Josh gets off the school bus today and tells me that his teacher, feeling that the current spelling curriculum was not doing it's job, has been looking for a new one. Last week she administered a 100 word spelling test to the class. Today the teacher decided to give the new curriculum a try, but not before privately whispering to Josh that he had done so remarkably well on last week's evaluation test that he tested himself right out of the new curriculum and should just come up with his own spelling words.
Seriously?
A million years ago Matt was assigned the first grade teacher who was so tough she made the parent's quiver. At back to school night she announced that there would be no spelling tests in her class because every one knows that kids learn words for the tests and misspell them a week later. She said that everyone also knew that spelling words with repitious spelling busy work homework and weekly tests were not how children learned to spell. Have I ever mentioned how much I loved Matt's first grade teacher?
In the mean time I admit to being a teeny bit disappointed in new town. Their education system was heralded as amazing, especially for the gifted children. Well, there is no gifted class for 10 year old kids that can spell anything or read on an adult reading level. Josh doesn't bring home books from the library that are on his reading level. But they are making him read historical fiction this month, so I can see why he who prefers fantasy/science fiction might try to get away with whatever he can get through fastest. But still, I'm thinking of taking him to a writing place I've spotted in town. I feel like he isn't being challenged. (Which I totally recognize as one of the top 3 most annoying things parents say. I'm content with being one of those mothers) They didn't want to put Josh in their gifted math program because they thought it was likely that a kid from some lackluster school district (which according to new town is anyone other than new town) wouldn't be able to hack it. Josh is totally bored in Regular Math and even the teacher realizes he already knows and has mastered most of what they are doing but wants to keep him regular math for the year because there are some gaps in his knowledge due to the fact that new town uses the most bizarre math program that teaches kids how solve things both conventionally and ass backwards. Josh never learned the ass backwards methods. Next year they are going to put him Gifted Math. He'll be in the high pressure gifted classes just in time to have to adjust to middle school too. Yippee!
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