How long do you let them 'cruise'?

[kistigger]

I feel that DD is cruising at school. Apart from the all important 'socialisation' skills DD has not learned anything in school or nursery since she started (3 years now). (I'm not saying those skills aren't important just that I was expecting an 'all-round' kind of education!!) The fact that she is still ahead shows how far ahead she was in the first place and how much we have done at home. If she was not keeping up with the class we would get called in to discuss the fact she was cruising and not making any progress. Surely this should be the case for children at the top too, to continue to make progress and achieve their potential?! Or am I asking too much?

I'm not a troll - unless I have been trolling for five odd years.

This came up in active and I commented. I stand by it - and I have two children - one hugely talented and one err less so. Talk of this stuff at age 5 is massively over bearing.

All the talk in the OP of cruising/ potential/ all round education at the age of FIVE. Insane.

QOD what is so wrong with giving children what they are ready for? A school worth its salt will do this - I know because the primary my DDs went to (DD2 is still there) did and still does. Ready for some KS2 maths in Yr1 - no problem, in-class differentiation. Ready to write stories when some are still struggling to write at all? No problem, get them onto paragraphs, punctuation and extended vocab to improve the impact of their writing.

Yes, play and socialising are important, but if the school cannot set appropriate work within the topic-based curriculum (which I approve of, BTW) then they are not doing their job. My DDs' school recognised that there was no point drilling them in the same phonemes that the majority were doing, because they already knew them - so they provided work that moved them on, kept them happy and interested and loving school - how can that be the wrong thing to do?

It is a school's job to educate all its pupils.

QOD what is it you do in education?
I'm interested in what you believe hot-housing is.

At home I work with my child doing whatever takes her interest, if that makes me someone who is hot-housing then fine so be it. I can live with that label. But for DD if I found her nothing to do and the school found her nothing to do (which is the case, she is well ahead of the other children) then I have to deal with the behaviours of a gremlin, the screaming tantrums, the absolute defiance, the refusal to get dressed/brush teeth etc, the physical abusive, the sulking, the emotional rollercoaster, the arguments with DS, the boredom, the aggitation, the twinkle in her eye lost forever along with the lovely pleasant child I once knew - absorbed by the monster she has become. Personally I would rather hot-house her by stimulating all areas of her brain so that I do not have to experience that! I am just trying to keep myself sane and everyone from having to experience the dark side of DD! Can she help it, no she is 6. But can I help her, yes I should and do.

It is a school's job to educate all its pupils but yet it seems on the whole incapable of doing so. If your DS is catered for well then you should count yourself as one of the lucky one's who has a child who fits the norm, has a particularly talented/understanding/differentiating teacher or you simply don't understand your own child's needs.

Quite right, OP - you are not one of the lucky ones and so you are stepping up to the plate for your DD. Good for you.