Please help me decide!

[PhantomErik]

My ds is 7, summer born, currently in year 3.

He's really struggling in school with behaviour, he play-fights with other boys (lots of them do it - he's NEVER bullied or play-fought with children who don't do it or instigate it). Obviously school are not happy & we're going round in circles. I back the school up over this, we talk & he promises to try hard. It doesn't last long.

We get his behaviour under control at home not only with the above but reading/spellings etc. He hates all of it & it's a daily battle. It was only when I insisted on him doing no more than 5 spellings a week that he started to get 3/4 out of 5 a week. Before it was 0/1 out of 10 & he was so dispondant.

He's still on Biff, Chip & Kipper books at school & they think he's about a year behind where he should be but will read Dinosaur Cove, Astrosaurus etc at home to me.

He loves dinosaurs and animals & spends a lot of time over factual books & has brilliant recall of facts. I've been reading him pages from encyclopaedias as bedtime reading for years, at his request!

I've wondered if he has adhd at times but I'm not convinced as he can concentrate when he's engaged & interested.

I have a dd in yr6 & a ds in yr5 neither of them have any issues with school/behaviour & are either at expected level or above.

I'm just so tired of the constant stress, it's making ds unhappy & also the rest of the household.

He says he has no friends He did have a lovely friend but he left the school (moved house) over a year ago.

School have talked about a behaviour plan before looking at 1 - 6 day exclusions!

I'm a sahm so work is not as issue.

Would love any positive stories/suggestions/information please!

does he have any of the symptoms listed here of slow processing? it might link to the spelling issue, and the fact that improved with less words since he had less to take in.

sorry, that didn't really help with your issue about homeschooling. from what you said in your post, the only behaviour issue he is showing is the play fighting, is he misbehaving in class? homeschooling might be worth considering, even if it was only until he starts secondary? he will need to join some out of school clubs so he still socialises with people, and you will need to be sure you can teach him the materials/get a tutor in but if you think that this is feasible then i would seriously look into it.

I really recommend home Ed. It’s much less stressful and they can learn what they are interested in that day :) I’ve found my daughter is much calmer and less tired etc, I’m not always battling to rush out the house x

I have two home schooled children who are now much happier, and making progress. They do internet school and home tuition from myself. My 8 year old was falling behind in school, bullied, hated school and always upset. The school wanted her labelled as having emotional-behavioural disorders requiring CAMHS input, but I explored SEN. She has been diagnosed with severe dyspraxia, sensory and auditory processing disorder. She is making great academic progress at home, and much less stressed. Different kid in fact. Home education is hard work, but certainly worth exploring. It has worked for my kids anyway.

Thanks for the replies! Christmas kind of took over!

We're thinking through our options but having mentioned it to ds he said he'd miss his friends. Not sure really who his friends are but he didn't jump at the chance.

I'll keep it as an option in my head but see how next term goes.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas