Our Revised Schedule & Other Things

I have added a box on the side with a link to download a PDF of our schedule, for those who are interested. As it is likely to change (again and a again and again! lol!), I thought it would be easier to have the link, that way whenever it is updated, I'm not posting the whole thing all over again! ;)

I also haven't heard any news from the Board of Studies in relation to the applications, but it has only been a couple of days! ;) I am planning on contacting a couple of the homeschool groups in my area within the next week or so, just to get a feel for them, find out how many children are involved in these groups and their ages .... things like that. I believe that socialisation is important for children, but I am not entirely convinced that mass institutionalisation benefits them.

As a primary school teacher-in-training, I was made aware of the signs to look out for in children at the extreme ends of the learning scale, and it surprises me that, just because my son:

• is a boy
  
• is easily distracted by others
• appears to show little interest in his work, but manages to adequately complete it
• finds alot of subjects "boring", yet is at the top of the highest subject groups in his class
  

that he has been labelled a "trouble maker", and the teacher shows no indication (despite my concerns and requests) of assessing him under the gifted and talented guidelines. My daughter's teacher, however, has made us aware of her rapid progress in class, but i don't think she realises how advanced this little girl has become!

To be honest, I don't think the school has the capabilities or the resources to cope with G&T children, as I have been made aware of a number of students being removed from the school to be homeschooled .... it appears that our local HS community may be larger than I initially thought!

This year, Zak competed in the UNSW International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (and as it turns out, was the ONLY one in his class to do so!) in the areas of Science, Writing, English and Maths. Although his score in Writing was, shall we say, less than desirable, based on the scoring criterion, I believe it reflects more upon the school than upon him. His weakest point was genre (which ironically, I have factored hugely into next years curriculum, despite not being aware of this at the time!) but grammar, punctuation and spelling were highly above average scores.

His love of Science really shone through in the Science scores - he scored close to the average of year 4 students throughout the state (even though he is only in year3!) He received a similar result for the English competition, gaining a Credit, and also a Credit in Maths, with a score higher than the year 4 average!

I am really looking forward to next year, and both of my kids are really excited about being able to learn at an accelerated pace without being held back.