I am risking a security breach here on the home front by posting the following poem… However, it was left on the monitor here at home (minimized), as part of our son’s instant message thing for “while he’s away”…
“Unstopable power bottled up
Yearning to be released
Explossive energy
Tainted with Humility
Electricity flowing through every step
Intensity and overwhelming emotion
Scorching through all opposition
Breathing fire out of every breath
100 percent is what i bring
I’ve tasted defeat
I’ve struggled with dispair
Climbing up from the depths of hell
Rising above my suppressors
I’m finally there
Pure domination
Intimidation
I do it all with a smile
Finally im at the top of my game
So try and hold me back…
Me”
(and then he posts a smile face with a HUGE smile with teeth, and then his IM address)
Mostly, I posted this cause I thought it would offer a couple of you hope, I don’t really know. Possibly, I simply like the adrenalin rush of the risk of being caught evesdropping(?). It isn’t really though, I didn’t have to dig for it (ha ha), it was/is left on the screen, minimized though it may have been. Oh, the trials and traumas of parenthood ;) I can sleep at night still, don’t worry, I paid for the system… at least that’s what I tell myself!
Who knows how much of this is teenage angst, or related to childhood and growing up? Can’t say that I know, can’t ask either under these conditions; however, irony of it all is he really likes to write poetry and stuff and we never would have guessed it during the turbulent years of grade school. So much pain with writing, teachers, and the whole nightmarish mess.
Just food for thought.
Andy
Re: thanks
Patti,
Glad to hear it. Life AFTER g.r.r. & assoc. is nice. Although, certain statements made and other comments can still bring back pain to scars and memories of battles gone by. Every once in a while, the timing will be appropriate to bring up one of the statements he made during the hearings, and it’s really weird, after saying just a couple words that he so “eloquently” used, it still stings. Not as bad, but the psycho-emotional damage was done. The sick part of it, is we can laugh at it now, years later, and then move on. I suppose it’s kind of like challenging sea sickness just to see if you won’t puke…?
Truly, glad to hear all is going well.
Andy
Re: Thanks too
Andy,
Just took my third grade son to school and heard all the way about how much he hates school. He wants me to homeschool him (we are doing PACE for an hour in the morning which he dislikes so he must really hate school). I handpicked his teacher (after last year they were very receptive) and I know she goes out of her way to help him. I think third grade is a big jump and he just isn’t up to it yet. Made me wonder about the wisdom of inclusion. If you aren’t reading and writing up to grade level, how can you keep up in your other subjects.
Anyway, your post gives me hope. I know your son struggled and he, in the end, has risen above it. No parent can ever hope for more for their child.
Thanks for staying on this board.
Beth
Re: Inclusion?
Sometimes I feel inclusion is some way don’t help. But then I think if he was stuck in a special ed class all day. Would this, work on his self-esteem? Would he think he will never be able to do anything with is life? Because he always in special ed.
I don’t know the solution. I hope one day we will know. Inclusion vs sp/ed full time. What is the solution? Maybe a whole special school? How about the way the world looks at our children? The way the world looks at difference in general?
Re: no problema
Beth, as with most things, all people are different. We had such a rough time when our son was in 3rd grade with his resource teacher. He used to fight and cry about getting pulled out. She used to use resource room as a threat if he “didn’t form the letters properly”… It made things really difficult, as we knew he needed the extra help. Math computations were being done upside down and backwards. If you did it his way, he was correct. Too bad the rest of the world didn’t see things like that.
I suppose inclusion is going to be as successful or not as it depends both on your son, and his teacher(s). If he is receptive and they are able to pay attention and not leave him languishing without assistance, that will probably make all the difference. 3rd grade seems to be an age where kids start to really measure themselves against their peers, and when they are pulled out, or aren’t, they still compare things like work product, handwriting, and all other manners in which comparisons can be made. That’s the human animal, I suppose.
So, I’d give it a go, and encourage good behavior, positive attitude, and keep an ever vigilant eye on how things go. Without going ballistic, if things start to go south, then consider the homeschool deal. Make sure you stay on top of things, which I’m sure you will, and then it won’t slip too far.
Best of luck,
Andy
ps/ glad to post here, glad the bb’s here, still have many demons to exorcise :)
Re: Inclusion?
Inclusion came along because of children “being stuck” in special education. But, in some ways, the whole thing doesn’t seem to make sense to me, at least as they move up in school gradewise. My son was in an inclusion K and it was wonderful. Now he has pull out programs (different school) but in grade 3 reading and writing start to be an integral part of other subjects. How can a child who has deficiencies keep up?
Re: no problema
I think 3rd grade is just tougher. My son has made great progress but of course the world hasn’t stood still. I handpicked his teacher and the resource teacher we had so much trouble with is gone. Hooray!!! The new one seems to know a lot of useful programs and was interested in programs that I knew about that she didn’t e.g., Math Facts the Fun Way. I am hopeful that we can work together this year. He probably needs some accomodations to get through science and social studies this year. He has a test tomorrow in science and I am going to see how it goes and then address the issue. I did have the teacher send the book home with him so he could preread the material. He seemed to know it last night but wanted nothing to do with answering the questions in the book. My husband insisted and he did a rather messy job of the whole thing, which is OK. At least he did it. Handwriting is not his strong suit.
Hey Andy!!
Isn’t it great? Your kid is turning out fantastic…and the way you put the words together, the analogies the emotion and visualization…it makes me want to paint…:-)
ps..the fights with Snidley were worth it…we are winning in the long run….