Skipping grades and retaining kids are definitely more common in NL and less stressed about. It's even quite a thing that skipped kids do an extra year at the end of the basisschool to end up back with their same age. It's definitely no big deal to have a kid redo a year. I'm not sure HAVO/VWO advice is what to aim for, since there are some schools that only offer VWO curriculum and may not accept all pupils with HAVO/VWO advice. Anyways, I'm happy to hear his Dutch has improved! I hope the evaluation will be helpful in teasing out what his problems and strengths are. Honestly, I can imagine your dilemma, especially after homeschooling, and wanting him to be able to do work at his level, and I'm anticipating the same problems. I wish I had better advice, especially since it would I would know what to do. We're spoiled by my kids' current school (I'm not a homeschooler, so a total fake here on the board), which had my five-year-old doing two digit subtraction in class and tested his reading comprehension to the secondary level. It's not going to be that easy at a Dutch school. So yeah, keep us updated. Such hard decisions.

Yes, that's true. Last year, one of my in-law's daughters got HAVO advice and was moved to VWO because of the results in the brugklas (and the test she took in the brugklas). Still, I think it's worth considering the implications, because I don't think it's very common to simply ignore the advice of the school, unless the score is clearly borderline. (The advice of the school takes into account both the score and the classroom performance from my understanding.)

How is his Dutch coming along after the first three months of school? Has he caught up enough to go back up to join his agemates? The risk of skipping in the Dutch system is that if his end-of-groep-8 test scores aren't high enough, the school may not recommend him to go to the proper high school (VWO). Our kids may be heading to Dutch public schools for the school year after next, both have birthdays around the cutoff, both bilingual with a preference for English, so we're expecting difficulty getting a proper placement.

It sounds like a bad test if your example is indeed indicative of the requirements. As well, I wouldn't worry about having a child who tests poorly at this age; as other have pointed out, 1:1 testing depends so heavily on the tester that your child may have no problem with testing as an older child with a written test.

Math Monkeys is done here, and both my kids, who are admittedly quite a bit younger, both really enjoy their classes and get a lot out of them. It could indeed be the management at your program, but missing 1/3 of the classes probably contributed to the problem. Last year, my oldest learned the "trick" of using dots on numbers to help with counting on, which I considered quite complementary to the "trick" his school taught him for counting on with his fingers. His class now is doing place value and time, and his brief homework is very conventional (and gets done with no problems because he likes his class). If they were teaching mental math strategies for multiplication for example, and the kids missed the classes, it would indeed be hard for them to enjoy subsequent classes. Just my two cents. FWIW, my youngest had his class Saturday, and we moved it to Wednesday because he didn't like missing out of Saturday time. Saturday may just not be a good day for your children, especially considering how many classes you had to miss.

Congrats! Very exciting. We know lots of teachers and their families where we live, both working for international schools and local schools. Vaccinations are something to add to the list, particularly for the more tropical destinations. HepB takes six months to arrange, for example. Pets can be prohibitively expensive to import/export, but families we know who do take pets consider them family. We've loved our adventure, and while living abroad will test anyone's flexibility, the experience is priceless. I'll just add that in our country, we are minorities, but European/white is a privileged minority. In many places, racism (against for example Indians in the Middle East) is strongly institutionalized, and the low-status minorities have so few rights people can treat them as slaves. So you get a very different experience, being a minority, but I feel personally even more privileged by my skin here than in the US or Europe. A friend of mine spent a couple years at an international school in Albania and had a good experience. Good luck with the process!

For afterschooling, Singapore or Beast Academy/AOPS are generally recommended.

What worked best for our three-year-old readers was to go to the library and pick a large variety of picture books. He could pick what he wanted to read, and it was indeed great for building vocabulary when his stamina wasn't sufficient text-only books. Mine particularly loved action books like "Don't Push the Button" or funny books like "The Easter Cat." You can go as complicated as you want with picture books, including some very long ones as stamina improves. Obviously, anything by Mo Willems, Dr. Suess, Julia Donaldson, etc. will be suitable. Oxford Reading Tree library has a wonderful set of free ebooks for reading on a tablet or on the computer. Both fiction and non-fiction, and my boys have loved the characters. Early chapter books tend to have very simplistic vocabulary, and there's no need to rush into those.

Me too. Shakespearian plays should be watched, not read. Dickens is horrific (sorry to Dickens lovers). If your kid likes it and you don't, let it be independent or outsourced. Put it off until she's reading independently at Dickens' level and let her do a "book club" sort of thing with a Lit Major. Plus, a six-year-old's life experience makes French Revolution or England's Debtor's prisons a challenging read. I'm going to second handwriting work rather than copywork. Letter formation in isolation to words. Spelling in invented sentences. My five-year-old has never done copywork, and his handwriting has been steadily improving. If you have to stick with copywork, make it the fun kind with several mistakes (spelling, grammar, punctuation) that she has to correct in the sentence she writes. Personally, I think grammar is best learned in the context of a foreign language. So much of English feels more open to discussion when you can compare how two languages approach the same problem. Linguistics (particularly comparative linguistics) is also incredibly fascinating, but you're going to be hard-pressed to find an appropriate program for elementary, though you yourself may enjoy a MOOC. My linguistics professor in college was monolingual, so fluency in multiple languages isn't essential to understanding linguistics.

Common Sense Media won't have every book, but it's been an invaluable place for evaluating movies for my sensitive kids. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/where-the-red-fern-grows https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/where-the-mountain-meets-the-moon You can take the age range liberally, but the reviews will cover things that talk about age appropriateness for kids.

So they're definitely not right in saying that you shouldn't get him ahead. He's already ahead, so that's a fairly moot point. A kid who doesn't face challenge, whether that happens at school or after school, doesn't get the benefits of working to be successful, doesn't get a chance to fail and succeed, and gets taught that success comes without effort or only perfect results are good enough. The point of afterschooling and pursuing developmentally appropriate education isn't getting your kid ahead; it's providing your child with the chance to work hard and succeed. So don't teach a first grade curriculum just so that your kid is ahead (which of course you don't), but aim to challenge your child since the school hasn't been capable. I'd encourage you to keep going, but also think outside the homeschool box. Afterschooling means that you get to focus on the areas that the school is weak in or areas of high interest. No need to tick all of the educational boxes since school is ticking some. My K-er is also a boy with limited interested in coloring. He has in the past enjoyed mazes, drawing maps, writing signs for his toys, and doing written math -- anything done with a pen is a win in my book. Fine motor is important as a school generally only accelerates to the output level, so poor writing will mean math becomes more of a struggle when writing problems, etc.

What is the teacher turnover? Required certifications? Administration structure? Special services (English for non-native speakers, special needs, counseling)? Average class size? Gender ratio? Percentage of students leaving the program before finishing? Percentage of graduates attending higher education versus stopping at the end of the program? What schools do they matriculate to? Support from the school for college applications? Particularly for a high school/college: how does the school actively foster cooperation instead of competition among students? Can you get a copy of the latest inspection report and the school's response to it?

My son attends school in English but takes classes in his second language. His reading in English transferred seamlessly into reading in his second language. Vocabulary is a limited factor; decoding and phonics ability is similar in both languages (second language is more phonetic). We support the second language with copious read-alouds and weekend reading. Reading during the school week is in English. We don't insist on writing in the second language, as his English writing is still very much developing. We also didn't ask him to read in his second language until his English reading was very advanced (early chapter book stage), and then he basically went from saying that he couldn't read to reading at a similar level. Another factor is that when working on Spanish, your child will find it easiest if you support by speaking Spanish. During English work, stick with English. I'll occasionally explain a difficult word with translation, but in general, it's better to keep the languages separate. I speak both languages with my boys, but when we're doing English, it's just English. Same with the second language.

I get you about the language. My five-year-old has one very long day thanks to extra language classes, but he genuinely likes it. If she's resisting, can you look into why? Is it a miserable class or is it just that she'd rather play? I agree totally about some things being "required" -- we also "require" music lessons -- but if we were getting serious pushback, I'd want to know why and possibly explore changing the lessons before battling every week for an extra curricular. Here, we outsource. Both cooking/cleaning and afterschooling. I did more with the kids before going back to work. Life requires a bit of flexibility.

I know this is a bit old, but I wanted to respond. I definitely think testing isn't a bad idea if it can get you extra services. My public school tested for gifted in K, and that pullout was my favorite part of the week for years (all of elementary in fact). My older boy tested >99.5% at his current school (achievement not IQ), and they've been amazing with accommodations and differentiation despite not having a pullout. And he's so happy. Get some numbers. I thought ODS was bright/gifted, and then with the test results, the school comes to me like he's some amazing special snowflake that they've never seen (at a high achieving school with highly educated parents). If it turns out your kid doesn't test well and doesn't get a big number, what does that matter? You can always get different testing at a later date if you need to.

That class, which I took the second semester of freshman year, was the reason I'm not a math major. That and the fact that cutting edge math research involve soap bubbles. But you are totally right about how mathematical thinking thoroughly transcends math-as-calculations. Probability is one of the best tools to teach elementary kids mathematical thinking, in part because you don't need complex calculations to reach the conclusions, and the world needs more people who understand probability -- many, many more people! To OP, I hope you find a good solution for your boy. I've always heard that the best support for a gifted kid to support their strengths and their weaknesses, with an eye to challenging both. Maybe then he'll get to discrete math and say, "Oh, that explains so much!" Rather than, "Why on earth am I here?" followed closely by "Who cares about that damn Chinese postman!"

Don't stress about it at all. You can probably teach it in a day when you feel like doing it. Just sing the ABC song and touch each letter as you go. If you're worried that preK will assess him based on letter names, go ahead and do it before school starts. With my older, I personally got tired of spelling for him using letter sounds, so I just started telling him the names. The five-year-old isn't even confused reading in two languages with the letter E called the English letter name A in his second language, and the OO sound pronounced like a long O. And in general, you don't need to stress about doing things "right." When you're teaching kids things well before they'd actually be learning it, you're setting them up for review. My two never learned complete phonics before moving into fluent reading. ODS is picking up complex phonics while learning spelling. Gaps are filled incredibly quickly with bright kids. Good habits, like holding a pencil properly or forming letters in the right direction, are more important to get right the first go around.

I'd be concerned about him spending too much time in the hallway, not working on Dutch skills. If he gets full immersion (and since you're in Drente, I'm going to assume DH is Dutch) and knows some already, he should be fully fluent by December. Get fluency as fast as possible, and then get him moved up. The Dutch readily accelerate kids, but I'm guessing the language thing has the local school feeling a bit flummoxed. My DH had the opposite experience: speaking no English and moving to an international school at age 7. He was grade-skipped when he left and put down two years (to a year under age level) because of the English. He moved up with his age after one term, and he got his grade-skip back after a year and a half. So what I want to say is to first get the language solid. The school will move him when that's sorted. Also, don't use all of your negotiating power this first week. The Dutch don't push in the same way that Americans do, and if you act American, you'll be less likely to be listened to later on. Math is important, but spending a few months solidly on language is going to be a huge benefit. He won't lose the English, and he'll be able to reach native speaker level in Dutch (or close enough) through schooling. Maybe think of it like a fall break from math?

Are you trying to get her math skills up to level for next year or are you trying to get her ahead? If she's behind and needs to catch up, I think I'd back up a bit to more basic fractions. I'd want her seeing immediately that a fraction can be reduced or not and really fast on converting proper and improper fractions. After that, I'd go back to the multi-step. I think the issue isn't that she doesn't remember how to do the multi-step, but that the earlier skills (recognizing how fractions can be converted, easily reducing fractions) are weak. If you're trying to prep her to be ahead of next year, I'd back off and let her work at a more comfortable (and successful) level.

Is it concepts or calculations? Generally, in math, a child at that age should be really solid and automatic with arithmatic, which frees brain space for working on higher level problems. Does she need to work on math facts like multiplication tables? Or do you mean actual concepts (and please explain!)? For math facts, I'd recommend just printing out a couple of colorful sheets in problem areas. Attach one of the head rest of the car in front of her seat. Put another one on the wall or in her room. Add another one to the bathroom. Change them up regularly, and quiz her with a problem or two every day. I have boys who don't like worksheets (and honestly, who really does?), so we get lots more creative. Answering questions while they bike in circles. Card games for math facts. I get it, though; I work and don't have time for everything. But it's not much more work than a worksheet, honestly. I don't have experience with kids who struggle to learn, but my best guess is that she's missing some earlier computation facts and with that, she'll find it much easier to tackle the concepts (which are generally very simple to explain).

You've definitely been through a season of change, and it sounds like everyone is surviving it. I'm sorry that things didn't work out like you'd wanted, though. I've recently gone back to work after a number of years at home, so I recognize what you say about the changing relationships and losing that knowledge of knowing everything about them. What has made a huge difference for us is that we have a special talk-about-our-day time. It's so ingrained now that my oldest asks about my day too many times. I even get a good rundown of the day from my youngest. And it feels like a special time together, since it's just the three of us before DH gets home. FWIW, it also took my boys some time to adjust to me being gone longer. They were clingy, and especially from the youngest, there were tears. But sometimes the best decision for the family isn't always what the kids want, or even what is best for the kids. I do believe that it would be better for my kids to have me stay at home, but it's a bad fit for me. And our solution is still pretty darn good for the kids. I get your worries about wanting the kids to be challenged, too. My kids could definitely do harder work than what they do at school, so I stretch them a bit at home. My oldest has music lessons that go at his pace and sports to teach him about hard work. It's not perfect, but nothing ever is. I hope this solution works out well for all of you!

I think the only way to keep things sane is to not try to cover everything. Pick what's the most important, and don't overload your kids. One person's "art afterschooling" is another person's "home craft time." Cooking is the original form of science experiments. Kids learn as well so much through play, and you can guide that to include reading (written treasure hunts), math (as with PP, we love Bedtime Math!), and writing (make a card for family). As far as us, my 3yo gets about 15 minutes of after-preschooling (his preschool is mornings only), and my 5yo generally just does about 15 minutes of reading (full day school). In the summer, I require an extra 15 minutes of workbook practice for my older boy, and my younger one will join in happily because he wants to. I second PPs that if you don't like the school, it's wise to find a new one, especially as a teacher. Can you teach at a private school and get discounted tuition? Can you apply to a better school and get your kids into it?

Since you're very much still in the thick of things, I'd recommend giving not planning too far ahead, as your child may need more time with some parts of the program. I've never found a properly paced curriculum -- easy, easy, easy, way too hard (and back up or back off), easy, easy, etc. I get your need to plan (also an expat without easy access to anything), but I recommend not rushing through because when I did that, my ODS ran into the harder sections faster. What I'm doing differently with my very advanced 3yo is pacing the learn-to-read better. I switch off our learning-to-read curric with books from well-loved series that he enjoys reading (if you're interested in what both my boys love, PM me). It gives him extra practice and means we aren't flying through to the hard parts as fast. It also means that he picks up things from the books that he hasn't "learned" yet, meaning that when we get there in the learn-to-read program, he's already seen it and knows it, so we can just move on. For example, he figured out that /th/ from sight words and /ch/ from another book out of his own interest. I do know the challenges of educating children in a place where I can't even get decent dry erase markers and where every book we order needs weeks to arrive, but once your child has enough basics to read real books (not phonics books but a book from the library), it's much easier. Math on the other hand I still struggle with!

My early reader just did lots of reading. My 5yo has started some spelling but nowhere near the reading level. The reading level keeps going up and up, but he's not quite big enough for dry and boring spelling. Have you thought about just reading until your child is big enough for more formal schooling? My 3yo is still in the learning-to-read phase (working on consonant blends, not yet reading long vowels). Once he gets past long vowels, he will just read lots and lots of books until he's old enough to need a spelling program. I looked at ETC, but it looks incredibly slow. My oldest wasn't keen on workbooks, so after flipping through, I decided against it.

We get minority language comics delivered every week. Nothing like that in English. It's a huge hit in our house and helps with culture as well, as it's widely read in that language (not a translation) and covers unique events from the culture that don't occur in Anglo-Saxon traditions. So get something in German that they can't resist. Something better than what you offer in English. Our oldest is reading in his minority language, but we don't require readalouds yet (he's young). The comic is read aloud every evening at bedtime (DH loves it too), so the boys follow along. Our oldest regularly re-reads the comics, but how much he reads versus looks at the pictures, I don't know. But I'm sure it will drive his minority language reading as he gets older. Also, can you get minority language subtitles for minority language television? Every little bit helps, and it's almost impossible to ignore subtitles once you're reading a bit. Also, we will be spending three weeks in Europe this summer, so the reading practice for the oldest will only be in the minority language for that time (and we will ask for reading aloud). I'll be the only source of English on that trip, so their fluency should shoot up quite dramatically again.