Decisions, Decisions

We have been riding a school roller-coaster through plenty of ups and downs in the last two and a half years. Will was in trouble a lot in kindergarten and by the end of the year we figured out that a lot of that had to do with his teacher not being consistent with rules and discipline. Later, we found out she was going through personal problems, and though that may have been part of her inconsistency, our first-born needs consistency --especially when it comes to discipline. It took the teacher and us about two-thirds of a school year to figure out that Will wanted to be in in-school suspension because that teacher was giving him second-grade assignments because he finished his regular work so quickly. Once we realized part of his motivation, the teacher was able to keep him out of some trouble in the class, but he still was getting bored and talking. After a long discussion with the school guidance counselor, we wrote a letter to the principal stating the qualities we thought Will needed in a teacher. First-grade went much better; the teacher had a student-teacher and an assistant, so she was able to keep Will busy learning in ways that worked better for him. Yet, he still finished assignments early and talked too much. I sent the same letter to the principal again, and now, in second-grade, we are still dealing with a lot of the same issues, plus a few more.

After being urged by his teacher to seek help for him, we took Will for testing to see if he had learning disabilities or other brain or mood issues. We didn't get a lot of answers, but we were encouraged to let him see a counselor for awhile to see what else could be going on. The counselor pointed out that we need to help Will develop a more positive self-image at home and at school. We met with his teacher and school counselor a few times to plan a way for him to stay mentally engaged (not bored) at school so that he would not be in trouble so often (part of the negative self-image). Three months later, many meetings and appointments, and a few changes to his school-work, he still says he hates school. He loves his GT class (2 hours a week) and P.E. and recess, but he doesn't have anything positive to say about the rest of it. Though we know his teacher has bent over backwards trying to work with us and him, we are not seeing the fruits of those changes. What we see is that for reading assignments, he is given a fourth- or fifth-grade chapter book to read and a worksheet to complete about the book. The other kids using the second-grade reading texts are being challenged to read between the lines, make inferences, and guess what will happen next. We don't think his skills have advanced much over the six months he has been in school this year. We think he is bored, even when he hasn't mastered certain subjects. His teacher insists he cannot possibly be bored when they are constantly so busy. But busy doesn't always mean "mentally engaged" -- I am constantly busy with laundry, taxi-driving, doing dishes, making dinner, packing lunches, etc. but I get bored and frustrated with that kind of busyness. I took her up on the challenge to come spend the day in the class to see what happens during a typical day.

Tuesday, I finally got to see it all. I saw how the class was conducted. I saw how Will speaks out. I saw how all the kids participate in discussions, how there is constantly a buzz of noise and motion in the classroom, how the kids work together on projects, how the teacher interacts with them when they get too loud, how much time is wasted because she doesn't want to lose control of what is happening. In one situation, the kids were in groups but working on individual projects about presidents. Will's group was supposed to use library books to seek a fun-fact about each of their presidents. Will found his information and wrote it out within ten minutes. He asked his teacher if he could fill in the next section (term length, family life) since no one was using that book and he had finished the fun-fact. She asked him to sit down and wait until they switched stations. Twenty minutes later, they switched and he finished most of that part of the project. Twenty minutes!! I can almost promise that if I hadn't been there -- right next to that study station -- Will would have started goofing off, being silly, making kids laugh, making his teacher mad, maybe making his way to the office because he was told not to do anything for twenty minutes. I talked with the principal some more the next day. I talked with the teacher more. I talked with Will's counselor. Then Allen and I talked, and talked, and talked. Our discussion the last few months has been whether to consider home school for Will for third grade, but we finally came to a decision about second grade. Next Friday will be Will's last day at the public school for second grade.

We've decided to try homeschooling him for the next three months. I am confident we can keep him on track enough that he will not be behind when he begins third grade. By working with him one-on-one, I hope to figure out more about his learning style and attention span -- is twenty minutes the most he can sit still or does he prefer to soak in a project for two hours? I hope to appeal more to what we feel is his learning-style with lots of hands-on projects, real books rather than text books, and fewer worksheets. Someone asked me the other day if I had any experience in education. As a matter of fact, I do. I've been teaching this kiddo for more than eight years. Though I do have some second thoughts, I plan to approach this new adventure with confidence and joy (and I might need that reminder in a few weeks.)