Grade School

Our children all started grade 1 in parochial grade school. I was a room mother and volunteer tutor. When Noelle was in the fifth grade it became apparent to me that she was bored. I decided to make application to the Indianapolic School Academically Talented Program, which I had heard about from a friend. I applied for a specific classroom/teacher and Noelle was admitted for her sixth grade year. It was finally a world for her where she and her classmates could carry on intelligent conversations, and she loved it!
That year her Iowa Test scores indicated that she was doing 10th grade work, so I decided to inquire at another parochial school if she could go directly to the eighth grade. (I did NOT want to send her to a public junior high, since the AT Program was not available there.) Anyway, I inquired, she went, and she was an outstanding student!

I have had many encounters with school "authorities" and my advice is this: Keep up with what your child is doing academically and behaviorally. Do not be intimated by such people. Make it clear that you want to work together for the good of your child?

Make sure that your young child knows that his or her teacher/principal carries a lot of weight with you. Don't undermine that person's authority with your child. You and the teacher/principal should present a united front to the child even if you do not agree on every little thing.

I ended up sending five of our six children to that program in IPS for fifth and sixth grades. In retrospect, I should have asked them to take David on a conditional basis, but I did not press hard enough at the time.

At age 4 Nancy learned to read from David's kindergarten books. I knew that I needed to get her into school early so I had her tested and put into first grade right away at age five, instead of kindergarten.(She was reading at fourth grade level.) It was difficult for me to even take her to be tested, because I was unsure of my judgement, but I was right about her. It was a great boost to my self-confidence about my observations!
Daniel had just turned five (December), and he was in Howe pre-school. His teacher and I felt the need to get him into kindergarten. I went to the principal at Lourdes(where Noelle had gone), and asked if he could finish out the year in kindergarten. He did, and then went on to first grade a year early.

Nadia was in the first grade with only eight classmates. Then, in second grade, she was put into a split classroom of second and third grade. When she got to the 3/4 split class the next year, by October her teacher approached me about moving her on to the fourth grade. We discussed it at length...she was already young(June baby), and decided to go ahead.

Looking back from present day.....Nina and David were the only ones not to skip a grade, and it worked out ok for them. Under different circumstances, I might not have pushed Nadia ahead since she was young already, but it is what it is. Several of our grandchildren are not being challenged in school, so the dilemma goes on. Do we settle for mediocrity? Or do we demand that our child's needs be met? It is a shame that so many parents settle......and that many teachers don't have the either the desire or the means to challenge.