Something's going on with Domino. His teacher pulled me aside again yesterday (this is the 3rd time since the winter break) to discuss some classroom observations and wanted my take on the situation.
1st grade is tough for him. The curriculum is still far too easy for his abilities, but the teacher is forcing him beyond and he's breaking down. We're discovering that Domino doesn't know "how to learn".
Most kids you teach "how to learn". They go through steps, they learn through a process, information is learned in pieces and that information gathering and sorting sets up a problem solving process they will use repeatedly to learn more things down the road in life. Domino has never really had that process. He somehow magically learned to read early in life but we never taught him. We never sat down and said "sound this word out". He just shocked us by reading a book to us when he was 3 - a book we had never read to him before - and has continued to do so. Math has come just as easy, noticing patterns in numbers, and with an ability to recognize 4+ digit numbers during his first year of preschool. Kindergarten was a breeze and I knew that his growth would be social and not academic, and that was certainly what he needed at that time.
Here we are struggling academically in first grade. He isn't struggling with the 1st grade curriculum, but the special projects his teacher has designed for him because of his advanced academic level. The projects aren't really anything out of the ordinary, but they do require him to plan, research, take notes, determine the best way to present his findings to his class and then give an oral report. This is torture for the boy who just wants to zip through a pile of dittos and go play with his dog. And it's rough on me because I'm struggling "teaching him how to learn". He can't seem to grasp the idea that his project won't be completed in 10 minutes - but in 10 days.
Day one of the project research usually goes ok, there's still an excitement level and an interest in the topic (he gets to pick what "he wants to be an expert on") and it's fun to talk about different ideas. But the nitty gritty of the project, the research, the taking notes, the transferring the notes into a more formal writing, the "creative" part creating posters or other visual aides - it's all hell all the time. We fight, he screams and cries, I yell - it's awful. The process continues for days and days while "he" works on the project. And I end up pretty much spoon feeding him what he needs to write and do, completely defeating the entire process.
The good news is, the teacher is not letting him (or me) off the hook and we're going to continue to work on this skill with him. We have to engage that part of his brain and personality to shift and grow. That's the goal anyway...
On a much happier note, the boys had a great night last night. Rascal's school had a fundraising "night out" and he and Domino had a blast. They both used to go to this school together a few years ago and it was so wonderful to see them dive in and and play together again. Domino was totally comfortable there and Rascal thrilled in showing him all the new stuff that has come to the school since Domino's time there. Mz. Lori commented that they boys were glued to each other all night - not out of insecurity but through excitement and wanting to share all of their wonderful discoveries with the other.
Mz. Lori raved about Domino, said how enthusiastic and postive he still is. She said his imagination was thrilling and it was wonderful for me to remember even though he's struggling a bit with his new challenges - he's still my little Domino who used to ride the fire truck bicycle for hours at a time, launch ping pong ball catapults yelling "kaboom!" and just "played to learn".
We haven't done too much this week, trying to keep the $ in check, but yesterday was a bit of a splurge and we took the kids miniature golfing. They had never been before and it was a gorgeous day for an afternoon outdoors.
