I still do. But before I could start asking some really good questions, I needed to learn to speak better. NOT because something was wrong with me. Rather, I needed it to get the thing I craved: knowledge.

So, if someone offers ways to help your child with a “speach impediment”, take it. Then ask for more. Once you’ve gotten as much as you can from them, go home and give some of it a try.

If something doesn’t work, toss it out. But, if you find something that does help … you’ve provided something pretty special for your kid.

For me, learning to communicate more effectively definitely affected my ability to get more of what I so much wanted. I went from just being annoying to my teachers, to completely upending their lesson plans for the day. 😉

It’s funny that you mention your SAT scores. I didn’t actually take the SAT until I was taking one as a prerequisite to tutor others in learning how to pass the SAT. By that time, I was a college professor, with two years under my belt.

And I failed the essay portion. I teach how to write essays FOR A LIVING. This is my CAREER. And I FAILED. Wanna know why?

I didn’t follow the “format.” Apparently I can write as horribly as I want, but if I follow the format, I have a passing grade.

This is why I hate standards.

This is also why I teach essays where we write about TV shows like Top Gear and movies like Frozen and play video games in class to practice evaluation. This is why I integrate fun critical thinking and creative writing skills in my classes and try to meet individual student needs.

This is why I have dozens of students that enter my class hating writing and English and leave it saying they LOVE it and can’t wait for the next level.

This is why I love the line you put up there. Let teachers be teachers. Let us teach. Everyone will benefit from it.

Thanks, Karen. This is a blog from May. You are correct. They had ZERO interest in helping Spawn. We agreed to put him in Montessori over the summer to help him with his final year of PRE-SCHOOL. They ambushed us at the end of the school year, then held it against us that we didn’t contact the ISD for help. Um, it was CLOSED? I went to pick him up his last day after they were telling me how much they loved him and how much he was improving…and handed me my deposit for the next year back and a letter basically firing him from preschool.

We now unschool.

My son was in first grade when this went down. Not being the cooperative type, I homeschooled for a year (2nd grade), ferreted out the problems (an inability to learn via the ‘sight word’ approach, some serious eye issues, gluten issues, speech issues, and an extreme and quirky intelligence). I sent him back for third grade already a 1/2 year ahead of his peers. A little work on social skills and now, at age 10 and in 5th grade, he’s “a pleasure” and “doing nothing the other boys aren’t up to”.

I guess my overall advice is to move very, very slowly on their suggestions. Listen and observe for a while. Sometimes the kids do need the help offered, but so, so many times too much intervention at such a young age is just not necessary.

I was lazy through school, once I learned that I could still get As and Bs with minimal effort, i coasted. I did well in biology, loved chemistry, understood but was bored in math, and enjoyed english, I dreaded history (mostly american history and don’t you dare ask me to do a research paper, never could give the teachers what they wanted). I also never managed to get passed my first semester of college, yup again because I was bored and thought the ‘work’ was pointless.

I will try again soon, now that I understand myself and learning style better.

I think I love you….*sniff*