Hi Everyone:
I'm feeling like we blew it. After getting a great teacher last year for second grade, we thought DS8 was going to really begin to be challenged and motivated in school. I THOUGHT I had a really good converstaion with his new 3rd grade teacher at the beginning of the year. Instead, I'm now discovering, he's now completely uninterested in school, and seemingly uninterested in working at anything. He just got a report card with "above grade level" in reading and in understanding science concepts, but also many "below grade level" grades and one "far below grade level." He got below grade level in math, among other subjects. Hsi new teacher, although kind and sensitive, hasn't done any of the accommodation we asked for and seems to think he needs to focus on DS8's weaknesses, like handwriting and disorganization. He's giving him nothing to keep him interested in school.
When he was a baby,he was the kind of kid who made people exclaim a the supermarket or the playground, first because he was this tiny little person speaking in full sentences,then because he was a toddler sight reading the carbohydrates on the cereal boxes. (I was on the Atkins diet):( In the car, at two he would count up into the hundreds, and add big numbers. Things like one million and one plus two million and two equals three million and three. Math was endlessly fascinating, and before he'd turned three he'd memorized the names, feeding habits, hips, and era of existence of probably 100 dinosaurs.
At about three, he lost his interest in math and dinosaurs and instead became interested in warfare (too much Iraq war on the news at our house) and science. Once again, endless questions and discussion and a real enthusiasm for learning.
We didn't push his math learning because he seemed quite capable and we thought his interest would return, or he'd get it at school. Instead, his school has been moving through math concepts at a snail's pace with TERC -- and he's not even getting the drill and kill so that he knows his math facts. He seems to have gotten his addition and subtraction facts by osmosis -- and he's only memorized the times tables he thinks are interesting. His third grade math class hasn't even started multiplication yet!
We started afterschooling him on Aleks. He had a bit of an attitude when taking the placement exam and kept hitting "I don't know" as an answer, if it hadn't been covered in class already. So he got to skip only about 25 percent of the material. Since, he's been 'learning' about 2-3 math concepts per hour he's on,but he's hardly ever on. I've tried bribing him with time on his favorite vidoe game, but he hardly ever bites. Now, he tells me he hasn't learned anything new on Aleks because he already knew all the stuff he has gone over so far. I'm going to try to get him to retake the initial placement assessment, but it concerns me that he didn't seem to want an accurate placement and doesn't seem to want to learn math. Also, each time I suggest he learn his times tables, he seems to lapse into a depression, and groan and talk about how is life is so terrible, and sulk, and stomp, etc.
Similarly, he seems totally uninterested in the school's writing program, which is a big part of every day. He has big handwriting issues, and started getting OT this fall -- which may play a part, but he seems to put forth no effort for any assignment, seeming to try to do the minimal amount possible. They aren't stupid assignments, they really are somewhat open-ended assignments that should give him lots of chance to be creative and do something challenging. Any time I suggest trying to do more, I get the same tantrumy behavior.
Any ideas on what I could do about this?
Unschooling or afterschooling is out -- we both have to work.
I am feeling totally ineffective right now.
BK1
