I just spent the last hour and a half teaching the basics of long division, again. In that time, we did five fourth-grade division problems. And once again, I ended up hauling out the penny jar, counting out 47 or 65 or 128 pennies and helping Henry divide them into camp tents, soup pots, and ounces of milk, trying (again) to demonstrate the concept of dividing one thing into another.
I realize my boy has some kind of learning obstacle when it comes to math, or actually, arithmetic. He will appear to grasp a concept, then the next night seem to have never encountered it before. I know that his teacher (who I think is great and deserves a hero award) has to deal with this daily, times 27 kids take away 2 remainder 4 carry the 1 and subtract the divisor. His school has pulled together a "care team" meeting for him at least four times so far, consisting of the principal, his teacher, the special ed teacher, the counselor, the school evaluator, the school nurse, the janitor and me to discuss how he's doing and where to go next. I'm very impressed and grateful that our public school system is so thorough and is not letting kids fall between the cracks. But honestly, it's not helping.
The meetings are good, honest and efficient. The thrust, however, is that the school would rather not approve him for an IEP (individual education plan), which would trigger evaluations, tests, paperwork, follow-up meetings, accommodations, monitoring, and all kinds of state and local red tape that they would have to deal with. I realize they're overworked and overwhelmed with kids needing help. But, none of that matters when I have to explain the basic concepts of division at 7 pm on a school night while needing to do laundry, dishes, pet care, baths, cleaning, paying bills (and, of course, blogging!).
At one point tonight, after counting out 128 pennies and then putting eight of them into one of 16 cups, the thought crossed my mind that what the hell am I paying my taxes for, if I have to end up teaching school every evening. Now remember, I'm a knee-jerk, bleeding heart liberal, and I believe in taxing the citizenry for the common good and that the government is best equipped to manage our public resources. But, damn it, it's not working for us. And I'm in a very well-managed and well-funded school system.
What about the families who can't spend the evening re-teaching the basics? If they have another job, other kids, a sick parent, addictions, food "insecurity," no home or just no ability? How the hell do we expect our kids to learn enough to divide a gallon of milk into 16 cups?
Well, I certainly don't have a solution. I'm just realizing the problem. Henry's starting to hate school, feel like a failure, and turning negative. It will take all the effort the school can provide us to keep him positive and motivated, and I welcome the help. We can't afford a private tutor, so they're all I've got. I just pray it's enough.
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