school work....this is long & a vent.

Have any of you dealt with this? 

Most of you know that Lina is in a self-contained SpEd class, she is classified as being in 3rd grade but she had the abilities of preK. Well it is about halfway thru the year at the new school and I've told you about the new teacher, & aides. Well the beginning of the year the teacher seemed to be doing pretty well with what work she was giving Lina in school. Well she began to send homework home, the kids like that idea. They get the packet of 4-5 pages on Monday to be brought back on Friday. The last 3 times that homework has been sent home there has been at least one page that is geared for a typical 3rd grader. I am not happy about that and am waiting for the weeks school work to be sent home. On Monday the teacher usually sends all the finished work home with the kids from the week before. Lina gets upset when we can't do that one really hard page, I did try letting her do one and she got upset because she couldn't do it unless I told her the answers and told her what letters to write. Like a dummy I've thrown away alot of that. I should never have done that. I am not sure I want Lina in this classroom with this teacher next year, maybe not even in this school. I know I'm not going to pull her out at this time because of the trauma for her due to such a drastic change to what she has gotten used to.

Here is an example of what Lina had as homework last week:

READ then two sentences that are combined & place a line between where one sentence ends & the next sentence begins. Then WRITE each sentence on the lines below.     

the dog was eating his food in the kitchen the cat was eating his food in the kitchen.  (this isn't the sentences I can't remember them).

1) Lina CAN'T read  (she knows several site words only--the, and, I, me, you, get, cat, dog, then there are some that she will see & know them but then see them again & not have a clue.)

2) Lina CAN'T write her letters properly to do this.

An example of math:

They say to match the coin amount to the number it represents by drawing a line from one to the other.

1) 1quarter, 1dime, 6pennies    then in the next column will be the number .41C or shown as $0.41.  Now Lina knows most of her numbers & is proud she can count to 100, by 1's, & 10's and can tell you most of them that she sees. She does NOT know the amount of each coin but a penny. We tell her what each coin is and how many pennies are in it, that is the only way she comprehends what is there. She knows that getting a "big money" is better than getting a "little money" but she believes that getting 6 pennies is more than getting 1 quarter. She also has trouble understanding that a dime has more pennies in it than a nickle because of the size.

What do you think of a teacher sending home work that a child isn't capable of doing at this time? I have seen only a couple of sheets that have come home that are like these and it is clear that someone told her what the coins added up to because there will be a small number writen above the coins. With the writing it is the same thing someone told her what to write letter by letter even writing the letter for her in places.

I think it is time to sit in on the class. If my presence becomes too disruptive I will leave but I'm getting real concerned. I fear that they may try to tell me that she needs to be in general ed, & I know that she could not in any fashion do the work of a 3 or 4th grader. I know that moving a child way sooner than they should be is something that schools do because it looks good for the district when results go to the state, it makes it look like their program & teachers are fantastic.               

Venting because dh said something that ticked me off and made me think even harder about all of this.

[darbyakeep45]

Hugs and good luck mama!  

[arkansasmama08]

the school here demanded my son, who qualifies under autism category for iep, be mainstreamed but in kindergarten instead of first grade, and with no iep which meant no therapy. after a month i said forget it and pulled him. we homeschool and everybody is much happier.

I would be irate that they were sending my kid home with work 4 grades higher than what they knew she could perform. if she's doing prek or k work and they're expecting her to do 3rd grade work, that's just insane. And what would be the poing when you have to practically do it for her?

[gma12.1]

 Thanks everybody! The advice and support has been great!

I have to wait until next week I hope before I can make any appts to go to the school to talk to the phsycologist and sit in Lina's class. I have been sick since Thursday with Mon night & Tue the worse. I hoping I am on the mend since I was able to shower and am sitting up right now.     Don't dare go to the school until I know I won't infect the kids.

I looked at the websites that were suggested and I will use an advocate after I check out what is going on, I want to make sure that I have all my little ducks in row. That way I will know positively what I am talking about when I call the agency.