(no subject)

[lizzybennet]

The boys started school yesterday. Zack had a great day, no problems. Petey, as expected, had a much harder time understanding the school routine. He's at a disadvantage from the other kids his age, having missed public school kindergarten. However, he seems to have an awesome teacher (if I can go by my first impressions) and I think she will be willing to work with us to help him learn how to act in school. We've been exchanging emails, which I'll put behind the cut for anyone who's interested.


My letter to her:

Hi Mrs. generic-teacher-name,

I just wanted to touch base with you after our conversation about Petey yesterday. I spoke with him about most of your concerns. He and I are going to work on developing his use of eye contact as well as trying not to interrupt. He's just so excited about starting school, and I'm sure he was a bit overwhelmed yesterday by all the "new stuff" he was experiencing. As you know, he didn't go to kindergarten because we were homeschooling in China, so he has yet to learn school etiquette. I feel certain that once he understands the routine of the school day, he will be much more settled and able to listen.

Also, I'd be happy to come into the classroom and help with him, if you feel it would be beneficial to him. I know he can be a handful, and if while he's learning how to act at school you need an extra hand, I'd be glad to come in and assist. Just let me know if you think that would be at all helpful or not. I would like to volunteer in the classroom so you can go ahead and send that paperwork home with Petey when you get a chance.

Thanks for talking with me yesterday to let me know how things go. Petey is such a happy and sweet kid; I hope we can work through these challenges together so school can be a place he loves to go.

Thank you,
etc, etc.

Her response to me:


Hi Tina -
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts about Petey. I think you are right-on . . . he just isn't used to school etiquette/behavior/routines/procedures yet. This is completely reasonable and to be expected! I sure appreciate your support at home - he came in this morning saying he worked on behaving at school "for homework". :) I'm confident that if we both keep working with him, he'll be just fine. He just needs time to adjust and lots of practice.

I appreciate your offer to come in and help, but I'd like to give it a go on my own for a couple of weeks. I can already tell a difference from yesterday. Thank you again for your support!

He's an enthusiastic, sweet little boy. I'm looking forward to watching him blossom this year!

I will give him volunteer paperwork to bring home to you today.

Oh - thank you for the scissors! Petey forgot to get his drink and take it to lunch with him, so I brought him back to the classroom to get it. I found the yellow paper and your note in the folder in his backpack (he had forgotten to give it to me when he came in this morning). Also, I wanted to let you know that a mom from another student in the school found Petey this morning crying in the hallway because he didn't know where his class was. She knew me and brought him down. Poor kiddo! I think it all goes back to getting used to school . . . I can't even imagine how overwhelmed he must be! He cried again at lunch over his drink, but we took care of it and he's doing just fine now. Other than that, I can tell he's making an effort today to hold those thoughts in his head. We are continuing to work on that, as well as working on staying in control and staying safe (when we sing and dance to "get our wiggles out", he tends to go overboard and get a little chaotic). He'll get the hang of it!

Thanks again, Tina!


He didn't even mention the crying-lost incident to me. What he tells me is stuff like a kid in his class wore the same shirt today that he wore yesterday. I went to the library today and checked out some self-help parenting books. Even while I know I will read them and try and implement some ideas, I'm thinking to myself "what makes these people any more qualified than the next person when it comes to parenting?" I wish there was some perfect guide. One of the books is called "My Quirky Child." The title caught my attention, I don't know if it will be helpful...I would use quirky to describe Petey, though.

Josh and I are enjoying our time together. Yesterday we went to McDonalds together (a mistake it turned out because all the high school kids were there taking off-campus lunch. Apparently they don't care that they are sitting next to a 3 year old kid, they going to say f--- as much as they want...which is practically every other word.), the park, Wal-Mart and to get him a haircut. We also took a nap together. It was such a laid back, do what we want day. I loved it, and so did he. Today was more of a organize-this-messy-house day.

Lastly, Chris taught his first day of class today. He was nervous, but I must say he looked good in his professorial attire (no tweed jackets with elbow patches for my man!) Still no luck on the car search. I think we're taking a couple weeks off. That's it.

Comments

[sunrise0124.livejournal.com]

pretty much unchanged. She still wants to put her back into kinder but we are fighting it. she still has some good days. This week is her first spelling test and I'm afraid she won't do very well. I've worked with her everyday but she is having a hard time with it.

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

When Zack was in kindergarten there was a girl in his class who did half her day in kindergarten and half in first grade. This really seemed to work for her, and by the end of the year she was back in first grade for the whole day.

[sunrise0124.livejournal.com]

i don't think it's for the same reason. I just feel that this teacher just feels Nin's takes too much work and just doesn't want to deal with it. She needs extra help understanding reading and stuff like that. She takes more one on one than most kids. I knew this from last year and I told her she just needs extra help. I worked with her a lot last year to get her to where she is now. We actually sent a letter to the school requesting her to be tested for learning disabilities yesterday. Now legally they have to test her in 60 days. I hope this will help. If they still continue giving us a hard time about it we will give it right back. Hubby's family is good at fighting schools. I'm not.

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

I think the letter is a good idea. If she does have a learning disability then they can better provide her with the extra one on one time that she needs. Maybe the teacher just can't handle that with all the other students in her class...not that I'm taking the teacher's side! I think you and your hubby are doing the absolute right thing to fight for Nin's right to stay in first grade.

[sunrise0124.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I feel she has a legal right to be there and I feel that just because she isn't 6 yet, she wants to pawn her off. I am very certain that if she gets help in the areas she needs help in she will be fine and I feel that putting her back in kinder will be emotional suicide to an already emotional child. I trust her teacher last year, asked me if I wanted her to go on to first? I told her yes, If she felt she could handle it. Her teacher said ok. She would struggle but she would be fine. Those were her exact words. Which is why I feel this teacher is not giving her a chance.

[sunrise0124.livejournal.com]

hey, did any of your kids have a hard time with spelling? I've been working with her everyday and she still can't tell me how to spell one word. i've tried everything I can thing of and nothing worked. any suggestions?

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not we haven't really had to do spelling yet for public school. For homeschool I used Scrabble peices to make spelling more fun. I don't really have any suggestions...sorry! Maybe you could google it :)