Well, after several teacher meetings, we have been given a ruling on Nate and his behavior at school. Here it is:
Nate is not willing to be compliant. (Say this sternly for maximum effect).
What?!?! When did that happen? Oh yes, that's correct, it happened at birth. I remember that now. 6 years of asking 95,000 times for him to do his chores or find his shoes or even to put his pants on right-side out. Was I supposed to be shocked? horrified? repentant? I'm not sure. I do know that I was not supposed to smile and agree. Clearly, I am complicit in this behavior. Clearly, I am not strict enough in my house and he is deteriorating into a hapless pile of non-compliant goo. Surely, he is bound to end up addicted to drugs, homeless (maybe even a hobo- wouldn't he be thrilled?!?) and a drain on the upstanding members of society. Don't think she didn't go there, because she did. And implied that I am also non-compliant. Well, right. I am. I don't mean to be, and I'm often horribly conflicted by my lack of desire to obey, but he most certainly does get this from me.
I have tried my entire life to "be good" and do the "things I am supposed to" but underneath it all is this snarky little voice in my head saying, "this is stupid" and "rules are meant to be broken". But I digress. . .
So, I explored in more depth what exactly it was that was driving this teacher straight to Starbucks to fortify herself before facing him every day. It turns out he hates to color and write sentences. Well, DUH! I told her that as soon as we knew she was the teacher. And, I'm not convinced she clearly defined how she wanted him to comply, because the work she showed me was technically done. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't neat- OK, it was barely legible- but it was complete.
Evan had this very same problem in 1st grade, and his teacher put him in time-out every day for a month before either of them saw fit to tell me. He went to school every day, knowing he was going to get punished for not being willing to write and color. Nate comes home every day with a pouty lip, sad that he got in trouble, again. I do not find this cute.
So, we are home schooling one more. Rebi has already agreed to teach him Spanish and Evan is dying to work on science with him. Luckily, I am still capable of first grade math!
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8 comments:
Wow...too bad they didn't train the teacher how to TEACH...because that's her job...so maybe I'll go to my place of employment and say, "I'm only going to transcribe "X" number of reports today and fax only one report if necessary because it's hard on my nails and causes extra time and stress, also, I won't be answering the phone and definitely not doing any ER reports."...yea, that would ride. Puhleeese!!!! Oh fooey Melissa!!! You are a sheroe m'dear...a beautiful, bright, mischevious sheroe...and it's a really really good thing we're a generation apart girlfriend cause we coulda done some damage in high school ;)
The sad thing is that she's actually a very good teacher. But there are so many misguided underlying principles of the way schools work and the way educators are trained that even most of the good ones just aren't capable of dealing with the kids that don't fit the mold.
I am so sorry for everything! At least your cute little boy might feel a little more loved at home than at school? I hate that he had to tolerate going to school for that few weeks. I am glad you are so on top of things!
Dave, you are so Christlike...I'm not at all certain we'll be at the same dinner parties in heaven...
Hey! Get his hands checked for muscled co-ordination and strength. My Evan had same attitude and same problem, need to strengthen his shoulder muscles and his finger dexterity to make it physically comfortable to write. Also does much better at typing. Sponge Bob typing tutor is great.
oh and look at the family, we are genetically unable to be compliant. They got Dave's blonde genes and our bitchass genes:D To bad Dave's nice genes didn't fight harder.
Funny you say that about his muscle strength. Based on several other factors as well as his handwriting, we are starting OT with him. I agree that it should help a lot.
Unfortunately, our teachers are too busy pointing out our deficiencies as parents, to realize their own shortcomings as teachers. I applaud your choice to home school. When I took over homeschooling my Son, I was amazed at how fast he mastered the material and contrary to all of the predictions, he walked in and blew away the Equivalence exam, gaining a Maryland HS Diploma at 16yrs and 2 days - the earliest that he was qualified by age to test.
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