A Change of Direction

Lately, James & I have been leaning towards Jacob attending mainstream Kindergarten and were very excited that he and Grace would, finally, be attending the same school together.

Well, that is not to be.

His present teacher called me for a conference and expressed her concern about Jake attending regular Kindergarten.  She does not think he is ready.  I won't lie.  This deeply saddened me.  Here I had been talking to Grace & Jake about their new school, even taking them there on the weekends to get them familiar with the lay of the land.  And now, it is not to be :(

I really wanted to tell his Teacher that she was wrong.  That he was ready.  But in my gut, I know that she is right.  He is not ready.

Academically, he is perfect!  He is scoring above his grade, but socially, he is behind.  Not far, but still behind.  In Kindergarten, it is required that you do as you are told.  If you are told to sit down and do your work, that is what you should be doing and the Teacher should not have to be reminding you of this task.  This is where the issue lies.  He is probably hitting this command at about 50%.  We still see this behavior at home, which makes it easier to accept her recommendation.

His current Teacher, Ms. C., wanted me to go and tour the school they are recommending.  It is what they call an 'SDC' (special day class).  Where there is a Teacher and four Aides to 10 kids vs, 1 Teacher and 1 Aide to 25 kids.  The individualized attention is so much more and will benefit him greatly.  The plan is to have him in this class, but during part of the day he will be mainstreamed into the general Kindergarten class so that he can see what is expected of him and be ready to rock 'n roll when the time comes!  The goal is that by the time 1st grade rolls around, he will be ready to attend 1st grade in a general session.

So this morning, I met the school Psychologist at the new school and was more than pleasantly surprised at the class.  The Teacher, Ms. K., is a woman that has the most calm way about her.  I was there for a good 35mins and she had those kids listening and participating without raising her voice in the slightest!!  Heck..I need parenting classes from her!  She had them saying the Pledge of Allegiance, counting the days that had past of the school year in ten's, she even had them doing yoga!  So cute to see the little ones in the doggie down pose ;)

Now, my heart and soul feel great about him being at this school.  I know that he will succeed and soar!  I have no doubts in my Bubbi!

I attached some pics....well just because he is so stinkin' cute!  He was showing off his Mohawk :)