Last week, we had our four year-old son take the Kindergarten placement test. Yes, the same kid who prompted this thought:

It isn't that he's not smart. If anything, it's because of his intelligence that he's such a difficult kid to handle at times. He is always busy, always wanting to play, and always exploring. So yeah, we had him take the test for Kindergarten. This is what he was supposed to know:

To be fair, he didn't get a perfect score on the test. The teacher facilitating the assessment is our older son's current teacher, and she said that he missed the lowercase q (the one without the hook or the curl; He called it a p instead). 

That was it. He missed one letter.

They didn't test on rhyming (which he can do, especially if you let him start with duck, which I don't recommend).
They didn't test on sight words, which I'm not sure if he would ace because I don't know which 12 they would test.
They didn't have him draw, but he can certainly do it.

Therefore, this is a no-brainer, right? He's going to Kinder!!! 

Nope.

Because his birthday is five days after the cut date, he cannot enroll in Kindergarten. Oh, and there are no exceptions. For the record, I am not upset with the school and their decision. They are following rules placed onto them by higher powers and I applaud that. 

Now that we have gotten this far, here are our options:

• Keep him in daycare for another year (not a bad choice; we like it there)
• Enroll him in TK at another school, one different from his brother. After 6 weeks, he can test again (when he is 5) and get moved into Kindergarten and move schools
• Fight like hell to get him into Kindergarten at his current school
• Enroll him in a private Kindergarten, then next year move him to 1st Grade

I'm not aiming to be the difficult parent here; I'm trying to think about what will be best for an incoming student who has proven he can do the things required of a Kindergarten class. 

What do you do, parents? Elementary teachers?

I'm all ears, here.

***Update***

Christine has the line of the week: 

"This parenting thing - HARD."

Yep.


Happy "There's Gotta Be A Better Way" Fishing

Growing up, I never liked the idea of a fundraiser, and that feeling hasn't gotten any easier as a father who now has to deal with the catalog-style efforts to raise money for my sons' schools. Going around to sell candy, tins of cashews, and rolls of wrapping paper for obviously inflated prices isn't my style and I don't think it's yours, either. Well, I'm going to make this very easy for you. I am now introducing the Table Talk Math Fundraiser Kit. Here it is... just click on the image to customize it for your site:

There. That's it.

​See? Easy.

So here's the deal: a good fundraiser needs to be mutually beneficial. It needs to benefit the person who is contributing their hard-earned money to your efforts, which in this case means a copy of Table Talk Math for the Amazon sale price (more or less. They change the price a few cents every week or so). It also needs to benefit the school in a way that it makes sense for the parents to contribute and the school to spend their time. Yes, for every book your school orders, I am going to send $5 back to the school.

For example, let's say your school gathers enough support to buy 125 copies. You email me at john@tabletalkmath.com and tell me that you need 125 copies of the book as part of the fundraiser. I reach out to Wendy, the magician behind the scenes that makes it all work. She places an order for 125 copies of Table Talk Math and you send the check for 20*125. As soon as we receive payment, we turn right back around and send your school a check for $625. There! 

No minimum order (although it would be great if your order was greater than 10), no extra paperwork from me, and no concerns about getting chocolates or wrapping paper to people before they melt or go out of style. You get to help parents have more math-based conversations at home and they get to help you raise money for the supplies and activities you have been waiting to pursue.

Not sure if Table Talk Math is a good fit for your parent community? This is what Christopher Danielson had to say: