I have two questions/problems which I've been hesitating asking because I don't want to sound like a pushy/boastful parent. But, I'm hoping it will be okay to ask them here because whilst I know my DD is bright, I also know she doesn't have an extraordinary academic ability like many of your DCs.
She is 6 in Y2, she is an avid reader. I let her read Harry Potter last year, and she read them all and loved them. She then saw the first film on Christmas Eve, and was thrilled, and read them all again. Since she finished the re-read (early January), she has basically just been reading them over and over. She reads the bits she likes most, jumps around, but I'm really struggling to get her into anything else. We tried one series - Tamora Pierce (at the recommendation of her piano teacher), but I'm actually rather relieved to say she decided she didn't want to read all of the second one or third one (having given them to her, I did some research and realised they were probably not at all appropriate for a six year old). I want to help her find another series which she can get engrossed in, but it is really hard finding things that are interesting AND suitable.
My second question/issue is about her school, and whether she is being challenged enough, and if it matters if she isn't. On a reading front, things are fine. Her school use ORT up to level 15, and she is on level 14 (which in old SAT money is working towards/within Lv4). She reads much more complex texts outside school, but the school work on explicit explanation etc. so I'm sure that is all fine. It is more about Maths. The school use a Maths Mastery programme, which is about depth of understanding, and so their way of stretching her is to have her work with a child who is working on a slightly lower level, so that she has to explain how things work to the other child. I do see the logic in that, but she tells me that the Maths work is very easy. She isn't too bothered, but I wondered if I should ask them how they extend their more able children. At the same time, I'm worried that they will look at me like I'm some insane pushy mum. I don't really know what she can do because she doesn't really get Maths homework. We had Alfie online tests to do last year, and in Y1 she could quite happily do the y2 tests. Should I talk to them or should I just trust that they know what they are doing? Her teacher is a maths specialist and has previously commented that DD has a good memory/mental arithmetic ability. The short summary of my long question is - is it best to push the school a little, or to let her coast a little (given she is only in infants school)?
If you got this far - thank you for reading!!
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Advice needed...what next after Harry Potter AND is school too easy?
WhattodoSue · 12/02/2016 10:25
Really Tired my mum read Jane Eyre at 8. She was abroad and her teacher sent it to her. She almost certainly didn't fully understand it, but she certainly enjoyed it. I honestly did hesitate to give DD all of the HP books. We started them thinking she could have the first few now, and the others later. But she didn't find them scary, and the withholding was making them seem even more appealing. There are older themes in Harry Potter, but they are also very exciting stories. Even if my DD doesn't get some of the underlying themes and context, she LOVES these books. There is also violence in little red riding hood, Tom and Jerry, and loads of children's cartoons. My DD hated Awful Auntie because the Auntie is sitting there telling the little girl about the death of her parents, and the little girl is hearing about it for the first time, via a mean and horrible relation. But I think in Harry Potter, the fantasy world, and the fact that HP's parents death happens before the story really starts, means that she is able to quite easily understand this is fiction. DD is actually pretty good at self-censoring when she does find something upsetting. My view is that the reason the HP books are so popular is essentially because they are very well paced stories with good characters (I know not everyone will agree 
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And irrespective, she has already ready them. She has also read all of the Enid Blyton school books (those were her obsession before HP). She was never that into the Faraway Tree, and I really tried to get her into the Famous Five, but she wasn't interested. She tried the Chalet School books, and read a couple, but unfortunately the pace doesn't compare to HP. She has read all of the Worst Witch books. We did try the library, but when she was younger, but she always picked up rubbish books that she didn't ever actually want to read (she selected based on pretty front covers generally). Maybe she would do better now she is a little older.
*ReallyTired" I wouldn't dream of letting her read the Hunger Games. Having read the books and seen the films, I just don't think they would appeal to her now. They have no really child-friendly themes in my view (all YA). In terms of reading being a race - that is a comment to a parent not a child. Whatever your view on the HP books, my DD has read them and LOVES them. The question isn't whether she should have read them, the question is what I can tempt her with next which might have the same level of excitement. She has a tendency to fall in love with books/characters, and gets totally immersed and engrossed. I just need to find her something else to get immersed into .
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Also Irvine has your DS read Percy Jackson? Big hit with both my kids even DS who doesn't really "do" fantasy. When she was younger DD used to write Percy Jackson fanfic and post it on the fanfiction.net website 
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