Connor's 1st Day of School

Connor's 1st day of 2nd grade.  My little boy is growing up!!!

Kit: Picture Day by Two Cute Kids

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Disruption

Over the course of the last week we have been exploring reasons why Connor has been having major melt downs and problems in class. We have gone to the pediatrician and she has recommended testing to rule out ADD and ADHD by Dr. Robert Miller, she does NOT think he has this, but is unsure if there is another underlying cause. I can tell you this has caused me many sleepless nights, wondering if I somehow did something wrong. Part of the reason for sending him to Pre-K was to allow him more time to grow socially and emotionally. To some extent I am not sure he has grown. We have been having disruptions in class when we leave an area to do other things and then try to come back and when we are playing side by side and another person tries to take what we perceive is ours. That in and of himself is not totally unusual, but the way he instantly gets mad and starts screaming at the top of his lungs is. It is not that he doesn't respect the teachers authority, but rather doesn't know how to talk and work it out with the other kids.

Even though we have two kids he does still have his own seperate toy room where Lego's that are too small for Wyatt are kept. I am sure this is a factor, as is the point that when I get mad, I do yell. I am really trying to work on this, but it is hard. Another point is that the girls next door are older and probably not the ideal playmates. My life is a lot easier when they haven't been around for a couple of days.

I sure hope this is normal growing pains and that we are worrying for nothing

Failure?

I like to think that I am a fairly intellegent person othewise I wouldn't have an engineering degree. I told myself that when I started this blog that I would be honest about how I really feel with almost everything. Right now I feel like a huge failure when it comes to my kids education. Many of you know that we chose to put Connor in another year of pre-school. We switched schools and found a program that was more structured and had a true Pre-K program. At the time when I interviewed the teacher she told me that in Feb of last year all of her students were at the beginning stages of reading. Which is something Ryan and I dearly want for our son. Connor is a very intellegent boy and everyone has told us that his vocabulary is highly advanced and that they can tell he has been read to. However, he has no interst in letters, numbers, or writing.

Now we are faced with the dreaded Kindergarten question. When we moved into this house it was supposed to be in one of the best school districts in the state....but what happens when the state is 45 out of 50 states ranked in education. Does that still make it a good school district? Reading on-line reviews of the school he would attend were he to go into public schools I found things like, "there is no educational challenge, the teachers can do it, so can the students, but the administration won't let them" and "there is no parent involvement".

It is that last one that really got me thinking. Have I been an involved parent? Or have I just sat on the sidelines and waited for someone else to educate my child? Is that why I think he is behind? I have all the best intentions...we have the flashcards and workbooks...but I can never make the time to sit down and do them with him. I really has no interest in them either and it is a struggle to do them, but should I be insisting that he do them more often? It seems like the only time we have alone together is when Wyatt is napping. Sometimes Wyatt falls alseep in the car before we pick Connor up and by the time I get home and fix lunch, Wyatt is awake, leaving us no time.

How do others make the time? How do people who have multiple kids at different ages home school? Am I really a failure when it comes to my kids education?