OMG I HATE POWS

I am SO not sure this whole GT math was a good idea. Brad and I discussed and debated it FOREVER. Sure, Teddy is super good in math - his parents are a CPA and an Electrical Engineer, this is not a surprise. But he is also high strung and emotional. He gets frustrated easily, he thinks he's the worst at everything he doesn't immediately get.

When he was, I don't know, 4ish and he wanted to dribble a basketball like the older kids could. He picked up a ball for the first time and dropped it and... oddly.. wasn't able to immediately dribble it. Well this was the end of the world for him. He was the worst kid ever. He was NEEEVVVEEERRR going to be able to dribble a ball or God forbid actually play basketball, he might as well just sit in his room for the rest of his life. It took a lot of persuading to get him to even touch a friggin ball again. The same thing happened when he first sat on a swing and couldn't propel himself instantly. Just about every new thing he wasn't immediately expert in, was a traumatic ordeal in his life until he did master it.

That said, in school he's yet to be challenged in any subject. Not once. We live in one of the top school districts in the country. His elementary school is one of the top 2 or 3 in the district. Even in this current housing market, houses don't stay on the market at all because people so want to be in this school district. I point that out to say that this is a school where they don't teach to the middle. In kindergarten they have 4 or 5 different reading groups per class of 20; completely based on ability and kids are moved around to different teachers if their level isn't in their class. I call it the La La school because it's so not like real life, so not like any school I've seen before, but still he's not been challenged and at some point one would think he would be. I'm not sure I was until one class in high school, but we live in a totally different school district than where I went to school.

But I don't think Howard County does the GT math program well at all. Instead of teaching gifted students differently which is apparently the original point of it. That some students learn differently so they will teach them differently. In our county GT just means 2 grade levels up and lots and lots of work. (I will say they do the non math GT programs very well.)

So our dilemma with GT math was this. On the one hand we have Teddy who struggles with new things and struggles with things that he doesn't get on the first try; struggles in a very emotional way. But on the other hand, he's yet to be challenged in school and this is his last year of elementary school. His middle school isn't nearly as good and caring as his elementary school is or as his high school will be. It's still a Howard County school, but really not in the same league as the other 2 schools he'll attend. Do we risk how hard it might be for him, since the expectations are much higher. He won't be allowed to do it all in his head anymore, there will be A LOT more homework, it's a new system, etc.. OR Do we push him now because I'd rather him be pushed and even fail now in 5th grade when it doesn't really matter, then get slammed at some other point when it does. We decided to push him now and see what happens. We can always pull him out.

OK, so now we get to the POWs (Problems Of the Week). Each week there is a problem that requires some extra thought and effort to solve. And the answer is to be given in 2 parts. One part is the work, how it was actually solved and the other part is the worksheet where the student describes their thought process as to why they chose the method they did. For the worksheet part there is a very specific structure and very specific language that is expected. Mind you at this point, a month and 2 POWs in, I don't know what the language is, but that's a different issue, or maybe it's the same. So for the first POW Teddy had he immediately created a diagram that helped him solve the problem and he got the right answer in maybe 2 minutes.... Great... uh no. So me, stupid parent, who doesn't want to push my delicate son, thinks, great he has the answer (I checked to make sure it was correct), he can do the worksheet tomorrow. Ultimately he did the sheet. His handwriting was lousy, but he answered the questions in the fewest number of words which has always been his style.... He got a D.

This was crushing to him. The teacher told him and the others that got a D that they could do it over. She wrote comments. She has a reputation as an exceptional teacher, though she's still very new to us. I talked him down from the ledge... you're new to this... we'll learn from this... we'll try to do a bit better next time... let's see if we can address her comments... But he's still really hung up on the D.... Good God. What have I done.

OMG, these last 2 nights as Brad has been away and we've had soccer and piano respectively were when we had to put the finishing touches on not 1 but 2 POWs one each night. I will say the fact that we survived is proof possitive I should win a parenting award - NOT. I am very proud of the fact that all the windows and mirrors in the house remain in tact, as does (much more importantly) Teddy's mental health. Although when he gets his grades back on these, I'm not sure it still will be. OMG.

This has created a new house rule; POWs will be done on Sundays, no exceptions. And wow. I just don't know if I'll survive this.