Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy It's come to this

Arrrrgh! Don't fall for it! There is no shortage of math to learn. If he's done with third grade math in Kindergarten, then he can do what comes next, and next, and next. If they're afraid that the third-grade teacher won't know high enough math when he gets there, they need to figure out that there is math online. There is ALEKS, there is Khan Academy, there are all those other things mentioned around here. He will not learn all the known math in the universe before third grade, or before sixth grade, and if he does, that will be the least of their problems.

Soooo we had the meeting today.

To sum it all up - somethings were agreed to, others were not:

- Reading assessment will be re-done tomorrow. They will start on a reasonable level and test up instead of down. I am also to send in the books he is reading at home. They will also test on that to get a full picture. Turns out the teacher from last year (her and I had personality clash and she didn't seem to like Aiden) neglected to keep his reading file up to date so the teacher this year just went according to that.

- The teacher and the deputy headmistress will have a meeting with Aiden this week to explain the school terminology, why he cannot get homework and why he should speak up about what he wants. They will try and remove his fear around the discipline methodology that they use.

- They are keen to give him mini projects in line with his ability. This will be extended to all the kids and this will supposedly give them the scope to do as much or as little as they want. It seems it will not really have formalised requirements.

- They will NOT go deeper in maths (fear of gaps being detrimental later on); if he can do all the stuff the other kids do he will then be allowed to do something more complex. But only at pace of classroom. So if they are counting to 20 he may count to 100 sort of extension. And he has to prove he can do the other stuff first. I gave his teacher a list of the basic maths stuff he does well and am compiling a list of the maths he still needs to work on, and she said she will try slip some of the other stuff in to "test" as per the school's requirement.

- They blathered on again about the essential-ness (is that a word?) of cutting, glueing and colouring.

They also said that from second term (Semester), this class will be more like a Grade 1 setting. Writing and intro to spelling included. This starts mid April for us.

I am giving them three weeks to implement and see results with this. If things are not substantially better both at home and with his passion for learning, I am demanding a grade 1 trial basis. If they refuse even though it's not working, we will pull him and homeschool. I think that then no one can accuse me of not jumping through every single hoop required of me.

Thoughts? Comments?

oh yes and also - their eyes nearly popped out their heads everytime I referred to international research, commonly documented issues with HG+ kids, and kept referring to specific books, studies etc. They were very nervous once they realised that I am not just "another parent" but that I know stuff about Gifted Education and Gifted kids.

was my LOL In yer face for the day ;)(mean and petty right?)

One bit of advice: Never accept the "gaps" argument. It's an argument from ignorance, and the solution to ignorance is information. Your son can have an achievement test that demonstrates exactly where these gaps may exist. Those gaps can then be filled, and he can move on.

EXCELLENT idea! thank you! I am going to chat to his teacher about this next week - after we sort out the reading and other accepted ideas They can give him a Grade 1 or Grade 2 assessment and see where he has these gaps.

Sounds like you are doing everything you can to give them a chance. I think you may have an ally in this years teacher. After the reading assesment the next question will be....are there any other ks reading at this level? Will your son have to be privately tutored in every subject be the k teacher?

One step at a time I guess
G

I already know that there is only one other K student who reads at a similar level. She is Aiden's best friend, but this year they are in different classes. She is 11 months older than him and has no issues showing what she can do. In his class there are 2 others who are reading, but below where they tried to start him now (so effectively where he was about 18 month ago).