We are near the end of the school year, the second school year in which we have had many disruptions and little or no routine. The second year in which sometimes just getting from one day of home schooling to the next has been an incredible challenge. The second year in which juggling everything became a full time, round the clock job. The second year in which the kids have played a blinder in terms of how well they can adapt and manage to get through school work without actual school.

The year which put things in persepctive, even more than the previous one did.

As I write, I am aware that having children old enough to read and write but young enough not to have state exams looming has been a relative luxury.  I am aware that having a job in which remote work has been possible has been a luxury too.  Perhaps because of that luxury and priviledge, I can put previous worries into perspective now.

The post below was written in 2018. At the time, it was wishful thinking. I didn’t think that this day would come so soon, the day I can read it and shake my head and smile at how ernest everything seemed.

Years from now I hope I’ll look back at days like today and laugh at how seriously I took things. There’s red 5 staring at me from the page where I have to sign to prove I have seen the result of my son’s test. A no. 5  grade is equivalent to a fail.

This was the last test before the mid-year report cards are issued. The mid-year report cards are used to decided on the type of secondary school the child is suited to.

The child is nine.

Nine.

Not even ten.

But bright.

He could add at the age of three. He can do fractions and percentages. He understands concepts they haven’t covered at school yet. He can play Scrabble against adults in both German and English and comes damn close to winning. He can read big, fat books with no pictures. in German and in English.

What he struggles with is concentrating on things that don’t interest him. We are coming up on three years of weekly OT sessions for concentration. Three years. We got to OT like other familes drive the kids to their hobbies.

Does the teacher care? Does she try to encourage him? Does she acknowledge that he has strengths beyond what it on this month’s learning plan? No.

She fails him. Literally.