- My daughter turned 5 last week. That, in and of itself is worthy of several blogs. She is initiating her childhood, the next big developmental phase of her life. It's been hard to wrap my head around...
- Back to work, and everything is going great! I'm adjusting better than I thought, and Oliver is in good hands with Tia Haydee and Kevin.
- Completed financial aid application for dream school for Ana. Letting go of idea that the school we choose will be right for both of them.
- Although...this from the place I tour tonight:
With gifted classes, it might be a place for both kids. (Ana gets tested by a private tester for dream school and giftedness in January. My daughter has no interest in spatial learning, but is a creative genius---ok, I'm biased...but wondering if these tests pick up on children who make innovative connections and are inventive, outside-of-the-box thinkers).
- And struggling...is a dream school really a dream school if children are all above average, and there is little diversity? Who knew finding a KINDERGARTEN would be such a big deal?
2 comments:
So glad to read about this new found school! You should write in specifics about all of this once the dust settles so that other parents can learn from your insight!
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the testing. Unless there is something wrong with a child that needs to be better understood, I am very very skeptical of 'testing' children who are normal. Tests are made to find specific things, not to account for the whole of any type of person... and kids under school age? Intelligence seems to be a better reflection of how good their home lives are more than any true measure of intellect. When we moved here, we were actually told about one testing agency to go to AND BRIBE to get whatever results we wanted to get into certain schools. Ugh.
I *do* believe that you get what you pay for. What this says about our schools and the filters they put into place is obvious classism. I too believe that these results are more measures of active parenting than exceptionalities in the child, except in the cases of actual beyond the spectrum giftedness. Unfortunately in city with broken public schools, I think parents of means seek testing to get into better (read "more exclusive") programs. Ana was "screened" by Jeff Parish who determined that she was linguistically at a 8yo level, but spatially at age level. And I left not really caring about the results, because like most parents, I guess I feel my child is extraordinary, and that testing often leaves out creative intelligence, of which I think she is either above average, or she just hasn't had the imagination and inventiveness squashed out of her by traditional schooling (yet?). I'm going through the testing because it seems like the only way to actually have more choices when it feels like there are few, but agree that its all a sham.
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