The Path of Least Resistance
We had our meeting on Monday, and it went surprisingly well.
Regarding the speech help - the principal said they would never take a kid out during the extra activities to work with them. I had my permission slip with me, and showed him where it said the help would occur during "recess, music, or library". He didn't know that was there. He insured me it wouldn't happen. I said if it does, I will pull him out immediately. The kicker is the speech pathologist took him the very next day - before I had even returned the permission slip.
The standardized test scores on The Boy show he is at or above grade level in all areas except one - math. In math he is in the lower quadrant of his class.
The teacher's take on it - and we agree - is that The Boy understands the concepts of addition and subtraction. After all, he does the work and until this year, he didn't ever have math homework. The problem is that he hasn't memorized the math facts. Because of that he is slow and when the other kids finish before him, he gets frustrated so he brings the work home.
I am coming up with a way to work with him at home on the facts and letting him earn something he really wants as a reward - he chose a new motocross helmet.
To boost his self-esteem, she is going to send him to the kindergarten class to help them with math, which will reinforce the facts with him as well.
We all agree that he is intelligent and capable - but he may never work any harder than he has to in school - or, as the principal put it, "The Boy will choose the path of least resistance." (For the record, I have hopes that he will be like me and do well without a ton of extra effort!)
Fortunately the carrot that dangles in front of his nose is sports. He is athletic and this is where he excels - and you can't play if you don't make the grade.
Regarding the speech help - the principal said they would never take a kid out during the extra activities to work with them. I had my permission slip with me, and showed him where it said the help would occur during "recess, music, or library". He didn't know that was there. He insured me it wouldn't happen. I said if it does, I will pull him out immediately. The kicker is the speech pathologist took him the very next day - before I had even returned the permission slip.
The standardized test scores on The Boy show he is at or above grade level in all areas except one - math. In math he is in the lower quadrant of his class.
The teacher's take on it - and we agree - is that The Boy understands the concepts of addition and subtraction. After all, he does the work and until this year, he didn't ever have math homework. The problem is that he hasn't memorized the math facts. Because of that he is slow and when the other kids finish before him, he gets frustrated so he brings the work home.
I am coming up with a way to work with him at home on the facts and letting him earn something he really wants as a reward - he chose a new motocross helmet.
To boost his self-esteem, she is going to send him to the kindergarten class to help them with math, which will reinforce the facts with him as well.
We all agree that he is intelligent and capable - but he may never work any harder than he has to in school - or, as the principal put it, "The Boy will choose the path of least resistance." (For the record, I have hopes that he will be like me and do well without a ton of extra effort!)
Fortunately the carrot that dangles in front of his nose is sports. He is athletic and this is where he excels - and you can't play if you don't make the grade.
posted by Well-heeled mom @ 8:53 AM
1 Comments:
At 5:36 AM,
Foxxy One said…
Sounds good! We actually got a note home that sometimes there are special events during his speech time (assemblies, outings, etc.) and we were given the opportunity to say whether or not we would want him to get pulled from those activities or just skip speech that day (skip).
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