First Grade, ...... Again

 

Does he look puky green to you?? Great... I just sent a sick kid to school!!

  When someone asks James what grade he is going to be in, he simply responds, "First grade...again." And this is how I know I made the right decision- Trust me, it wasn't easy, especially when the principal is completely against you, and his teachers are wishy-washy- "Well, I could see him going both ways- I think he would do fine in 2nd, but repeating 1st probably wouldn't hurt him either."

 It all started the last two weeks of school last May. It was right around when Flyboy got 'The Call' for Afghanistan..... I started to panic and decided to call for a meeting with his teachers.(I have had this gut feeling every since Pre-K that James wasn't quite ready to start Kindergarten- Remember?

-http://letters-from-the-homefront.blogspot.com/2012/06/i-hate-school.html

  Resources were limited in Germany and I ended up putting him in Kindergarten[against my better judgment].......Fast-forward two years, and here we are- First Grade,....again.

(to be continued)

August 2013

                                            9 August 2014

 

  Did I ever tell you how the first week of first grade started last year? Yes, I told you how we walked to the wrong school and the MP had to give us a ride- And I told you what his Spanish teacher said, [ First Day of 1st Grade- 2013]

 

BUT....... I didn't tell you the 'rest of the story'-

 

  James secretly spit out his medicine in his OJ [which I finally read somewhere you're NOT suppose to give Adderall with citric acid anyways] for the first couple days. [He must have swallowed it the first day] but everyday after, when I went to pick him up, I got 'the look' from his teachers........ He would wake up in the morning and absolutely REFUSE to go to school!!! I finally told him if he didn't go to school he was going to have to clean toilets for the rest of his life.... So, that's what he did for about 20 minutes this particular morning..... While Eli 'supervised'. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

 

  Fortunately, the mornings got better and his behavior was not an issue at all during school, but the afternoons were complete TORTURE! Trying to do homework with him was IMPOSSIBLE! His teachers were convinced that he was going to 'catch right up' after we had that awesome  IEP meeting- REMEMBER???

 

While he did make progress last year, but not like he 'should' have. [It's hard for me to swallow the 'should have' part because I think our school systems are heading in the wrong direction anyways- James would not be behind ten years ago- in fact, he probably wouldn't have been 'behind' five years ago-] BUT what concerns me is he's not retaining information- You can go through a deck of sight word cards with him and he'll know every single one- then you'll do it the next day and we'll have to relearn half of them....... He's memorizing word shapes, instead of actually phonically sounding them out- Blending is really hard for him.

 

To me, this was a red flag! Unfortunately, I do not have the school behind me- When I say, "Dyslexia" or "Learning Disability" I get the deer caught in the headlights look.......

 

 So, I'm on a new mission- Is this JUST ADHD, or is there something more to the story??? Why does he hate school so much? Why does it seem so hard for him??? Is it just too much, too young? WHAT IS IT? I WILL find out!