned a book that only had one word that was different on each page! Ugh!
DS7 noticed this immediately--seeing as how he could read and all!--so he rolled his eyes and asked me if he could save time by just reading the first page, last page, and the one different word on the pages in between. We were both so frustrated that I agreed, provided he read another book, too. He happily pulled out a chapter book and read for an hour.
I hate to undermine a teacher like that. It's not my style. I'm absolutely a play-by-the-rules person. But c'mon!
That was just about the point at which I realized that the year was never going to improve. She was making a point. Well, point made...
