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!!