We had another rough morning today. Jonas was extra upset this morning (actually, it started at bedtime last night) because today everyone is his class gets a reward completing the oral reports they've been working on all month. He is nowhere near finishing his so no reward for him. He also thinks he's going to be the only who's left out.
So why didn't he finish his oral report? Simply put, because he doesn't think he can. On Monday night at tutoring he got exactly zero done on it. When his teacher asked him what was wrong he put his head on his desk, started crying and said "I can't do it." The same thing happened again last night. Organizing his thoughts and getting them out of his mouth or onto paper coherantly is hard for him. When he sees the work the other kids are producing he can't help but compare himself and it makes him feel defeated. In his words, "It's torture."
He doesn't understand that everyone learns at their own pace. He doesn't see the progress he's made. He only sees the gap between him and his classmates. He knows that they see it to. When I took him to school yesterday, he didn't even want me to look at the classroom display of work. "Mine's just terrible, mom" he said. It broke my heart.
Being married to a high school drop out, it worries me tremendously that Jonas might be on that same path. Steve's concerned about it too. He, more than anyone, can relate to how Jonas is feeling right now. Grade Three seems like it should be way young to think about things like that but we're not so sure.
Our hopes are high that our meeting with the school team next week will help us identify some new strategies to remove roadblocks and rebuild his confidence. Wish us luck!
Cheers!
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