My kid do stuff that your kid wish he could
Today we met with the Kid’s principle and the teacher who ran the testing a few weeks ago. Basically, the Kid is off the charts in overall “communication arts”. His reading level is an 18. I have no idea what that means, but the next highest score (IN THE ENTIRE K CLASS) is an 11. According to the test, his reading and comprehension put him in the 2nd grade. We tend to think it’s actually higher, but part of the test included writing answers to comprehension questions and the Kid hates to write (more on that later). His math skills are at about the level a 1st grader would be at mid-school year, so he’s a little advanced there as well. Much of what he missed on the math portion are things he’s just never been exposed to. Some of the stuff *I* had never been exposed to (What’s up with doing math problems in a triangle?).
The subject he’s definitely at or below level in is writing. He writes in all capitol letters with no spaces between words and no punctuation. When asked to write a descriptive story about a special event in his life, with pages and pages to write on, he basically wrote “MYCLASSWENTTOTHEMAGICHOUSE”. So writing is definitely an area he needs more work in. But he couldn’t write at all before Kindergarten so we’re on the right track. He’s just one of those kids who expects things to master things easily and when it doesn’t, he either gets overly emotional or just shuts down. We’ve got to work on that.
In the end, we decided that he should go to 1st grade next year, with enriching activities in reading and math. Luckily, the teacher who tested him will be his teacher next year. She had a really good rapport with the Kid and seems to be on top of her game. She said it would be no problem to give him more advanced work and had worked with kids with his talent previously. I let her know that I’m not trying to be the helicopter parent from Hell, I just want my kid to not hate school and to be challenged in his work. I made sure to let the principal know how disappointed and upset I am with his Kindergarten teacher. She promised us enriching activities too and it never happened. She continued to teach to the lowest common denominator. I was also upset by her demeaner towards my son. The Kid came hom on more than one occasion saying that she had called him a “bad kid” and then the other kids started calling him bad. I know my kid isn’t the most well behaved child, but he is NOT a bad kid.
So we’ll see how it goes next year. The prinicipal is awesome and very open to reconsidering the plan if it’s not working out. If the 1st grade teacher can’t provide what he needs, they could pull him up to 2nd grade just for the reading activities. Or re-assess bumping him up a grade. I just hope next year is better for my boy. Of course I want my kids to only have the best of everything! 
