So, my little lad is 5 in July and started school in the UK in january of this year. We then moved overseas in feb (this was rather short notice) and happily got him into a good school where we now live in the middle east.
My son has always been totally normal in his milestones and has coped really well with our move, so it's all a bit weird to suddenly find him way behind as he approaches the end of his first year at school. And I am in a psychodrama (mostly self created) about how to handle him, his teacher and, most importantly the task in hand. I should add that I work full time so am not at home as much as I guess I should be.
In short, ever since we started school I've felt like I've had to make excuses for him being so behind the other kids, and it's a bit upsetting and colours the way I interact with the school, or in fact, I should say, I avoid all interaction because of this. So that's one thing. The other is that because he's 'behind' he gets sent home with absolutely tons of homework a day and it is completely dominating our time together at home - I re-iterate he's 4 years old. He hates doing most of it as it is ALL literacy and mostly learning phonics and he seems to be barely making any progress. I have to write a detailed letter every day in a book to say what we've done and yet when I raise concerns I get nothing much back other than 'do more of the same'.
All this therefore means that reading, writing, even going out and doing stuff has become rather clinical and forced. Because all we do in this vein has to be documented in a book to go back to school and it would seem every activity we do has to have a literacy element exploited from it, and I am watching over him desperate to spot signs of progress, and yes, I admit it, when his concentration inevitably strays, I get impatient with him. And as the daughter of two teachers I know that is absolutely the worst thing I can do. I've now said to my husband that we need to curtail our family out of the house weekend activities and do more of this homework. How can that be right?
Has anyone got any good advice - should i be hothousing him? Would he benefit from private tuition? Or, leftfield I know, should i gain some guts and push back to the teacher, and ask for less homework and more guidance on a few key activities which will support him? I am sure if I just let it happen, he will read - but the school has a firm view (quoted to me) that it must happen before he reaches year 1, and I am now of course realising that as term ends in june, we have two months left to do what I think is the impossible. HELP!