About Bear

Bear is very bright.  Even if you take away my bias, he is very, very bright.  He has an incredible memory and can work stuff out very quickly indeed.  Once again the teacher was telling us that bear was easily picking up stuff outside of school and once again the teacher said that they were going and checking on the facts bear was using and finding he was right.  Hazel this is the first time he has not had a reward for parent's evening.  I have always rewarded effort, and he hasn't put in the effort.

The awesome tutor was here yesterday, being awesome.  For the first time I have said she can go beyond the curriculum.  They were doing triangles with all the angles and Pythagoras etc.  It was too advanced for me.  Bear was loving it.  However he kept skipping steps and while he was getting the right answers the tutor kept going back and making him work it out properly instead of just 'knowing' the answer.  One day he will get it wrong and he needs to have the right habits to find the mistakes.

I don't envy the teacher.  This is one of the best primary schools in the area and the teacher is very well thought of.  However he has to try and juggle the needs of thirty kids of very different ability. Fortunately there are quite a few bright kids in bear's class and the teacher is hoping to push them as a group and they encourage each other.  The parents try and fill in the gaps.

I feel very underequipped to make sure bear is pushed and stimulated enough.  However I am very grateful that this is my problem.  It could be a lot worse.

Now all I need to do is learn to deal with enforcing piano practice and dealing with the eye rolls.