In that writing composition class, the first class he had ever taken that required writing, he found that he could write well. He seemed to enjoy writing and he definitely looked forward to getting the papers he had written back each week. He developed enough confidence this year that I noticed at his last musical theater class when the teacher put him in a group with two cute girls his age and told them they had to write a play together, instead of looking for a way to escape, he was smiling and ready to get to work on it. He now confidently shares his ideas and is no longer embarrassed by his handwriting. He is doing so well that I just assumed the creative writing class next year would not be a problem, but it is. He is saying things like don't you understand how hard it has been this year? Didn't I prove that I can do it? Why are you doing this to me? Can't I just have a break for once? He says all year long he has either been in pain or working on something that needed to be done by a deadline. There wasn't much time to do things he enjoyed. He wants to learn and work at his own pace without the stress.
Hi Lori,
I see 2 issues here:
1) It would be nice to get make your DH happy and get him off your back.
2) Your DS's behavior is saying 'yes-Yes' but his words are saying 'no-no.'
I think at age 12, DS is going to have more say thana 9 year old. My first choice would be to ease up somewhere else and do the creative writing, as you see clear benifits here. But it is reasonable to let him experiement with having 'too little' to do, and see how he does with it - given the clear understanding that he takes a tough writing class next year.
If a compromise that allows taking the tough writing class can't be reached, I would for an agreement that he do X number/month of writing pages on his own.
Perhaps the same teacher, or another family member, or one of the mom's here in exchange for you online mentoring her kid, would be willing to do an online tutoring with him that was about a third as much work as her class is? I think that there are online writing communities where teens post their creations and get feedback.
I know that you will trust your mom gut and do what is best,
Grinity
