This might be long and a bit rambly so apologies in advance.
Ds1 is very bright (not G&T in the slightest, but he is bright). At home he has a number of interests - particularly history (mostly that of the 1st and 2nd world wars, it has to be said - but he knows loads), geography etc and he loves reading. I'm making him sound precocious and he's not - he'd rather play football than anything else, preferably in the garden or the park but the X-Box will do at a push.
He's also excrutiatingly, painfully shy. He's made a lot of progress - his first nursery thought he was autistic; I think he was selectively mute. He's in Year 5 now and he copes - but he 'disappears' at school - it's a physical thing, I see him hunch down and shrink as we get nearer in the morning. He isn't bullied - in fact he seems quite popular, which I find hard to grasp, to be honest, as he is so shy that it often comes across as unfriendliness.
He has drifted through school - I don't think he's made an impression on anyone. He's quiet, he gets on with it, he's "no bother". I had to go in and speak to his teacher the other week and he said "oh, he sits at the back of the classroom because I know I can rely on him to behave and just get on with it." His report this year was the worst he's ever had: average across the board. I think this shows the way he's learned to just do "enough" to get by. Homework is always a battle - he's disinclined to put anything more in than the bare minimum.
I suppose I'm feeling so disheartened at the moment because he only has another year of primary to go...is this going to be the same all through his academic life? Will he just drift through secondary too?
Does any of this make any sense? I'm not normally so downbeat on Mumsnet but I really could use some advice here...