Me & My Soapbox

So here we go. It's Friday and it's been a helluvaweek. The main problem? My charge and her bloody school. She is so B-O-R-E-D and it's coming out in behavioral problems at home. I've got stuff for her to do, stuff that is challenging, stuff that motivates her, stuff that makes her want to learn. But at school, no such luck. I know there's 24 other kids in her class. I know her teacher tries. But honestly, is it THAT hard to give her something challenging to do?

Case in point:

Reading: She just recently reached a 3rd grade reading level. She's reading chapter books. She's not into the "little kid" books-(picture books, non-chapter books, etc.) but she's required to read them at school. The kids, starting in 1st grade, take reading comprehension tests online. They're 5 questions each and the teacher won't let her read or take any tests above a 1st grade level. I, personally, think this is ridiculous. She's consistently getting 100% on these and she absolutely despises reading these books. Her teacher's explanation? "Well it looks bad on her report card if she reads at a higher level and misses the questions. That will bring her grade down." Okay, maybe it's a valid point. But I really don't think it's a "grade" thing. I think it's a "I want to look like a good teacher by having my students ace tests all the time" thing with the teacher. Why not let her TRY a higher level and have her TRY a test at a higher level before making the "She won't get the questions right" statement. Give her a chance. It's just insulting to assume that she won't do well.

Spelling: I stopped quizzing her on her spelling words everyday because it's pointless. She can spell well above a 1st grade level. She got excited this week because they FINALLY started doing 4 letter words. They JUST started working on the "sh, ch, th" words.

Writing: Her writing needs work. It's legible, sure. Spacing and correct capitalization need work. We're working on it. This is honestly one of the few areas that she's not way ahead in.

Math: 2nd grade level here. She knows some of the times tables and very rarely gets an addition or subtraction question wrong on her papers. I'm working with her on word problems right now. Extracting the correct information, etc. At school, they just learned how to count by 5's. I taught that to my preschoolers for crying out loud.

Art: She likes this. Probably because she's not forced to dumb it down.

Gym: She likes this for the most part. She's getting a little bored with learning how to jump rope, skip, hop, and hoola-hoop. All things she could do back in preschool when I had her in my class.

Library Time: She hates this. This suprised me at first until I found out the reason. The library at her school is divided into grades. 1st grade books over here, 2nd grade books on this shelf, etc. Her class, being 1st grade, is only allowed to pick from the 1st grade shelf. No wonder she hates it. It's too bloody easy. As a side note, when I take her to the library I let her read whatever she wants. If it's too hard for her to read alone, I read it with her or to her.

Computer Time: Same issue as the library. They only let the 1st graders play the 1st grade educational games--Even on the hard settings she gets 100%. I've started teaching her how to type--which they don't start doing at her school until 3rd grade.

So, what do I do? Do I keep moving her forward and challenging her, thus putting her that much ahead of her grade...or do I back off and not challenge her? I know the answer here, obviously. I'm not going to give up. But it's really frustrating because it feels like she's not getting anything from school--other than seeing her friends and killing a small forest with all the paperwork she brings home. The school won't listen. They don't believe it's in any child's best interest to move them up a grade. And if that's the case, I can accept that. But then that means that the teachers in the classrooms need to challenge EVERY child and meet them where they are. Just because she's in 1st grade doesn't mean she only has to do 1st grade work.