Friday, May 6, 2011

5 Days Shy (part 1)


Madi made the Honor Roll (again) for the third marking period of 1st grade. The evil side of me wishes the nice side of me would let me make a copy of the Report Card and send it to the naysayers. Well, not necessarily “naysayers” but the “she’s too young, it doesn’t matter how smart she is” sayers.

Way back when I was pregnant with Madylin I was terrified with the Due Date of September 2nd. I knew, at that time, the date was past the kindergarten cutoff date. I was obsessed with having her before then. I begged the doctors. No really! I begged them to induce me ahead of time; at every appointment; at every Ultrasound; every single time. I think at times the doctors thought I was joking. I know Hubs thought I was worrying a little early for something that wouldn’t be an issue for five years. Well, he learned!

Not only was Madi not early, she was three days late. That’s not much, I know. But it put us at September 5th, 5 days shy of the school cutoff date. That became the name of her birthday: “September 5th, 5 days shy of the cutoff.”

Skip ahead 3.5 years and you find me squirming her into the 4 year old PreSchool class at the local Catholic Church/School. School started Tuesday, September 2 and she turned 4 on Friday, September 5th. They didn’t even realize she was the youngest one. She was one of the smartest.

That entire PreSchool year Hubs and I spent on the telephone with so many schools: public, private, charter, you name it! We got no where. We got speech after speech of how she wasn’t ready, she wasn’t the right age, she wasn’t gifted, she wasn’t smart, we as Parents were biased, we weren’t seeing the truth, we were just proud parents. Of course we were proud parents! And shouldn’t we be? But all of this was said without even ONE of these schools meeting her. They would not even give her the time of day.

My most frustrating and disappointing came from my own Alma Mater Catholic Elementary School. How hurt I was when the Principal refused, yes REFUSED, to even talk with Madi. She said absolutely not. I was wrong. I was wrong in wanting to push my child, challenge my child, get my child the best education she deserved. They would gladly take my tuition money for PreSchool but would not even consider testing her for what she rightfully deserved. I argued over and over that the same speech should be given to Parents whose children’s birthdays fell on August 30th. After all, they were right on that fine line, too. I was laughed at and told, “they made the cutoff, they’re fine.” No, they may not be fine. It depends on the individual child; of which you won’t even speak to mine. We’re talking FIVE days. This Principal even joked that Madi would do great in PreSchool even going as far as to tell me she could help the teacher in teaching other students! Are you kidding me!? I pay tuition so my child can teach the class!? I don’t think so.

So, we almost gave up. Almost.

2 comments:

  1. Congrats to Madi! Thats awesome! She must have pretty smart parents! :)

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  2. My oldest daughter was home schooled until the end of Pre-school when my mom got sick. When she started private Pre-school they just assumed she would be slow because of home schooling. After two weeks of Pre-school I recieved a call asking us to pls come into the school early for pick up. She was reading to the class so the teacher could clean up. They wanted us to know she could read, we looked at them & said who do u think taught her. They didn't want to hear it at first but agreed to let her skip kindergarten & go right to the first grade. She is now 15 & a 10th grader in honor class'. Sometimes parents know best.

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