Roger came home yesterday, handed me a glass of wine and a cigarette and pointed towards the back porch."What is it! Tell me quick!" I demanded frantically.
"Meredith...is a first grade dropout," he stammered hesitantly, cowering against the wall like a little girly man.
Ok.
Here's the deal. Meredith attends a Montessori school that started a "G&T Third Grade" program 2 years ago. The deal is, you send your kids to their 1st and 2nd grade, and they pretty much guarantee your kid will start into the 3rd grade public school Gifted and Talented program. It's a mega-super-accelerated first grade program.
Meredith couldn't cut it. She's the youngest in the class, with a Sept. 28 birthday, and is already falling way behind.
Wanna know what the spelling words are for the 12th week? (this is the 2nd week of the program) They are: landed, happily, quite, sneaked, scratched, breezy, easily, wildcat, growl, snapping.
No way.
She isn't eligible for 1st grade in the public school because of her age cutoff.
So she's a dropout...back to the Montessori 3-6 classroom for another year.
I took a sip of wine.
"I knew she couldn't cut it at home but you know how they do so much better at school," I began. Roger agreed, you parents out there know the home performance and school performance often is muchly different.
"Whatever is best for her," I said piously. Roger looked a little stunned that Teh Crazy Ejucashun Lady wasn't having a fit. But heck, she isn't ready, so she isn't ready. Trying to push her would ruin her joy, spirit, and confidence and be futile anyway.
Oh well. One more year of no homework.
I can live with that.
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13 comments:
Wine and smokes? Smart man.
Johnny.
hey, not ready means not ready ( or is that supposed to be "no" means "NO" ).
Our "Pucca" girl has only been home 4 months now, and in preschool for 3 months, but we can see she will not be heading to Pre-K next year with the other kids. She loves any kind of physical activity, but can't handle the activities that require any length of her attention.
Besides, those are crazy spelling words for a first grader - they'll all be hating school and acting out by the 3rd grade!
my siblings (43 and 45) probably can't spell those words. OK, it's not that bad...
My kid has a Sept 27 Bday and thus will miss the cutoff for K next year. The pushy academic overachiever mom in me wishes that she'd be ready for K next year so I could be extra proud in some crazed way, but the realistic knowing my kid mom is so relieved that the decision is out of my hands. She will NOT be ready and she should not be going to K next year. I can tell already.
I feel your pain, sort of. Good for Daddy for bringing the wine, at least, and good for you all for not making a big deal out of this.
I also have a September 27th birthday, and it seems to me that those cutoff dates are awful early these days. Maybe because now they HAVE preschool and kindergarten available. My niece took two years of kindergarten because her birthday is in early October, and now in first grade, she's going to the third grade classroom to do math.
Dadgum, those are difficult spelling words! What happens if she can't perform at that rarified level next year? Do you have a choice of another private school? A normal one?
FWIW, my mom FOUGHT to hold my brother, another September baby, BACK a year because he, too, was not ready. Even as one of the oldest kids in the (next) class, he struggled with some things. Um, now a Ph.D. and frighteningly, frighteningly smart. Speaks myriad languages. Still just my annoying little brother, though.
I have one of those 'younger than everyone else' kids in 3rd grade now. He is in the G&T program, but I am beginning to wonder if we didn't bite off more than we could chew this year.
The homework is kicking MY butt. I honestly don't see how parents who can't get home and settled into it until 6 pm do it, not to mention if they have more than one child (!) and then dinner and baths, etc. It takes a solid two hours at the very least. There's always 2-3 work sheets, two books to read, study guides, writing 15 spelling words three times or sorting them alphabetically or by long E, short E, etc.... I'm dying here.
Enjoy the next homework-free year!!
Where we live they are very strict about the Sept. 1st cutoff. Back when I was in ist grade and even for my first year of teaching the cutoff was January. I was OK with an Aug. bday but my brother with a Dec. bday was 4.5 starting Kindergarten. Nowadays he'd be in Pre-K 4
As a teacher I noticed that first year when we still had 3 ability grouped reading groups the kids who struggled the most tended to be the youngest and the ones who did better tended to be the oldest.
At 5 years old a difference of a year in development terms is huge.
Enjoy another year without the intense pressure and homework.
BTW I taught 2nd grade and those spelling words are insane.
Best wishes!
Oh my I hit ist instead of 1st. Sorry!
Well way back when i was a kid for some reason the cutoff date was january and my birthday was in february. For some reason my parents thought that at age 4 I was some sort of genius. yeah right.
So since they couldn't push me ahead in public school they put meinto a yeshiva a year ahead of everyone else and then I started public school in second grade one year younger than everyone else. While i never had any problems through the years acedemically that one year of psychological maturation really messed me up. They also pushed me ahead in a gifted program in junior high so that i skipped 7th grade. Of course you are a fully evolved and perfect mom who would clue in to their child's angst and step in to teach her all about self esteem and pubic hair. Unfortunately my parents were clueless.
Anyway , the point is being held back early on isn't a bad thing and can give her an awesome edge and maturity that can be beneficial later in life.
Felice
I missed the cutoff as well (october 8th birthday) so I was one of the oldest kids in my class throughout school (this was great when I was one of the first kids get her driver's liscense!) I didn't laern how to read until I was 6 and a half but I still graduated from college with a BA in English!
be ing the youngest in a class is tough, even if you are smart enough! It may not make much of a difference in the first or second grade, but that maturity thing is a big deal when you are the youngest among your peers..... with your child is looking at some high risk behaviors. Better to be older I say and the smartest :)
Ahh... I love stories with happy endings.
Why in the world didn't the school know her better than to place her in with the primary kids? Was this her first year at the school?
I hope she is OK with her new placement - a good Montessori teacher should be able to provide Meredith a wonderful year.
Good goin Mom.
Okay, you can totally tell that I have no children, because I read "G & T Third Grade" and thought "Gin & Tonic Third Grade? What kind of school is THAT?"
Awesome.
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