Greenmama2 Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 DD 8 chose to stop home schooling and go to a Waldorf school 3 months ago (half way through the school year for us). As I expected, 12 weeks later she is bored beyond belief and asking me to investigate other schools she might try. We knew beforehand that this is one of the most dogmatic and inflexible schools in the region, so we didn't bother asking for any gifted accommodations when she started. However, since I'm now looking at other schools & planning to ask them about their programs for/attitude to gifted learners etc, it occurs to me that since I know she'd rather stay at this school if she wasn't so bored - I should really speak up before we pull her out. I'm just struggling to bite the bullet and do it because I [think] I know their answers will not be helpful. Encouraging words please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 I'm not sure why you would think that? No, this school is Waldorf to the core. Hence my use of the word dogmatic. It's immaterial though, not the point of the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 My thought was Waldorf Inspired as well. Many of the Waldorf stuff that I have experienced and looked into usually is much like Montessori in that the student needs to self advocate. If the student doesn't know how or what they want to learn, or if they are not the type of kids who deliberately seek out information, then it becomes an issue. Due to your daughters age, they are heavily non-academic with younger kids even if she asks for it. It is possible that you would need to afterschool till she is ten-ish. It seems that if she was intrigued with the Waldorf stuff, it might still be interesting if you allow for the academics in a different place. By ten, when the open up the academics, normally they get very strong very quickly and include the arts. I would conference with your daughter and ask her quite openly what she liked or drew her to the school. Otherwise, this very experience might happen again. Much like you described, I highly doubt they are going to budge on the academics in the classroom before ten or approximately 5th grade. If you had a conference, I would ask for their educational scope and sequence for the next two or three years. That would give you an idea of how much time there is going to be before the academics kick in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 Much like you described, I highly doubt they are going to budge on the academics in the classroom before ten or approximately 5th grade. If you had a conference, I would ask for their educational scope and sequence for the next two or three years. That would give you an idea of how much time there is going to be before the academics kick in. Yes, this is the gist of it. She saw a fraction lesson on the board of a class two years ahead of her & told me; "Mama, they are still doing easy fractions". Sigh. Yes, our original plan was to keep her stimulated afterschool since she really wants to be there for many reasons. However, she is finding the boredom much more of a drag than she expected. Term starts tomorrow & she plans to talk to the teacher herself. I plan to send an email that the teacher will receive tomorrow evening requesting a conference early next week. That way I will be able to discuss the teacher's response (or not) to DD's self advocacy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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