So! It's been busy in our house. We had Owens parent-teacher interview at the end of October and his teacher doesn't think he should stay in early french immersion. Owen currently goes to school from 1230-1500 and is only spoken to in French. The english gets weaned in so that by grade 6/7 it's 50% french/50% english.
Owens current teacher is now the third teacher to tell us that this may not be the ideal program for him. When they told us last year that he was "too easily distracted" for the program, I figured he was too young for them to be excluding him from trying. We decided to give it a go. A lot can change in a summer....
The thing is...I think he's feeling the pressure now. He's now behind in his english stuff, and he's not getting any play time because he doesn't always understand whats being asked of him and therefor tends to be the last one done his work. For those of you who don't know Owen, he's a bright boy with an extensive vocabulary who has an INSANELY inquisitive mind. He's the last of my boys I though would be having any difficulties at school.
After our October interview, we thought we'd start doing homework every night and get him a tutor. I changed my mind pretty quickly. Owen is 5. He's a baby! He shouldn't be stressing about school and work and feeling inadequate because he's not "keeping up" with his classmates. He's 5!!! He should be excited to go to school, and see his friends, and learn, and PLAY!
After much deliberation, we have decided to switch him to St. Elizabeth's. We were originally nervous about this school as it is considered an "inner city" school. We met with the principal (who is fabulous by the way) and she absolutely put our fears to rest.
As of January, Owen will be in the full day program there. It's primarily english, but he'll still have 1/4 of the day in French. They have middle immersion at this school as well, so if we're still there when he goes into grade 4, he won't have to change schools. I also no longer have to worry about getting him prepared for his sacraments through our church as it will be done at school. Yay! The whole thing is just too perfect!
It's taken a while, and we're sad to leave his current school, but I think we've come to terms with the decision. Even Owen is excited after he heard about the Smart screens that are in every classroom. He asked me this week if he could switch schools NOW!
As usual...I've spent a countless amount of time and energy worrying about something that, in the end, I'm the only one stressing about it. It's making decisions that affect my kids future that I find to be the toughest part of being a mom.
I'll write again soon!
Tara
No comments:
Post a Comment