What elementary school year was the most challenging for your child?

[princesspumpkin]

When DD was in the second grade, people said that third grade would be the toughest year. Then when she was in the third grade, they said that fourth grade would be really bad. I've heard that fifth grade repeats a lot of the fourth grade stuff. Even for those parents whose children barely struggle in school, what grade did you find was the most difficult for your child?

 

[Cindy B]

5th was the worst for my son. I'm thrilled that he is going to middle school.

Lets see, there were bullies, unprofessional teachers, challenging coursework (7th grade math) and all the students trying to be older than they are.

5th grade by and large worst year.

 

[clh2]

For my DD, 3rd was the worst. It had more to do with the teacher than anything. The teacher was pretty much into mind games. My DD is very bright, so her grades still ended up in all straight A's. Students really were penalized to think outside of the box, and get creative.

Luckily - her 4th grade teacher was a dream teacher - and my daughter just totally excelled in 4th. The teacher really motivated the students, and really encouraged each student do the best of their abilities. She gave the students all the basics, and then really encouraged the students to really think outside of the box.

 

[donnajon]

I've heard 3rd grade. We just finished 3rd and it was tough. He made honor roll one nine weeks and just missed by 1 point the last two nine weeks. I think partly it was the teacher. DS is ADHD - not a behavior problem - and has a 504. But on his second nine weeks interum report card, she had written, "Please encourage him to remain on task." HuH? The kid is ADHD and we were adjusting medications - with her knowledge. One of the hardest things was that they finished 2nd grade with 1,000s and at the start of 3rd when straight into 100,000s without review and without learning 10,000s. And teacher acknowledged all of the kids were having trouble with it but still didn't slow down.
Glad 3rd is over and looking forward to 4th!

 

[CourtasanSatine]

3rd Grade for me, ex Reserves brat and that was the year of 4 different bases and 4 different schools

 

[Tink9748]

My oldest daughter will be starting 5th grade this fall. So far 3rd grade has been the toughest. Some of it was the teacher, some of it was her maturity level. She did alot better in 4th grade. I am hoping for the same in 5th.

 

[WendyDarling]

I have taught 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade and just something I have noticed over the years...when I taught 6th grade it was the girls' parents saying, why is my daughter acting this way, why is she having such a tough time, why is she crying so much, or things along those lines. When I taught 7th grade, I would get similar questions from the boys' parents! I know everyone is different, but I always thought it was funny how that seemed to work out...
As for me personally, I am praying and crossing my fingers that K was the worst for my DS and that it will all be downhill from here!!!

 

[paigevz]

2nd grade was toughest for my son in a general way, but 3rd grade the most challenging academically. 4th grade was easily his best all around year, and 5th his easiest academically.

Each grade is a huge step from the grade before. Lots of children have trouble in K who haven't been in school before, because they are trying to learn new things while also figuring out how to fit in at school. Lots of children in 1st have trouble, especially if they weren't reading by the end of K, or didn't understand amounts in math. Lots of children have trouble in 2nd because it all becomes much more academic, faster paced, no centers, little or no recess. Lots of children have trouble in 3rd because they have to be more self-motivated, more homework. Lots of children have trouble in 4th because they have to do long-term projects, which takes perseverance, forethought and organization. Lots of children have trouble in 5th because peer pressure causes social problems either with other children or administration and if they missed any of the critical steps before, they are behind academically, this is also the age that they should start actual studying outside of class without a specific assignment.

 

[barkley]

i think it can depend on how the school is structured class wise. at the ones i attended or taught at that went k-6th with k on one playground, 2-3 on another and 4-6 on a third-4th was miserable for both the kids and teachers, the little sweeties from the year before were now trying to be much older than their years and got bullied alot. on those that cut out 6th and shove it onto the middle school campus i'de say 6th-the girls get WAY too involved in wanting to act older than their age, the boys seem to be somewhat overly aggressive...i remember the big change between 6th and 7th grade personaly, over that summer ALOT of the girls "slutted out" and started wearing way inapproriate clothing, alot of boys started smoking-i guess they figured it would help them fit in with the 7-12th graders that shared the same bus stop. very, very sad.

academicly-i think 3rd or 4th can be the most challenging depending on the teacher. with either one or the other the concept of self directed learning has to be taught, and it can be tough on kids who are used to someone standing over them and directing their every move to find that they will be given an assignement and left to do it with little more than an overview of the material. i think also at this age, differences in learning become more apparant-if you're not as apt to be able to keep up with assignments it's more noticeable (no more fast or slow reading groups, just self propelled) i def. think it's a time parents should realy keep on top of how their kids are both progressing and handling the changes in classroom styles.

 

[NCRedding]

3rd grade was my DD's most challenging: there is so much to cover that year. DD's teacher was retiring at the end of the year, and dealing with a parent with a terminal illness. She could not tolerate DD. We got thru the year, and DD learned alot, but by the last conference, I told my DH that he needed to do the talking, as I knew I would say more than I should. We got to the conference and all teacher wanted to talk about was how high DD's test scores were--it took her standardized tests at the end of the year to discuss that DD was very bright.

 

[Sparx]

well kindergarten they spent most of it trying to get me to talk. (I didn't talk much at all.) and I didn't have many friends either.
First grade was okay from what I remember. not too much better, but no worse.
Second was okay, socially, but very very challenging academically.
third I was homeschooled.
fourth was great.
fifth was okay, but I hated the teacher. and when she found out I was gifted she kept trying to move me up to sixth. (the woman wanted to be rid of me. she hated me as much as I hated her)

so I'm not sure what was teh worst. probably Kindergarten tied with fifth socially, and then second academically.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

For my oldest it was 4th grade.
My youngest will be in 4th next grade next year and my oldest will be a HS sophmore, which I have heard is the hardest year.
***I forsee lots of rules prior to the start of this school year.***

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I say 4th. Of course, DS is just now going to 5th so there are still quite a few years to come, aren't there?

2nd grade was physically hard for him because he was ALWAYS sick. That was his first year in public school and he missed 17 days. He had strep, chicken pox, more viruses than I could count, he was hospitalized for a condition they found while they were trying to diagnose something else - it was a disaster. But academically he was FINE.

Third grade wasn't too bad - he was healthy most of the time and with the help of a math tutor his grades were OK.

Fourth grade was just ugly. He had the same teachers that he had for 3rd grade because that's how it was set up - the same teachers 2 consecutive years. I think new teachers are a good thing - it gives the kids a fresh start. He was bullied on and off all year by the same stupid kid, and since the kid kept bullying there is obviously a lot to be desired about "zero tolerance". We did finally get an ADD diagnosis in February, but by the time we had his 504 the year was nearly over. We tried 2 different meds at a couple of different dosages but neither one worked. Neither one was even REMOTELY effective. I couldn't wait for the year to be over, and I have been blissfully happy since it ended.

I have heard that 5th grade is MUCH harder, and that the workload is crushing. If that is truly the case then we will be meeting with the teachers and adjusting his workload to something reasonable, ESPECIALLY if we can't find a med that will help him! If I have to tell him 5 times to brush his teeth then I hardly think giving him 3 hours of homework each night is going to be a reasonable expectation. I am hoping against hope for a good teacher, but last I heard they didn't even know which teachers were staying at our campus next year, let alone which grades they were teaching.