Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Alyssa's brilliance amazes me!!


I'm going to be bragging about Alyssa a little bit just to warn you. When Alyssa goes to school she loves it. She loves meeting new people and coloring with her new found friends but this year I've been troubled by the work that she's been coming home with. No, their not teaching evolution to Kindergarteners... yet. But with how smart Alyssa is and with the knowledge that she gained last year, she really is at a first grade level. The work she brings home from school right now is tracing one line of the A the other two are drawn in for them. Now, if you look above at the work that Alyssa does at home this is why I am concerned. Alyssa writes full sentences! She reads short chapter chapter books, she can add as long as it doesn't go over ten and she's learning how to add one digit numbers that add up to more than ten... at home. I've been debating for a long time about whether I should bump her up to first grade but that's just not possible given her size and maturaty level. She wouldn't last in first grade. Not because she wouldn't know how to do the work but she wouldn't be able to sit for a long period of time and she would want to talk to her friends all the time. So my other option was to homeschool. Micah thinks I push the kids too hard sometimes and I think I do too. I know my girls have great potential and I don't want to see that pass away. I also know that she loves school and if I pulled her out she'd be heartbroken. I don't know what to do. Another mom that had a daughter in Alyssa's class last year that has her daughter in Alyssa's same class had the same issues as I do. So we went to talk to the teacher yesterday. She said they were going to start the "real" work tomorrow where they will be tracing the A instead of just tracing one line of it. Again if you look above Alyssa already knows how to write an A with no help at all. I wrote the date on top to show her where the commas go and the order to write the date in. I will probably do this for a week then stop and she usually will do it almost perfectly after that. Anyways I know that God's protection is over her at school and that she probably won't forget stuff I just don't want to see the talents that she has (intellectually) to not grow for a whole year while we are here. Please be praying for this situation and what we should do as it's a big deal to us that she continues to learn and not stay stagnant for a whole year. Thanks for listening to me brag on my daughter! She truly is remarkable... she must get that from her Daddy!! ;-)

1 comment:

Monique said...

ahem. MD curriculum.. blah! But Haley is the same way!! So fun! She and two other girls are in their own reading group, just like Alyssa, Haley, Bryanna, and Brandon last year! Love that starfall, too.