| Re: Smart 9 year old Just will not do classroom work
I can only tell you what my family did...we pulled him out of school and homeschool him.
Our story is similar to yours. My son is/was an A student in school. You didn't mention if he was a talker but ours is. It would irritate the teacher to no end that he would talk and talk yet know what was going on and ace tests. If you go into a normal classroom there is no doubt why some children cannot work in an environment like that. There is noise, there are visual distractions all over the walls and no incentive to do the work.
Our son had always been this way but in 3rd grade it became an issue with the teacher. Unlike you, we received little support from the school. The teacher didn't want to send him to the principal, didn't want to keep him from recess, didn't want to sit him by himself but wanted to send him home for us to struggle with it EVERY night. When I talked to the principal he had her do a behavioral chart daily. He wasn't mean or nasty...just chatty!
My husband and I discussed homeschooling before but he was phobic of it, not knowing anyone who was. I lucked out when our little league coach successfully homeschooled all 12 of their children. The last straw was at the end of the school year the teacher was going to give his new teacher a copy of the behavioral chart. Just another way to stigmatize him and make him look like a bad kid. That day I sent in his withdrawal papers and it has been bliss every since.
I am sure you have your opinions on homeschool but it has been a heaven sent for us. It sounds like your child catches on easy and sees no reason to do busy work while the teacher helps those who are struggling. We work for 2 - 3 hours a day...there is no busy work. When there are concepts he has trouble we work on them, if he gets it we go to the next subject. He gets time to concentrate on subjects he enjoys as enrichment. My son at the moment wants to be a zoologist so we are studying the differences in animal anatomy.
That is how we dealt with it and probably drastic for most people. I really feel for your son as I know the pain my son went through in school. However my son is thriving and is less stressed. It is amazing to hear from others the positive effects homeschooling has had on him.
Whatever other advice you receive I hope you find the solution that works best for you son. School is rough!
Shandi
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