Okay...so this is a lot more common. But my son has become so bitter about school. Thing is is he's very smart. He gets 100's on all of his spelling and math tests and his reading level is so far ahead of everyone else's that he has his very own reading group. He's bored out of his mind in school and gets into trouble and the other day told another kid that he hated his teacher and the other kid promptly told the teacher and he got in trouble for that. They have awards assemblies every month and the only award he has gotten this year was for 100's on his spelling tests, but I had to call the school and ask them to give him an award for something because he's become so negative watching his friends get awards for things that are way beneath his academic level that he comes home saying, "Why should I try? I never get any awards." If I ask him to read with me, he doesn't want to and he used to love reading and learning. Now he's become totally bitter about learning and school.
They told me at school that he needs to work on his social skills, but all through the winter, they had ZERO recess time. I asked, "So, when is he supposed to work on these social skills? In lunch? They have assigned seating and are expressly told they are not allowed to talk during lunch." The principal sites that they are not allowed to talk because they don't want anyone choking. Seriously. They have a huge snow pile behind the school that they use for recess during wintertime and the only went out on the snow pile once this year....when they had a substitute. So, then they send him to the bathroom with a friend and he gets in trouble for playing with the hand dryers and playing in the bathroom. I said, "So, finally he got to have some social time and have some fun!" Its like boot camp, not first grade.
Again, any suggestions on how I can get my son to love learning again? Summer's here and I can work with him at home, but I have huge obstacles to overcome. The scuttle around town is that his teacher has an alcohol problem which is why she never likes to go outside or have recess and is short tempered....especially on Mondays.