K12: 6

I had one child begin to read in the middle of first grade.  There wasn't much interest before that.  I had another child reading before the fifth birthday.  I have a six year old first grader who is reading, but not completely independently.  She, apparently, is failing.

Problem number twenty-seven with public school:  everyone must meet the same standards at the same time.  You cannot be ahead of the class or you are "gifted."  You cannot be behind the class or you are "slow."  This is where the keeping up with the Jones' mentality begins!  Who freaking cares where you fall on their sliding scale? My kid who read "late," read picture books for about twenty minutes then went straight for Roald Dahl.  My "early" reader stalled when book sizes looked intimidating.  Does that mean the slow reader is now gifted and the gifted reader was suddenly slow?  They both read all of the time and can tell you what they read, how it applies to their life, and if they would recommend it to you.  For crying out loud!  Why do we insist on a nation of mediocre; a people all the same?  My daughter, who is apparently behind in her reading scores, actually loves reading and carries books around, but hasn't had the transformation from unsteady to sure.  Does that mean that she is really behind?  I have a feeling that when reading clicks for her she will be one of those that leaps from Fancy Nancy to Ramona .

In defense of school teachers, they have a lot of kids that they must teach and he can only spread himself so thin.  I understand that, but there are not twenty-eight children in my classroom and I do not have to bow to the publicly drawn standards of average.

We aim to be extraordinary.