Ganging Up

Well, we had our meeting about Madeleine's schooling today. I felt like everyone was ganging up on Brian and me, but we held strong. They are concerned about her written expression. It is definitely a weakness of hers, but not something that should hold her back in areas. For example, they gave her the 2nd grade skills test. She got the answers correct, but didn't know how to "explain how she got the answer." For the question, there are 5 rows of 4 marbles. How many marbles in all, she wrote "5 x 4 = 20." They expected her to draw a picture. Where I understand the need for struggling students, Maddie is efficient in multiplication and division and I don't believe it's necessary for her to draw a picture or explain how this works. She's way past that point. No one asks me to "explain my work" every time I balance my checkbook!

I was tired after the hour-long meeting. I felt like I had to justify her strengths (which they didn't test) as well as explain that maybe we have different goals for our children than most parents. The assistant superintendent said her major goal was to make sure Maddie was "happy" and "successful." I interjected and said our goals are to make sure our children are challenged. We make sure they are successful and they will only be happy if they ARE challenged. She didn't quite know what to say after that!

We did come to a compromise after they realized we weren't backing down. We are going to try to send Maddie to 1st grade next year, but let her attend 2nd grade for reading and math. I think she will continue to grow in reading. Math will be quite boring for her, but maybe the teacher will agree to let her do harder worksheets when she completes her work. I like the idea of her going to specials with kids that aren't 2 years older than her. I also think she will enjoy making friends in two different classes! She is quite the social butterfly :)