Wow,
I was thinking my local primary was the place to go as they were accommodating my 4 year old and letting us borrow readers, as we have read the ones at her level, spend lots of money on books and borrowed and swapped with friends. I was thinking the school was soo good until today..... The prinicpal arrived and said we could no longer borrow books!!! Excuse 1. There are not enough books for us to borrow as they need a set of 8 - solution - we only borrow the books that do not fit that set of 8 i.e. where there are more or less - ok.- bummer have to come up with another one. Excuse 2. There are books in the library - my comment - we have read them all., damn have to come up with another Excuse. - here comes the biggy that you will all love - the real excuse - Excuse 3. There will be nothing left for her to read when she comes here - OMG!!!! She is already above the level I was borrowing - my response. You want my daughter to stop reading?They were not going to change their mind. What mad me really angry, libriarian was happy, must of changed mind and had to get principal to come over in front of my daughter, take the books away from her " Mummy why can't i have the books, I want to read the books, why wont they let me take the books" - my heart breaks, nearly in tears..... I am just going to have to go out and buy more books! How can I work with a school that feels like that. It is already going to be an uphill battle. Let it begin!!!!
Should I stop my daughter from reading? What is your experience. My daughter only reads when she wants to, I don't force her, she loves sitting and reading new things especially non-fiction like the rocket readers.
1. Homeschool....
2. Are you able join the National Library?
3. Are you able to download books?
4. Write your own books - have your daughter dictate her books to you - you write and then she illustrates them.
5. Try - www.currclick.com - they may have things you could use.
I am having a similar issue with reading in my house at the moment. My daughter has read every book in our house. She refuses to borrow from the library and at school follows suit and borrows a picture book like her classmates. I used to buy books all the time but it gets too expensive when they read them all in a day! My suggestion would be to meet up with a homeschooling group, see how you find it, you may gel with some of the parents. I have found in the past that simply borrowing books from our friends has been quite good and in return loaning them a few of my own. You could try a different library, try a different school, subscribe her to a magazine that she likes to be sent to her door. Let her google the subjects she is interested in and then read the information she finds, as many different reading experiences you can give her.
I can see where you are coming from and why it would be upsetting that the school has done this, I am sure that they didn't mean to stop her reading. They may just be feeling a little overwhelmed by her reading ability and possibly they really do need the sets for the kids that are actually at school. They were doing a kind thing in the first place allowing you to borrow the books. I would leave it for a bit and meet again with the school in a month or so (or a month or two before your daughter is meant to start) and raise your concerns with them then, ask specifically to meet the teacher she would most likely end up with, the gifted or special needs coordinator and ask specifically what could be in place for an advanced reader, such as different projects, blooms taxonomy, heading to another class for reading, a reading buddy from the senior school etc. In the meantime, research other schools in the area and also homeschooling if that would suit your family situation as well.
I negotiated with the local school 6 months out and DS did 1 morning a week for 1 month. Search up my old posts. It paid off. Have you offered to do something for the school in return for the favour they've paid you so far e.g. repair any broken books (your daughter can read the one you've just repaired) ??
Hi all,
thanks for your replies.
I think what was soo upsetting for me, was three reasons. 1. It crushed the hope that I was going to have a good relationship with the school. 2. There was no willingness for compromise in any way. As I said I was willing to borrow the books that did not equal their required "8 set". other compromises would be we read them there, come after the books have been dished out for the day and return before given out. No willingness to compromise. And 3. The librarian smiled at me, allowed me to say thank you again and then went to get the principal, so there was two on one, and then go ahead in front of my daughter take the books away and say she was not allowed to take them, leaving me to try to explain to her, after I had promised her we could come as often as she liked.
I just a bad feeling about it. I think it is their way or no way.
and Yes I offered any kind of help they wanted as I was sooo thankful, I was even going through and sorting their books for them, relabeling them and tidying them for them. Thats why I know they have quite a big resource in the reading levels that we are interested in. I even offered to purchase books or resources that they might need that they havent been able to get.
I like the idea of the homeschooling network. I would love to homeschool, but my daughter is a huge social butterfly Though I know there are ways around it. and to be honest thus far, I have not measure up too well at homeschooling. But I will contact them, maybe with some support I might be able to - though as a last resort.
I was hoping to visit the school as often as possible, again providing any support, but I have not taken them off the list just yet, I am just going to bring in reinforcements and maybe a report so I don't come off as the overbearing parent, as I am just trying to support my daughter, and I really hate conflict. I was actually hoping the visits would show them rather than me having to come in and tell them, as they are really good at sorting out grades, though again another example of their way or no way, was they did a skip without informing the parents and when the parents found out and tried to change it they brought in the son and made him face the principal and his current teacher and tell them himself he did not want to be up the grade (the mother said the poor kid was in tears and she had to take him out - he was already scared of his teacher and is such a sweet wee thing he didn't want to upset them). Arggh!
Library is 30 mins away and have read most of their readers at our level, rang another library and they had no idea what readers were! I have some friends at the national library, though I didn't think they did readers?
Oh well, will calm down and take hubby next time as I am much calmer with him around as he negotiates for a living.
Thanks guys, always nice to know that there is someone to talk to who knows what you are going through!!! :-)
Don't do this to your child - find another school. Not because they're mean and won't share nicely - but because their vision for your child is so small.
Google Ken Robinson's - education kills creativity-
Is there a possibility of reading books from the library that are not readers? Our local library has an extensive range of readers. I don't know what the school series are but I have seen some titles like Rocket, Sunshine and Galaxy. They are kept in their own special section, maybe if there is a librarian for the children's section they might be of help? Also, at the local library your daughter may be able to get her own library card which you could "max" out to reduce trips, where I am you can get up to 35 on one card.
My eldest would never have gone near a "reader" at four he read all levels, big thick chunky encyclopaedias and picture books with Thomas the Tank in them! But my youngest didn't mind them. Maybe "normal" books which have a bit more of a story would be an improvement anyway ;)
I agree with Rebecca home schooling where possible is a great idea - you have been so strong with all the school nonsense - give yourself a hug!
I tend to agree with Michelle - although you could be lucky with classroom teachers, having the principal come out with that old dusty "whatever will we do with her?" is a very bad sign.
Should a school principal need to be told that the world has books of all levels for the children who are ready for them?
My experience with my daughters school is the same as yours. I had the same issue with books before my daughter started school and now she is a year 3 and they are refusing to sell the appropriate maths workbook to me as it will leave her nothing to do in year 5. Of course I am going to buy one from a book shop so it does not stop us, but the attitude if concerning and disappointing.
You have 2 very different problems here.
1st problem is books - school readers are pretty boring really so I wouldn't worry about losing access to them too much - we bought 100s of books from the Salvation army - they are often only 20 or 50 cents so every week we bought a bunch. The good thing about doing this is you never know what is going to interest your child and you often get books they love that you would never have picked if you had a big choice.
But the big problem is the attitude of the school you thought your child would attend. This change in attitude is strange and I would suspect it is lead by someone other than the principal (if he has been accommodating before) - perhaps a board member or parent who thinks you or your child are some sort of threat. I would make an appointment with the principal and be totally honest with him about how disappointed you are with his attitude and how you had hoped to send your child there etc etc. Maybe you can get to the bottom of the problem or maybe you will see he is an idiot and look elsewhere (there are amazing accommodating principals out there)
