Yet, here we are withdrawing our girls. Why? Well, the current curriculum and system in place for primary grades in our area is just not working for our girls. We knew from my SIL, who teaches 1st grade, that when our girls entered kindergarten they were going to be very far ahead of the average.We didn't mind so much that they already new most of what would be taught, because for them it was going to be an emotional and social learning year. They are identical twins with very different personalities, and until that point had always been in the same preschool class, etc. They needed some time apart to "come into their own". Kindergarten has its ups, downs, and plateaus. My girls learned that not all families are anything like their own. We wanted our kids to learn this. The intent was to raise kids who lived in the culture, and therefor could take the message of the gospel with them. But by the end of the year my DH and I were not so hot on the idea. I personally felt like school was stealing bit of their childhood away. After having to have discussions about Sex, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and why one group of kids could use a word but if they used it they would get in trouble or beat up, I was very disheartened. Also, the educational gap between my girls and the "norm" only grew over the year.
After a lot of prayer we decided that we would continue to first grade in public school. Our DS was 3 and had some medical issues, so we felt like we weren't prepared to do it ourselves. The issues started pretty much right away. Again, let me say that the issues all related to the curriculum and our girls. Both of the girls entered the year reading well past the require level for the end of the year. In one of my daughter's classes, she was so far ahead of any other student in her class at the beginning of the year that often she got reading instruction once a week. For the entire year she was held at one reading level because the curriculum did not allow the teachers to move her more then one grade level ahead. This hurt my daughter and we didn't realize how much until the end of the year. Her little 7 year old reasoning could not understand that it was the system and not her abilities that was broken. All she knew was everyone else moved up and she stayed the same, so she must be dumb. The day she told me this my heart broke. I knew she was struggling and you could tell that she was losing interest in all things school, but I didn't see the damage to her self esteem. Her sister faired a bit better. She fell into a class that had by mere luck grouped more advanced kids. In the fall the school tested all of 1st grade for entrance into the county's gifted program. When the 1st grade gifted class started the second semester, 6 of the 12 kids in the gifted class came from her classs. Both girls entered the gifted program, and this gave them some stretch but it was one day a week. By the end of the year, my husband and I had enough.
My DH and I are blessed with stable jobs that allow us a truly incredible amount of freedom. We are both home during the week the vast majority of the time. We both work in an industry that for the foreseeable future won't be downsizing. Neither DH or I could see why we should continue send the girls to school for 8 hours a day where they are bored and unhappy, and still ask them to do more afterward. So, here we are.... stepping off the cliff into uncharted territory for our families. Pray for us.
