If they had time to see....

Here's my beautiful son.  The light of my life, the reason I get up in the morning.  This guy will be turning 11 in just a couple weeks.  ELEVEN!  How did this happen!? 

He is such a blessing.  Hubby and I had been married 5 years before he was born.  It took us over a year to conceive him and had just about given up when we found out that we were expecting.  We always said that if we had trouble getting pregnant that we wouldn't do a bunch of medical procedures to make it happen, so I was thrilled beyond belief when I finally got pregnant.  I kinda always knew that I would only get one shot at this because we haven't gotten pregnant again.  So, yes, he is a huge blessing. 

That's why I'm a little saddened by our recent parent teacher conference.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I really like his teacher.  She is a ball of energy and she expects him to do well.  She pushes her students to excel.  He is having the best year he has ever had in public school.  But, he needs help.  He's behind in his math facts.  His spelling isn't great.  According to her his comprehension in reading isn't great either.  His social skills apparently need some attention as well.  She even asked if he had ADD. 

What bothers me is that she has made 2 assumptions that aren't true.  He's behind because a) he was homeschooled for second grade and b) he's an only child.  OR he must have ADD.

She assumes that he stays to himself and is shy because he's an only child.  No, it's because he was bullied to the point that he stays away from people until they prove that they are safe to be around.  She also assumes that because he is behind in his math facts and all other problems that homeschooling him is to blame.  NO!  He did great homeschooling and got the attention he needed to really understand something.... and he hung out with great kids....

I was just so frustrated because she just assumes...... she doesn't have the time to get to know him.  She has just put him in a category and there's very little that we can do to get him out. 

I'm not angry with his teacher or the school.  I'm mad at the system that makes her work with so many kids that she can only go on her own assumptions - quickly assessing the situation so that she can quickly place him and his problems in a box.

Here's to another year.......