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Here is my dilemma:
My son will be in second grade next year. He is classified as a gifted/talented student, but there is not much in the way of programming for him in the public schools here -- they eliminated the G/T coordinator in a cost-cutting measure a few years ago. An example of what he does as a gifted student: when the class is assigned a book report, the G/T students have to make a prop to go along with their report. I am underwhelmed by this. Luke is reading at least at a fourth grade level (he reads the Ramona books -- do you all remember those? -- and the newspaper in the mornings before school) but his classroom teacher does nothing for him in the way of challenging him. He still brings home the same readers as everyone else in the class. His teacher this year is known for being extremely strict with boys. He got a mark on his conduct sheet the other day for "falling out of his seat". Whatever. They are given a grade for conduct and he got an F last grading period, with an A in every other subject.
All of the gifted kids are put into the same classroom -- besides Luke, there are two little girls who are also identified as gifted. The second grade teacher that gets these kids is supposed to be phenomenal and is the gifted resource person for the building. I think Luke will probably enjoy her class more than he has enjoyed first grade. He hasn't hated it, but as much as he loves to learn, I would expect that he would love school -- so far, that isn't the case.
My other concern is this: We live in an older neighborhood where the houses are about 50 years old. It is mixed, with bigger and smaller houses. We live in one of the bigger houses. I was happy that Luke was going to a school where the population was heterogenous -- however, we went to a first grade program last night, and as we looked around, we could see that Luke (and our family) is clearly a minority in a lot of ways. Our values are very different than most of the parents at the school. Luke has not made close friends there, and I think a lot of it has to do with those differences (language the kids use, or attitudes they have, which Luke picks up on) as well as with difficulties he has always had because of being smart.
I hate the way the last paragraph sounds! My husband and I are discouraged because we feel like we are snobs, but the truth is, Luke does not have any true peers at school.
SO, we are planning to observe the teacher he is supposed to have next year, and then we're going to visit The Episcopal School (really the only private school in town) and see what we think.
We are just so torn about this -- we want him to have good friends whose parents have similar values to ours, and so far, he hasn't found that at his public school, although he isn't really complaining because he doesn't know the difference.
So tell me -- are we snobs? We aren't rolling in money, but the way the military works, we get some bonus money that is a lump sum, and we could pay for private school out of that -- we would just pay off our debt a little slower.
Your thoughts?
Sally
My son will be in second grade next year. He is classified as a gifted/talented student, but there is not much in the way of programming for him in the public schools here -- they eliminated the G/T coordinator in a cost-cutting measure a few years ago. An example of what he does as a gifted student: when the class is assigned a book report, the G/T students have to make a prop to go along with their report. I am underwhelmed by this. Luke is reading at least at a fourth grade level (he reads the Ramona books -- do you all remember those? -- and the newspaper in the mornings before school) but his classroom teacher does nothing for him in the way of challenging him. He still brings home the same readers as everyone else in the class. His teacher this year is known for being extremely strict with boys. He got a mark on his conduct sheet the other day for "falling out of his seat". Whatever. They are given a grade for conduct and he got an F last grading period, with an A in every other subject.
All of the gifted kids are put into the same classroom -- besides Luke, there are two little girls who are also identified as gifted. The second grade teacher that gets these kids is supposed to be phenomenal and is the gifted resource person for the building. I think Luke will probably enjoy her class more than he has enjoyed first grade. He hasn't hated it, but as much as he loves to learn, I would expect that he would love school -- so far, that isn't the case.
My other concern is this: We live in an older neighborhood where the houses are about 50 years old. It is mixed, with bigger and smaller houses. We live in one of the bigger houses. I was happy that Luke was going to a school where the population was heterogenous -- however, we went to a first grade program last night, and as we looked around, we could see that Luke (and our family) is clearly a minority in a lot of ways. Our values are very different than most of the parents at the school. Luke has not made close friends there, and I think a lot of it has to do with those differences (language the kids use, or attitudes they have, which Luke picks up on) as well as with difficulties he has always had because of being smart.
I hate the way the last paragraph sounds! My husband and I are discouraged because we feel like we are snobs, but the truth is, Luke does not have any true peers at school.
SO, we are planning to observe the teacher he is supposed to have next year, and then we're going to visit The Episcopal School (really the only private school in town) and see what we think.
We are just so torn about this -- we want him to have good friends whose parents have similar values to ours, and so far, he hasn't found that at his public school, although he isn't really complaining because he doesn't know the difference.
So tell me -- are we snobs? We aren't rolling in money, but the way the military works, we get some bonus money that is a lump sum, and we could pay for private school out of that -- we would just pay off our debt a little slower.
Your thoughts?
Sally
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