There are three classes in Max's grade level and two in the year ahead. The plan, next year, is for one of the current first grade teachers to move ahead with this class to teach second grade. This, obviously, presents a potential issue for me.
I asked Max which teacher he'd like to move, fully expecting him to say The Teacher, as Max has a fierce loyalty towards the important adults in his life. To my shock, his preference was one of the other teachers.
Things for Max seem to be going really well right now. He handled reading exactly like I did - a little slow at first but once he learned the skill he took off with it and now is way past his expected reading level. His writing, the skill we've been fighting with him the most over, is finally nearing legibility. His spelling is quite good, mainly because I'm a demon perfectionist when it comes to spelling (he missed February on his test and I made him spell it daily for two weeks until he had it cold...evil, yes, but poor spelling is a major pet peeve). Science and math continue to be intuitive for him. He's designed a nice experiment for next year's science fair and it will need our summer heat so I'm glad he thought of it early.
Speaking of science, should you have a like-minded child, I would recommend this:
That's the Snap Circuit kit we got him for Christmas and he built a spin art machine with it. LOVE THIS THING.
Julia drew on her nose, like Rudolph.
Socially, Max is doing well, too. For the most part he's always gotten along okay with his classmates, even if he hasn't always understood them. What seems different to me now is that he's talking about one or two in particular. More like best-friend-ish, and that's reasurring to me that he can form those types of tighter bonds. We're still having playdate issues - Max has never gotten an invitation over to someone's house. It's a puzzle, because we get a lot of half-invites that never quite materialize into an actual date. It's frustrating for very-literal Max who hears "Oh, we should have you over next week!" and ends up with his feelings hurt when it never actually happens. For a long time I stopped hosting, on principle, but we had a kid over this past weekend and I was reminded that I actually like having kids over. Max was so happy. And I made Julia play with her dollhouse with me to keep her out of their way (double win!).
When Max said that he hoped the other teacher moves next year it made me think that part of the reason things have settled down now is that he has realized that he was not really the cause of the problem. I'm left with mixed feelings. I'm glad for Max, that he overcame so much this year and has really triumphed. On the other hand, part of me is wrapping him behind my back and snapping, "He's not even seven yet!" He's just a little kid, but he's quite self-aware. I need to remember that.
My pride in Max aside, I've been getting increasingly tense about what exactly is going to happen next year. Let's just say that while I really, really love this school, none of the options next year are looking all that great. And I don't think Max's choice is going to be the teacher moved because of the riots that would start since everybody would want their kid in that classroom. I decided to deal with my stress constructively over the weekend, by tearing apart Julia's room. It helped my mood not at all, but she liked the end result (the during does not bear talking about, but suffice to say there were some...tense...conversations, of particular note one between me and my son when I was trying to move a heavy piece of furniture across the house by myself and he advised me to avoid the large house he had built out of books right in the $#%$@@#%@$ doorway).
It finally occurred to me today, however, to talk to the woman who led Max's IEP last year, either informally, or if necessary to call another formal meeting to discuss next year's placement in light of what happened this year. The school, understandably, doesn't take teacher requests from parents, but damn if I'm not going to use any influence I can find if it prevents a repeat of this year. Squeaky wheel has a plan.
