Hey AvoCado,

I just want to also say - don't assume it will all be bad. If you read some of my other posts, you'll see we've had many ups and downs. But all in all, the public school is helping DS7 in lots of ways.

I will admit that he is not challenged academically every day, or even most days. But he has lots of challenges with self-regulation, executive function, etc. And the school has helped a ton with those, and keeps on helping. Lots more good than bad there, even though I know all to well how challenging he can be when he is really struggling.

And lord knows he is having to develop some grit or resilience or a growth mindset or whatever you want to call it. Not about academics. But he tries, fails, and tries again day after day after day to get better at self-regulation and executive function. And when he's calm, he can clearly see a shining trail of improvement behind him - hopefully ahead of him, too.

I think this will serve him very well when it comes time to tackle harder material. Or really - academic material that challenges him at all. Could he be tackling that stuff now? Yes - and we do some at home. So it stays in the context of math is beautiful and science is soul-satisfying and reading is just the BEST way to end your day snuggled up under the covers.

Ack - getting long and I'm not making my point. Let's try this: his future happiness and opportunities will be based on academic firepower AND ability to learn and apply it. The public school is doing much to help position him to learn. Meanwhile, I have zero concern about the firepower, so long as we're keeping the spark alive at home. And FWIW - I have concrete reasons to believe that post-elementary, our district will begin to have lots more flexibility to give him meatier academic challenges.

Day at a time here! But really - it's working well enough that I wouldn't look to change schools. I hope it will be the same for you.

Best of luck to you,
Sue
P.S. And now, having cursed myself, I'll turn up my phone ringer so I won't miss the now-inevitable call from the school!