Owen and school update..

Here's an abbreviated update about Owen and his school year as many of you have been asking.

I ended up meeting w/ Owen's principal after being unable to get a conference w/ Owen's teacher. Owen had been really complaining about school again January through April. BORING...he said. He was in tears before school and in tears after school. It was really starting to get old. So, I had to do something. I emailed Owen's teacher about a conference and was told that he couldn't get back to me for one month, but he could communicate via email. I thought that was a little strange...I mean I should be able to get a conference w/ his teacher if I wanted to, correct? We've only officially spoken at one other conference in October. But he wanted to email, so I emailed him my concerns and 9 days later I STILL hadn't heard from him. So...I went to the principal w/ my concerns.

I have to say that I wish I had spoken to her at the beginning of the year. She was really interested, caring, and helpful. She said that extra enrichment activities should be available to those kids that need those opportunities and they do pull kids out in 4th or 5th grade for extra enrichment, and even though they have never pulled kids out in the younger levels she wouldn't be opposed to it. In the meantime, she arranged for a conference w/ Owen's teacher, myself, and her and again, I wish we had talked about all these concerns months ago.

It's a little after the fact, because now Owen's very content in school. They have started division, multiplication, and cursive and he's very happy going to school now. This just reinforces to me that it is possible for him to be happy at school and he's not just complaining to be complaining. He really is bored and now that he's learning something new, he's no longer bored. His teacher is sending home a packet of extra enrichment activiites every week now. This was one of the things Owen really wanted...homework. And, Owen's presenting a power point presentation to the class next week that he's been working on for a while now (about tornados)....complete w/ a multiple choice test he developed himself.

This is a good lesson for me. I really wish I had advocated for him earlier and I will certainly be dealing w/ this at the principal level early next year if problems arise. I feel like now that Owen's teacher and principal are aware of Owen being bored and wanting more that they are more then willing to help. I shouldn't have waited. Lesson learned.