JonInMiddleGA
11-09-2005, 12:36 AM
Okay, here's the deal, let's see if I can manage to make some sort of sense in spite of posting just before going to sleep.
As I've mentioned in other threads, we're looking to move to an area with a higher quality selection of schools than we currently have. He may not be the smartest kid in the whole world but he's pretty much blowing the curriculum away, he's bored stiff, and has fairly little in common with the other kids beyond oxygen consumption. The plan is/has been to make the move at the end of the current school year, so that he starts at the new school in Fall 06.
We've identified several possibilities, have the general location in mind, etc, it's basically a matter of finding both the right fit for our (current) 2nd grader AND finding a fit at a school that isn't maxxed out on admissions in his grade.
Now, we know going into this that he's going to have some catching up to do -- the curriculum isn't nearly as challenging where he's been as where he's going -- and we're trying to prepare for that as much as possible before hand. For example, he's getting his first year of Spanish right now, the preferred school for him starts Spanish in Pre-K, so he'll be 2 years of instruction behind right off the bat. So we're looking for a Spanish tutor to try to make up some of that ground between now & then, can't cover 2 yrs in a few months but it'll at least be an improvement.
Well, that sort of leads to what we're looking at right now -- what else is he going to be trailing in & how can we best close that gap.
1) We're going to do the "Skills Assessment" at Sylvan in a couple of weeks. We're hoping it will give us a more detailed look at his strengths & weaknesses, beyond what we know already. At the very least, it'll serve as practice for standardized testing. We're hoping it proves worthwhile but are concerned that the tests are really just a way for them to try to pitch their various services & may not reflect reality (if, for example, reality is that he really doesn't need much from them). Anybody have any experience with Sylvan, any thoughts about their ability to function as a source for testing vs testing just as a way to sell you product?
2) Best case scenario, he aces the January entrance exam at the #1 choice for new school AND they determine they've got a slot for him in '06. At that point, we'll be totally focused on getting him as ready for the change as possible ... and it's becoming increasingly obvious to us that we could do that better with a half-year of homeschooling/tutoring than what he's currently getting. Has anybody ever dealt with this sort of transition before? And by that I mean not only with a student going from a so-so school to a pretty driven academic environment AND a transition from traditional school to homeschool?
It's the latter that present more practical issues for us right now. Normally, if you were making the move to homeschool, you'd likely build a curriculum that was deemed appropriate for his grade level, but ...
1) He's testing somewhere around 2 grade levels above his actual age/grade.
2) This might be a mid-year move, not a start of the year move - how do you figure out where to start, since I haven't seen much in the way of "Recommended Course of Study for Grade 2.5"
Of course (like a lot of my life) none of this is etched in stone, but I figured it was better to throw some of this stuff at the FOFC panel of experts than to just let it twist knots in my brain & stomach all alone.
Questions welcomed, because I'm sure I've left out a bunch of stuff but maybe there's enough here to at least start explaining what's going on.
If you made it this far, thanks.
As I've mentioned in other threads, we're looking to move to an area with a higher quality selection of schools than we currently have. He may not be the smartest kid in the whole world but he's pretty much blowing the curriculum away, he's bored stiff, and has fairly little in common with the other kids beyond oxygen consumption. The plan is/has been to make the move at the end of the current school year, so that he starts at the new school in Fall 06.
We've identified several possibilities, have the general location in mind, etc, it's basically a matter of finding both the right fit for our (current) 2nd grader AND finding a fit at a school that isn't maxxed out on admissions in his grade.
Now, we know going into this that he's going to have some catching up to do -- the curriculum isn't nearly as challenging where he's been as where he's going -- and we're trying to prepare for that as much as possible before hand. For example, he's getting his first year of Spanish right now, the preferred school for him starts Spanish in Pre-K, so he'll be 2 years of instruction behind right off the bat. So we're looking for a Spanish tutor to try to make up some of that ground between now & then, can't cover 2 yrs in a few months but it'll at least be an improvement.
Well, that sort of leads to what we're looking at right now -- what else is he going to be trailing in & how can we best close that gap.
1) We're going to do the "Skills Assessment" at Sylvan in a couple of weeks. We're hoping it will give us a more detailed look at his strengths & weaknesses, beyond what we know already. At the very least, it'll serve as practice for standardized testing. We're hoping it proves worthwhile but are concerned that the tests are really just a way for them to try to pitch their various services & may not reflect reality (if, for example, reality is that he really doesn't need much from them). Anybody have any experience with Sylvan, any thoughts about their ability to function as a source for testing vs testing just as a way to sell you product?
2) Best case scenario, he aces the January entrance exam at the #1 choice for new school AND they determine they've got a slot for him in '06. At that point, we'll be totally focused on getting him as ready for the change as possible ... and it's becoming increasingly obvious to us that we could do that better with a half-year of homeschooling/tutoring than what he's currently getting. Has anybody ever dealt with this sort of transition before? And by that I mean not only with a student going from a so-so school to a pretty driven academic environment AND a transition from traditional school to homeschool?
It's the latter that present more practical issues for us right now. Normally, if you were making the move to homeschool, you'd likely build a curriculum that was deemed appropriate for his grade level, but ...
1) He's testing somewhere around 2 grade levels above his actual age/grade.
2) This might be a mid-year move, not a start of the year move - how do you figure out where to start, since I haven't seen much in the way of "Recommended Course of Study for Grade 2.5"
Of course (like a lot of my life) none of this is etched in stone, but I figured it was better to throw some of this stuff at the FOFC panel of experts than to just let it twist knots in my brain & stomach all alone.
Questions welcomed, because I'm sure I've left out a bunch of stuff but maybe there's enough here to at least start explaining what's going on.
If you made it this far, thanks.