So here is what we've decided. I'm going to look for part-time work, and starting in the fall make my primary focus homeschooling Kristin.
Right now, she is reading two grade levels higher than her current grade level, and she is the top scorer in everything in her class. She's not being challenged and it's making her rebellious. We had talked with the teacher about possibly advancing her to second grade but were advised against it, because there are still some things, like punctuation, for example, that she has yet to learn. She can read, but she can't tell you the reason for the quotations or comma.
Okay, that makes sense, she's not ready to advance a grade, we don't want to skip over anything but the class isn't moving fast enough for her. Because it must move (it seems) at the rate of the slowest child, she gets bored. I'm fairly confident that come the fall when I start to teach her second grade, by the end of the school year, we will be wrapping up third grade level stuff. I just think she can move that fast. I am not in any rush, so it's not me, it's just keeping up with her ability level. I'd like to learn different homeschooling methods, if I could teach some Montessori principles, that would be fantastic. Between now and the fall, I need to get some information on the scope of homeschooling.
2 comments:
I'm glad you've found a way to balance out both of these challenges. I salute you for taking on home schooling. We've talked about it and I'm not sure that I have the patience to do it. We're holding it out as a last resort with the state of SF's schools.
It stinks that the schools don't have the ability to realize that the current system is unfair to all students. None of the kids gets the kind of attention they need. I've always wondered why they didn't divide the kids by skill when they have multiple teachers in the same grade. I'm sure that is very controversial.
Enjoying the heat wave?
I don't think it will be easy, but I'm looking forward to it, because once we (or I) decide on something, I like to push forward with it and dive in.
I do think that here at least, they divide the kids up based on capability. Kristin is in a first/second grade mix and those in the first grade part were the smarter ones in kindergarten. I actually think they do divide them up by capability, but she STILL is needing more. I haven't even gotten into how fast she is learning outside of the school system. In terms of Prop 8 opening her eyes, and she becoming aware of a world out there with all it's complexities, she is years ahead of her classmates who don't focus on much beyond High School Musical or Hannah Montana. Sometimes I wish I could give her the same as her peers, but she is such a soaking sponge who must know everything.
She will be in the bathtub and I will be talking to Toney in the kitchen and we will hear, "What did you say?" She listens, she absorbs, she is a little adult in a child's body.
And this heat wave is horrible. It's supposed to be over today. I certainly hope so.
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