Yeah, so it shouldn't be back to school already, but we live in Utah where children seem to grow on trees and the schools here are nearly bursting, requiring year-round school. In fact, Bianca's already been in school for over two weeks now.
I shouldn't have any problems. Things worked out exactly as I'd planned. Last year, since Bianca didn't make the cut-off for public school (she turned five in October, instead of by September 1), I found a private school in the area that had a later cut-off date. She went to kindergarten when she was four and despite my concerns, she did great. I then had her tested for a special program in the public school district for first grade that lets the children learn at a faster rate. She got on the waiting list, then got into the class at the beginning of the summer. This was exactly what I'd hoped for.
Not only did I not have to pay tuition for the private school or buy another set of uniform clothes, but the public schools here even pay for all school supplies. The class is small--only 19 kids, which is typically unheard of at Utah schools. So that was another thing I was excited about.
But what I worried about was all the kids in the program being so smart. Bianca is a whole four months younger than any other child in her class. And she was bringing home three to four homework worksheets a night the first week of school. One math worksheet particularly concerned me. I taught Bianca how to subtract (which I don't think they even covered in her kindergarten class) but this worksheet had 17-8 and like problems. I helped her with them, as I always will, and sent them back to school.
A week into school, they had a back-to-school night. All the parents shuffled through the halls into the first-grade classroom, where I heard the teacher say, "Now, I know the worksheets the kids are bringing home seem easy now, but they're just review. They'll get harder soon." That's when I tried my hardest not to be concerned. But I can't help it. I am.
I'm going to sit this out and hopefully things will get better. When I ask Bianca if school is too hard, she says "no, it's fine."
Bianca came home on Monday saying that the little girl who sat next to her is going to a different school now. Are kids dropping out because it's too hard? Should I consider a similar option?
The next night, she had a homework assignment for the parents to do with the kids. It said to pull out twelve beans and an envelope. Take a random number of beans and put them away in the envelope. Let the child see the beans that are left and tell me how many are in the envelope. There was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth that night. For when I asked her the questions, Bianca just guessed random numbers. She wasn't even trying to figure it out. I wanted to scream. In fact, I think I did. I then called Eric and told him he had to come home early enough to go over this with Bianca. That had similar results, with a little shouting and I believe I once heard his hand pounding off the dinner table in frustration.
When she got home yesterday, our first priority was to figure out the bean problem. But I had an idea. Instead of beans, I used gummi bears. And instead of an envelope, I used her tummy. We went through it over and over, where she consumed A LOT of gummi bears. But ultimately, it worked and she figured it out. In fact, she said she enjoyed it so much she wanted to do it again tomorrow, which we'll keep doing until she has all numbers that make twelve so rock solid in her brain, she'll never forget them.
I know this is going to take a lot of effort. I worry about the school year. School should, after all, be fun and not stressful--at least for the mom who sends her child off to school all day. No, but for the child too, at least in first grade.
I'm optimistic. We're going to stick this out. Let's hope it's not too hard for me.
