Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Real Learning or Just Get The Credits?

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth until I'm dizzy! That's what I'm doing with D's school. From the beginning, I knew I have to concentrate on his reading skills and ability to focus. He has so much trouble he's asked me to find medicine that will help him concentrate! My friend works at Kitchen Kneads and told me about some herb they have called Focus Attention; we haven't tried it yet because I'm waiting for the holiday break to be over. Hope it works.

Anyway, I'm going back and forth on how hard to push D to work 'above his level'. Which is true, or are both true?
1. Making him do work he doesn't really understand is a waste of time, he doesn't "get it" and can't use or remember it.
2. Making him do work above his level pushes him to achieve and learn to work hard.

I don't want to let him slide and always think that if something is too hard, he shouldn't do it. Neither do I want to make him slog his way through learning when he really isn't learning, just to call it done. He's getting so depressed about school and life in general that I want to make things easier so he can be more successful. I can give him books about the same subjects that are written at a lower level but does that count for 9th grade credit? Another thing to go back and forth on, what is the goal? Learning or a diploma? It doesn't seem that BOTH is an option, at least not right now.
One thing that would help is if he got more physical exercise (like the rock climbing I talked about in an earlier post, that would be so cool!) and more social interaction. With no job, no money to even put gas in the car, I really can't do anything for him and that's ruining everything. He needs excitement to survive and he doesn't have any. He wants a dirt bike but right now I can't even rent one for a day - do 'they' even rent those out? He lovingly remembers his motorcycle he had a couple of years ago, one made for kids, it went 15 mph max. We gave it to his cousin when we moved, he already could RUN that fast just about! We clocked him at 12 mph running. This is the kid who now is in the house all day every day and has gotten wary about leaving it. Not good.

Have I whined enough for the day? I think so. At least I have time now with the holiday to make a firm decision on whether we'll focus on getting credits for the subjects he has no interest in, or if we'll back it up, slow it down, and truly learn it.