Hi, I am looking for some advice or any experiences - bit of a long ramble this, so apologies in advance! DS (yr 3) seems to hate school, he has a good set of friends and is not being bullied, but he hates the concept of it, learning, and being there; it is a chore and something to be endured. It has always been this way apart from last year when a very inspirational teacher made a huge difference, but this year his teacher left mid-term, and a string of supply teachers has unfortunately made it a bit of a disastrous year.
Many mornings he says he feels sick, does not want to go to school, he drags his feet up the pavement looking as miserable as anything and, I think, stays like that all day till I pick him up.
He is not doing as well as he should or could academically, he seems to find it all boring, tho it is not easy for him, he is not impressed or encouraged by stickers, reward charts etc, and in some ways he is too mature for his own good. He is, I think, quite bright, his grasp of other things - science, technology etc is good and he is very articulate, but his glass is very much half empty, if not down to the last dregs!
He is very stubborn and it seems if he doesn't want to do something then he won't, yet at the same time he complains to me that he doesn't understand what the teachers are on about and that he gets muddled up. This year he has made little progress; he struggles with spelling, his maths has gone downhill but his reading has improved. He has been put in an intervention group for confidence (which he loved but didn't let on to the teachers that he did - they all thought he hated it). I have wondered if he may have other difficulties, he displays quite a lot of classic mild dyslexic traits, but I don't think I have enough evidence to take this forward, I am conscious that I may be trying to put a label on him to explain away/justify what is going on.
DD (Yr 5) is very academic and school has always been a joy and very easy for her; I think DS suffers from her love of school and achievements. I have always tried to not compare, but I worry that by not comparing I may be overlooking a real issue and brushing it away as him "being a boy".
As far as the school is concerned, DS is not doing badly enough for anything to flag up as cause for concern, he is well behaved but stubborn and miserable. DH and I are wondering what to do - find a tutor for catch up (someone who he doesn't view as a "teacher"), change schools - I don't know what that would achieve, I just know I need to do something to help improve the situation, find a way to switch on the lightbulb and help him achieve what I think he is capable of.
Most of my friends of boys have children who just get on with it, and are doing well, so any advice, similar experiences etc would be gratefully received!