The Time is Right

I am so freaking excited.

First off, I am extremely frustrated with Bubba's school in general. Besides that, as he gets older, it is clearer than ever their "special education" focus is more on "good behavior" (compliance along with quietly sitting still) and less on what the heck he is actually learning.

He is in third grade and struggling in all academic areas. Telling time is one skill that he has not mastered, and it is no longer being addressed in the classroom. The students are, however, supposed to be using a planner. Of course Bubba has no interest in the planner, because it means nothing to him except copying text from a screen. But early in the year we had to work on his behavior to "comply" with filling out the planner...

So anyhow, that doesn't sound exciting...so why am I giddy? Because over cycle break, with no stress from school, we learned things in a different way. We talked about time, made clocks, played with clocks, watched videos on time, sang songs about time, and did a few worksheets on time for visuals of counting by 5s when looking at a clock face (think how confusing that is to a kid when the numbers say 1-2-3-4-etc.).

Today (he is back to school this week), a "telling-time" song came on PBS, and Bubba got excited. Mom! Telling time! Telling time! He then correctly told the time when the song indicated to do so. He then looked at the clock on our wall and asked What time is it? I said, Well, the little hand is right after the 3... and Bubba exclaimed...WAIT! I can do this! He then counted by 5s and said It's 3:25! It's 3:25!

What was really cool was how excited he was to be learning something, that he wanted to try it himself, that he didn't get frustrated, and that he was successful and confident. What is really sad is that's exactly what is missing from his general school experience.