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<blockquote data-quote="Mikey" data-source="post: 28946" data-attributes="member: 3579"><p><strong>KFld</strong> I hear you on the alternative school thing. Lots of folks tried to talk us out of it. But at the time, difficult child was truant, disrespectul of teachers, never worked in class (when he was awake), and made himself into the favorite disciplinary target of the school administration. It couldn't have gotten much worse.</p><p></p><p>However, he's capabable of so much more. His Algebra II teacher told me a story early last year that really changed my perspective. She was demonstrating some new algebra problem that had 12 or more steps to follow for the solution. difficult child, as usual, was asleep (and stoned) in the back of the class. About halfway through explaining this new problem, difficult child wakes up, raises his hand, and says "Ms. XXXX, if you would just do this....." and proceded to explain how the problem could be solved in three steps instead of 12. He then went back to sleep.</p><p></p><p>His teacher said her jaw literally dropped, because it would take a college-level understanding of Algebra to make that kind of intuitive leap on a completely new subject. Her suggestion was that difficult child was capable of high academic achievement, but wasn't able to learn in "traditional" environments. So she suggested this alternative school. </p><p></p><p>Yes, it's filled with "at-risk" kids, but the structure is more one-on-one, and the schoolwork is the same. And so far, he's gone from a 1.2 GPA to a 3.8 GPA on the same material. And now he's actually talking about graduating, and I'm glad he finally has one positive goal in his life he's willing to work for. No plan for afterwards, but it's a step forward, and I'll take it. </p><p></p><p>And his new teachers use words like "respectful", "works hard", "plays well with others", and "shows leadership to other students". wife and I are thinking "wait, are you sure you're talking about OUR son?" Haven't heard those kinds of comments about him for many a year.</p><p></p><p>I guess most of the other kids there are there for other reasons (discipline, low achievement, etc..), but what they need is what difficult child needs as well. And I can't think that the kids he's around now are any worse than the crew he was hanging with at his old school.</p><p></p><p>Same teacher told me that difficult child was on a "roller coaster", and that the goal wasn't to elimante the down drops, but to try and balance them with the "ups", and eventually to have more "ups" than "downs". It's only been a year, and we're still on the verge of tears every other night, but we haven't given up yet.</p><p></p><p>Small steps seems to be all we can manage. So far, school is better, and that's a start. We're still working on the family part. But every once in a while, difficult child morphs back into a easy child for a short time, so we know he's still in there somewhere. And we keep trying, one day at a time. It's just nice to have a place to go and talk now.</p><p></p><p>Mikey</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mikey, post: 28946, member: 3579"] [b]KFld[/b] I hear you on the alternative school thing. Lots of folks tried to talk us out of it. But at the time, difficult child was truant, disrespectul of teachers, never worked in class (when he was awake), and made himself into the favorite disciplinary target of the school administration. It couldn't have gotten much worse. However, he's capabable of so much more. His Algebra II teacher told me a story early last year that really changed my perspective. She was demonstrating some new algebra problem that had 12 or more steps to follow for the solution. difficult child, as usual, was asleep (and stoned) in the back of the class. About halfway through explaining this new problem, difficult child wakes up, raises his hand, and says "Ms. XXXX, if you would just do this....." and proceded to explain how the problem could be solved in three steps instead of 12. He then went back to sleep. His teacher said her jaw literally dropped, because it would take a college-level understanding of Algebra to make that kind of intuitive leap on a completely new subject. Her suggestion was that difficult child was capable of high academic achievement, but wasn't able to learn in "traditional" environments. So she suggested this alternative school. Yes, it's filled with "at-risk" kids, but the structure is more one-on-one, and the schoolwork is the same. And so far, he's gone from a 1.2 GPA to a 3.8 GPA on the same material. And now he's actually talking about graduating, and I'm glad he finally has one positive goal in his life he's willing to work for. No plan for afterwards, but it's a step forward, and I'll take it. And his new teachers use words like "respectful", "works hard", "plays well with others", and "shows leadership to other students". wife and I are thinking "wait, are you sure you're talking about OUR son?" Haven't heard those kinds of comments about him for many a year. I guess most of the other kids there are there for other reasons (discipline, low achievement, etc..), but what they need is what difficult child needs as well. And I can't think that the kids he's around now are any worse than the crew he was hanging with at his old school. Same teacher told me that difficult child was on a "roller coaster", and that the goal wasn't to elimante the down drops, but to try and balance them with the "ups", and eventually to have more "ups" than "downs". It's only been a year, and we're still on the verge of tears every other night, but we haven't given up yet. Small steps seems to be all we can manage. So far, school is better, and that's a start. We're still working on the family part. But every once in a while, difficult child morphs back into a easy child for a short time, so we know he's still in there somewhere. And we keep trying, one day at a time. It's just nice to have a place to go and talk now. Mikey [/QUOTE]
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