LDExperience

The school year had come to an end once more. Our oldest son had successfully completed Grade 4, his first year at the new school. Gradually, inexorably, in that year, he had begun to regain self esteem. His confidence had grown – as had his belief that he could learn and succeed. He began to [...]

When I first started writing this blog about our family’s journey, the words flew from my fingers and onto the screen in an effortless manner. Once I started writing, I experienced a flood of memories about the many events and people that shaped the first nine years of our son’s life. As you may be [...]

Christmas was upon us. It was the first one since my sister had died. With the New Year approaching, the consensus was that the year had been both horrific and wonderful. My sister, a young woman, had succumbed to cancer. But, our oldest son’s learning needs had been recognized and he was now enrolled in [...]

We all settled into the new reality of our life…our youngest son was thriving in Grade 2 and our oldest son loved his new school. We took a few minutes to catch our breath. It is funny that I have a vivid memory of events affecting our son in the time before he was accepted [...]

In the summer months after Grade 3 and before our son entered his new school, my husband, in a frustrated moment, decided to cut our cable TV service. A representative of the cable company was going up and down our street to let us all know that somehow, the company had not charged us for a particular tier of channels. Essentially we were getting channels for free that none of us watched anyway and now our bills would be adjusted. It was a wonderful spring Saturday, and my husband was somewhat frustrated with our children’s lack of enthusiasm for being outside enjoying the Alberta sunshine. He inquired of the cable representative if there would be any difficulties in quickly reinstating cable if we cut it off that morning. Learning it could be reinstalled in a heart beat and after a quick check with me, cable service was discontinued!

The differences in the new school were evident just by looking at the Grade 4 supply list! But, I am getting ahead of myself! We were joyful when we learned our son would be getting support at the specialized school for students with learning disabilities within Edmonton Public Schools. By this time, we were getting [...]

The testing took place over several weeks. Our son actually enjoyed the process. He indicated that it was nice to speak to adults who seemed to understand how he thought. He said that they gave him advice about how to do his school work.

Grade 2 was over and the summer months were once again upon us. Without really planning it, our family seemed to settle into a routine defined by our son’s educational needs. He attended school from September to June, and in July and August we focused our efforts on helping him catch up so that he would not be as far behind when school started again in September.

It was certainly an eventful summer. My husband and I were both happy when September rolled around. We were proud our son was returning to school able to read. Our son was excited about his newfound reading ability and was looking forward to grade 2! His teacher would be the same as grade 1, and he would remain in a Grade 1-2-3 split class in the program of choice that was focused on project based learning. (New readers may want to refer to the Blog, “On the Move: A New School and a New Outlook,” for more information.) His teacher let our son knew how proud she was of him for his work over the summer.

In the course of our formal education, we spend more time in elementary school than in any other educational environment. At the tender age of 4 or 5, children begin kindergarten. In June of grade 6, most students are 12 years old and poised to begin two new concurrent journeys — junior high school and puberty. During this 7 year period, the transition is amazing.