Great post, thanks. Yes, during K-school orientation they said things like "we would like it if children can do 1-to-1 nummber correspondence counting and be able to recognized their letters", I said "ut-oh" to myself. That was the moment that I realized that there was a sizable gap between DS and agemates. DS wasn't a super early reader (although I suspect he was sight reading more than we realized at age 4) but he's just been an amazing sponge, particularly over the last month or so. Very astute with math and just fascinated with patterns and very large numbers. Funny story: during the K pre-screen they asked him to count to 20. So he goes -20, -19, -18, ..., 0, 1, 2, ... 20. Hey! They didn't say start at 1!

JB

Thanks for sharing!

JB

Sorry, JBDad. I didn't mean to be obscure there!

I just added "DYS" to the list of abbreviations sticky. I can't believe we forgot to add that one!

How can a school not believe in dinosaurs? Not accepting evolution, I get. (I don't agree, but I get.) Not accepting dinosaurs is just...well...

I'm stumped!

I think the idea is that dinosaurs were not mentioned in the bible, so they must be some sort of a hoax. I try to be open minded, but some things are quite hard for me to understand. I just have to be a little careful what I say in my small town, since I know some of the people whose kids go to this school. I was so excited when I first heard of the school. Our furnace guy noticed DS doing something amazing and told me of how advanced the curriculum was at his school, and how it would be great for my bright kid. It was so disappointing to later learn about the DD (dinosaur denial).

IIRC, this is one of the theories of strict creationism: the earth is exactly 5,000 years old and fossils we're "created" when the earth was created. Something like that.

JB

LOL about the DD, and sorry about the disappointment.

Where do they think the dinosaur fossils come from? Any idea? Is it all some grand conspiracy to mislead people perpetrated by...? I'm at a loss...

Ah, thanks, JBDad. My ignorance is showing...

re: dinosaurs

When we moved here long time ago, we went to a huge "dinosaur quarry" for the weekend. The place is incredible - tons of sceletons lying there in the rocks, right in front of your eyes.

On the way back we stopped at Target, and the cashier has asked us what we did this weekend. We told her. The response was:
"well, who really knows how old they are"

WE WERE STUNNED!

What a cool place! Wow! And I don't blame your stunned response! I'd have been hard pressed to hold my tongue...