Thursday, February 11, 2010

School Time Blues

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For the past two weeks Alden has NOT wanted to go to school. Every morning it is a fight to get him out of bed, dressed, to eat his breakfast, to do his home reading at night. Even when I pick him up he is instantly sad once he gets into the van. He has been crabby at night and wanting to go to bed at like 7pm. Not sure why. We've both asked him over and over and he just says things like my head hurts, it's too noisy at lunch at school, my stomach hurts, my back hurts. Last night dr dad checked him out. (how handy hey???) :)

He might be getting an ear infection - dr dad is going to check it again tonight (i love that he has an otoscope - that's the thing they look in your ears with) But still what is the deal with school?

Today when I was in his classroom I talked to his teacher and she said normally it boils down to one of three things.

1. Trouble with friends
2. Bullying
3. School work

She told me she doubted the last one. I stayed around for recess and watched a bit and it confirmed what I had thought before. He has his best buddy Kaden who he is constantly with and a few other boys that he plays with too. It's not that. And it's not bullying. Since someone else he knew had that happen, we've had quite a few talks about it. I am pretty positive he would tell me if it was that. And he is quite tall and big compared to a lot of kids in his class. Doubt it's that.

So his teacher called me today at lunch and told me she talked to him about what was going on. He told her that subtraction was hard and that he couldn't do it. Math?? That is like his best thing. He does math for FUN in church. We give him a list of equations and he sits and does them. But it's always addition, so perhaps he thinks he should easily get subtraction?? I don't know. But his teacher said he got all choked up when talking to her about it. So she's sending home some fun things to work on next week during the break and my mom gave me an idea about how to show subtraction using lego and his name.

I hope that working on this makes him love school again.
Cause he has LOVED school up til now!! And there's still a whole lotta school to go!!
And I want my sweet easy going stress free Alden back!!!
Poor sad guy!!
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14 comments:

Megan said...

what a great teacher! so glad he's got a mom and a teacher who're there to help him get through it! i bet after he gets over that initial "fear factor" bump, the "lights" will come on for subtraction, too.

Anonymous said...

oh that's so sad, but cute all at the same time!

Anonymous said...

We had the same problem with Meg and reading. She actually said one morning "why do I need to learn to read!". Happy to say she is up to level o now. whew! Just a little hump to get over. Great job mom. -KB

The Full Nelson said...

So sad! I agree with the top comment about him having a great teacher. Hopefully the fun activities can help him get a hang of subtraction. I was awful at math and I am hoping that it skips my kids and they manage alright with it!

KellyLady said...

oh that just breaks my heart! He's lucky to have such a great mom and teacher to figure the problem out and help him! Good luck!

Kristi Drennan said...

That's completely adorable and super sad all at the same time.

Christina said...

Hope it gets better for him quickly. I'd love to hear the lego idea if you'd like to share!

LindsayB said...

poor little guy! hope he works through it. but watch out, sounds like you got a super achiever on your hands already!

Catherine said...

I stress so much about my kids at school. No one loves them like I do and when they are gone for so long everyday it eats me up inside. So when they struggle with something that hards to figure out it makes it even harder. Good luck to little Alden. He's a smart kid, you guys will figure it out.

Jennifer Juniper said...

Aww, poor guy :( Trouble with school is so hard because they need to go every day! I hope things look up.

Abby Metz said...

So sad to watch your kids hit bumps in the road - but great to watch them work to get over them and keep on going! (great life lesson)

Marie said...

Oh, that is so sad. I hope he gets his confidence back soon so that school can be a happy place again.

Heather M. said...

I hope things start improving and he's back to his usual happy-go-lucky self!

Alysha Sladek said...

I just have to say how happy I am that it's NOT bullying!! saddest thing ever!!
i'm sure he'll pick it up quickly. he's such a bright kid!