I'm glad Singapore Math is working well for you, Kim.
Mia:
See, the teacher's the thing. She seems to recognise that he's bright and is giving him "enrichment" worksheets -- word problems on the order of "Jane has 17 apples and gives 9 of them to John. How many apples does Jane have left?" He get those right, of course, but I'd rather see him on a progressive accelerated plan than getting random arithmetic problems, kwim? And since they're not offering to do it, I was wondering if it might be beneficial to steer them in the right direction. I guess it does depend on how I approach it ... just wondering if anyone had any "that's a horrid idea!" gut reactions.
It sounds to me like a conversation with the teacher is in order and probably won't be badly received if you use a gentle touch. She seems like she's not the sort to go ballistic if you begin a conversation. We had one teacher who was very open to such conversations, and one who took even the slightest question personally. Yours sounds like the former rather than the latter.
Maybe you could say you've come across something to make her job easier that you'd like to share with her, since you know teaching your DS is an added challenge for her and you have SO appreciated her efforts, rather than just flat-out asking her to use the workbook? (or something like that?)
I dunno though. I feel like I'm really bad at this advocacy stuff!
I fear my "gentle touches" come off as manipulative and my normal approach is too bull-in-the-china-shop. I'm definitely an acquired taste...
Oh, and I know
exactly what you mean about the LM! It's not so much that we want/need/care about that high score. That's just a meaningless number. It's context that we need, and I wonder if using the same yardstick that was used on me--flawed as it is--might help me make sense of DS's abilities. I could see where he is in relation to me, and that would help it all to make more sense.
Maybe instead of giving our DSs the LM, perhaps you and I just need to take the WISC now! LOL!
