My WEEK…

This past week has been a rough one, hell this year has been…

First, I will tell you a little about myself… I am a momma of 3. I have two wonderful boys, and a beautiful baby girl. I am a stay at home mom (my husband and I decided that me staying home while our children are little was the best thing) I do babysit a few children so that mine still “interacts” with others.

So, this week…Monday was Halloween. Day started off normal we woke up, dropped my oldest, Lucas, off at school (he goes to a private Catholic School) since it was Halloween his class was having a Halloween Party that afternoon, so he was staying the whole day, he normally only goes half a day. My husband picked him up from school that day, they came home as normal, and of course since it was Halloween we had to put Batman on at 3 in the afternoon. That day, he was in a good mood! Most days when he comes home from school, he is “depressed” wants to sit and play his iPad doesn’t want to play with his bother, other kids, or toys. He doesn’t want to talk about school or what he did, but when he does talk about it most of the time it is “kids making fun of him” or his teacher telling him “she doesn’t have all day he needs to hurry up” Now, I would like to say I am not saying anything bad about his teacher or the school, we have loved the school the past 2 years but this year has not been our year. He started school late August, by the second week of September we had already had a parent/teacher meeting with his teacher and she informed us that he is “behind” in his class and he will more than likely have to retake kindergartner, which we are completely fine with. She tells us to keep doing what we are doing, but not to push him because that could hurt him. So what do I do, I make flashcard with every letter of the alphabet, uppercase and lower. Numbers he is good but I still made cards. We work on sight words, read his book from school everyday. You know, the normal mom things. But there is something you may need to know that Lucas, he has ADHD, so one day could be a great day and he listens and learns so great and the next day, nope doesn’t feel like it.

So, all of September we continue doing all of these things, but his attitude about school still hasn’t changed. He is not happy when he comes home, not happy to go to school, tell us that kids are still making fun of him, I could go on but you get it. Well, one day last week we get a Math Test in his folder with a sad face and -8 on the front of it. At first I was so mad at Lucas, “how can you get -8 when there are only 11 questions”, “do you listen at all to your teachers”. Once I calm down, I sit down to look at it, every other question is the same just worded different or the cubes are different colors but he would get 1 wrong out of the 2 questions that were the same. BUT that’s not it, the last question was simple it had the number 6, and he had to write out what numbers that came next, and go to 10. That page was BLANK and his teacher wrote, Lucas did not know what to do.  Okay, so maybe he didn’t, maybe he was nervous, maybe by this point he was just aggravated, I would be. But that is not what makes me so mad, I have emailed on a weekly basis, how is doing, if they are having problems with him, or if there is anything “we” need to work on at home. If I do get a response then it’s, “he is doing good”. Nothing like, he doesn’t know what is going on in my classroom!!

So it brings me back to this week, Tuesday morning, Lucas did not have school because it was an “All Saints Day” so he woke up later than normal and asks me “am i going to school today” which I reply “no, not today you get to stay home with mommy” he gets so excited, jumping up and down saying Yay! Which I am pretty happy to see this reply because lately he hasn’t been very “happy”. So I decide to make up come math papers for him to do, like the one he did so poorly on at school. I sit him down at the kitchen table and tell him what to do. To my surprise, he get this ALL RIGHT! And let me tell you the excitement on his face when I tell him they are right was so great I wanted to cry! So then I make a page with Uppercase and Lowercase letters, and he has to match them. This one takes him a little longer, and he needed some help with which I knew he would because these little letters he has trouble with. But we worked through it and boy was he excited to get them right! When he was finished with that one he wanted to do MORE! Which I didn’t have anything else ready. So I told him I would later.

Doing those goofy little papers I came up with in less than a minute made me think, is school helping or hurting Lucas? I sat down in front of my lovely computer, starting searching everything from teaching a 5 year old with ADHD, what is normal for a 5 year old with ADHD, best ways to get a child with ADHD to remember Letters. I started looking up Kentucky State Standards for Kindergarten. Finally, I called the Public School and started telling them what is going on.

After my entire day of thinking, and researching I bring my concerns to my husband when he gets home from work. I slowly throw out the idea of me homeschooling Lucas for the rest of the year. Which I was nervous to hear his response because Lucas and I butt headed A LOT, he is the most like me. So him and I sitting down everyday to do “school” made me feel a little crazy too, but I need to do what is BEST for him. Chris says if you think you can do it then do it, I agree! WOW, that was easy, Chris then says “have you asked Lucas what he wants to do?” Which no I have not because I didn’t want him to feel like he had to tell me what he thinks I wanted to hear. So Chris then asked Lucas, “Do you like going to school” Lucas replies “Sometime” Chris then asks, “Did you like doing school papers with Mommy today?” he tells him “Yes” Chris then asks him “Would you want to do school here with Mommy everyday?” Okay at this point I was waiting for “I don’t want to do school, or just a plain out NO.” but he tells Chris, “I can stay home and do school at home with Mommy?” Chris tell him “Yes, but you will have to listen to Mommy” Hearing him say this, I had to go in the other room because my eyes filled up with tears.

My week, my week has consisted of  withdrawing Lucas from his school and enrolling him as a Home-school Student, AND looking up curriculum’s, activities, lesson plans, and what will work best for him. Just in 3 short days his attitude is changing, he is getting more confident. We have worked on letters, we only have to remember a “hand full” more. He loves doing school, and he has only played on his iPad for about 2 hours the WHOLE week. Yes I know it has only been 3 days, but so far I think this is the best decision for our family and LUCAS! Until next time….

  This handsome fella is Lucas! 🙂