Decisions

My husband and I have a big decision to make concerning our 4 year old. Our son turns 4 tomorrow. He is quite the smarty pants. He has known all his letter names since he was 2, learned all the letter sounds around 2 1/2 and at 3 1/2 he began to read small words and short books with help. He can count to 100 with someone reminding him of what 10 comes next and is learning to add numbers together. He can count backwards from 10 and possibly 20. We haven't really tried that. So what do you do with a child like this.

Teacher - From a teachers stand point I would love a classroom full of this child. He loves to learn and go, go, go. He does shut down when things get to be too difficult but that is something that a little confidence will help with. I would not however want one or two of these kids in a classroom with kids that are on or below grade level because you don't know what to do with them. They are ready before the other kids and you constantly have to keep them going with new activities. An activity that should take the class 20 minutes could take him 5. You defiantly have to have an "I'm done now what" kit for these kids. I also would use these kids to help other kids complete projects or pass out papers. I know full well that I'm not helping them meet their full potential but because I have 28-30 kids in one room that I am responsible for I have to concentrate there. Those kids are smart and will make it.

Parent - As his mom I don't want him to become a behavior problem because he is bored in school, I don't want him to be the teacher's helper and pass out papers or help other students when he is done, and I don't want him being punished with extra work because he finishes faster than the other kids. I don't agree with kids skipping grades. It does too much damage socially. He is also ready for Kindergarten right now and can't go for 2 more years. I don't want him to lose that love of learning by holding him back but I don't want him to be bored in school.

Possible solutions

1. We start doing the kindergarten curriculum now after testing him with the local school's Kindergarten test to make sure he is ready and I homeschool him for Math and Reading until we can get him into a spectrum program (which usually starts at 3rd grade.)

2. We wait and hope he doesn't lose that love of learning or get too frustrated when things become difficult and just send him with his peers.

3. We find a school that levels for math and reading and cross our fingers that in 2 years when we put his name on the list and hope we get in.

It frustrates me that schools aren't better equipped to deal with kids like my son. As a teacher I always heard about children with disabilities and how I needed to make sure I made accommodations for them so they could reach their full potential. What about those that are gifted and learn quickly? Do we assign them "busy work" so they begin to hate finishing quickly so we can keep them working? We need to come up with a better system that meets all the needs of the students.

I don't agree with moving kids to another grade because academically they can handle it. What about socially? Last year I was a part of a team that was deciding if a first grader could move to second grade. She had the smarts but socially she couldn't handle it. The first grade teacher and I told the parents it wasn't a good idea. They did it anyways. The child was a major behavior problem the rest of the year.

We need another option. We are slowly failing our kids with the system we have now and exhausting out teachers as they try to meet the individual needs of 30+ students. What if we grouped kids by their ability level. Now I know this has been done before and that many people will be upset if we do it again, but honestly I would rather have my slower child (and yes I have one of those) in a classroom with less children and a teacher that has the time to give them the attention that they need then in a classroom where they are going to continually fall behind because the teacher doesn't have the time to help them. This way I don't have to force a child that struggles and doesn't like school to suffer through 4 hours of homework because they didn't know how to do it at school. I know it is hard hearing that your child struggles. I'd even compare it to hearing that your child has some disease. Once you know your child is sick you can then begin to do everything possible to treat it. It's the same with education. Once you know there is a problem you can do something about it and your child can learn. Not every child learns the same way and not every teacher teaches the same way. Let's start matching up our kids with the teacher that will help them reach their full potential. Let's have them keep that teacher longer than a year so they can get to know the child well enough to know how they learn and can help them through their primary education. Let's make a change.