Ritalin does not fix anything.

So I've been really lazy about posting anything for most of this week. I think I'm just at that point in the school year where the crushing reality of actually having to teach a group of students for the next 8 months is starting to settle in, without the benefit of having been paid yet. That's something most people don't realize about teachers. Sure, we get cushy work hours, never have to ask of weekends or holidays, and have the entire summer (cough... not really) free, but when I went back to work on August 10th it was full knowledge that my first pay check was not coming until Sept. 15th. I challenge you to work 8-10 hour days for a month without getting paid. It sucks.

Anyway, not to be negative, but it's just been a really icky week. Not particularly bad, but just a long stream of hassles to be dealt with, without too many rewards. Andrei is really struggling with reading. Ironic, considering I taught myself how to read when I was 4 and was into 100 page chapter books by the time I was his age. I just don't know what to do with the kid. We spent like an hour today trying to get him to memorize some sight words. I think we're both exhausted from it, but he can now read most of "Hop on Pop" without assistance, so there is some progress.

Hopefully this will get his teachers off of our backs a little this next week. His school is freaking out about this weirdo kid who wandered into their tidy little programs this year from a Montessori background. Unfortunately, most public school teachers don't even know what the heck a Montessori is, and have no concept of alternative school systems. We warned both his teachers at back to school night that he is coming from 3 years at a Montessori, and would have serious problems staying seated, quiet, or focusing long-term on tasks he doesn't like... We mentioned he only knows phonics and not sight words and therefore is a SLOW reader at best, and that he's never studied writing at all...yet when he started doing all of those things in class (wandering, engaging in conversation, misspelling his own name etc.) they freaked and are like testing him for ADHD, Special Ed., learning disorders, etc. I keep telling them he's not retarded, he's just not used to school, but they don't listen to me. I mean, what the hell would I know about education, or Andrei as a person in general?

Anyway, we're meeting with his teachers AGAIN this week to try and sort it all out and get him on a tracking system of some sort so that we can hopefully get him turned around before he gets turned into the stupid hyperactive retard that they're treating him like. I mean for crying out loud, the kid is SIX! I have had 13 year olds who read as poorly as he does, and felt like that was a serious issue that should be dealt with immediately. But six? Really? He's only been at their school for like 4 weeks. Is it really that big of a deal?

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just really love my kid and hate how the public school system slaps the ADHD label on any kid who displays a little bit of non-conformity and then pressures the parents to drug the kid up to get them to stay quiet in class. Most of the adults that I know who were labeled ADD or ADHD as kids had serious consequences resulting from it with self-esteem, sustained effort, and a host of other things. The ones I know who were medicated from it suffered even worse. On the other hand, most of the ADD/ADHD adults I know who were never diagnosed or treated until their adult years suffer no long-term ramifications from the disorder. It's not that I oppose legitimate medical treatments for ADD, I just oppose medicating problem students to force conformity in the classroom when there are other non-medical options that produce lasting authentic results.

So, the message for the day is for teachers and parents: If you have a 6 year old who can't read well, try actually teaching them to read before placing them on behavior altering medication and shoving them into 3 hours of special ed classes before and after school. It just might work.

On a side note, I taught Andrei how to play checkers last week, and he's kicking my butt. The tally is 4 games to 2. I actually tried to beat him half the time, and he still won. Yeah. He's a real slow learner...