School Triage....

Anyone with more than one child will attest to how you sort of auto-prioritize them at any given time according to who needs the most help/attention/whatever.... it changes yearly... monthly... weekly... sometimes even daily. LOL. Always reassessing....

Until, two days ago, the current triage order in our house was:
S - 2nd grade
J-   Pre-K 4
B - 5th grade

B spent most of last year cruising through 4th grade. We had virtually no hiccups... I didn't have any conferences with teachers that were outside of the regularly schedule fall conference. We had one team meeting where the teachers spent the entire half hour telling me how well he was doing.  (every parent should be the recipient of this wonderful gift at least once in their child's school career... it was so uplifting to hear all this after our initial team the year prior....)

J, was having his morning freakouts and occasional behavior issues at preschool....and definitely some worrisome issues I had to stay on top of with regard to relating to other children.

S, on the other hand, while steadily progressing, but still very much playing catch-up in first grade and needed constant vigilance with homework and conferences and strategizing with his teacher....

So that's where we started the school year....

I had an early conference with S's second grade teacher and she was having no issues with his work! I have checked in a couple more times via email and all is just cruising along really well. The work coming home is AMAZING to see given where he started last year. He brought home a writing assignment just yesterday that was so well done, I emailed the teacher to ask how much help he had. When she told me virtually none, I almost cried. He has turned a corner. He is actually LOVING school this year and motivated to do great work. It's wonderful to see the transformation that has come with more confidence. His favorite thing to say these days when he starts his homework is, "This is WAY too easy. I need harder work." This is not actually true... his work is perfectly appropriate for him right now.... but it's a testament to how far he has come... that he feels good enough about himself and his abilities to say this!

J is having such a good year I still can't even believe it. He skips into his classroom every day after giving me a huge hug and kiss. He loves his class and his teacher and going to school!  He's participating and enjoying the activities. We still have some issues with him not really playing WITH other children, but we're working on that.... but we're past the REALLY hard stuff, I think, so things are great for him right now.

B.... I thought all was going so well. Then he lost his binder. Then he lost his spelling homework. Then he had a breakdown about how bad he was feeling about himself and his inability to organize and stay on top of things. He's also got some serious anxiety going on about middle school and some upcoming fifth grade things like the Patriot Project and ballroom dancing. After virtually no contact with his teachers this year, I finally broke down and emailed them as a group. I want him to be becoming more independent in preparation for middle school... but he STILL needs some supports to get there. One teacher of the four wrote me back and is going to help him get his things together.... it's hard to convince teachers your child needs help when they are doing reasonably well academically... but I've been watching his homework grades drop on the new online grade book (not sure if it's a good or bad thing that I have access to this) and it's worrisome. Plus, he's SO upset.  Hoping to get him back on track with some tools and some simplification of his school organization. I don't think it's huge... just a hiccup. He lost some of his confidence though and we need to work on building him back up a little.... so just like that, he rocketed to the top of the list.

Anyway, so that's where we are. Who knows who will move to the top of the list next. It usually happens unexpectedly... LOL. I feel like what I've learned is that you can never let your guard down and assume if everything is okay, that it will stay okay.... you have to stay prepared to advocate for your child and get them what they need. NO ONE else knows your child like you do and no one is going to step up and do it for you... not their pediatrician... not their teachers... no matter how good or well-intentioned... it's up to you to make sure they get what they need, tell others what they need, or, if they are old enough, help THEM recognize and verbalize to others what they need.   :o)