Boys and School – My Experience

I just had a meeting with a gentleman who has a 3 year old son. I shared with him how unprepared I was when I discovered I was going to have a son, and I did some online research and read books. We connected through our son’s who are 10 years apart. His son sounds brilliant, curious, and energetic.

My son has attended a private pre-school with a structured schedule and staff and then went to a public neighborhood elementary school. Early on, I realized that the public school in the good suburban neighborhood was not the best fit for my curious, fun loving, and spirited son. I noticed many of the girls did well, but the boys were always in trouble for moving and talking out of turn. I never realized there was such a big difference between little girls who can sit quietly and boys, who are learning, but must move. If I had it all over to do, I probably would have gone the route of a Montessori styled school which would better accommodate my son’s needs and respect the way he learned.

From the first day of kindergarten, we knew the principal of the school very well, because my son was in trouble almost daily for moving and/or talking out of turn (like after he finished a test in 10 minutes and other kids were still working). I can look back and laugh now, but by 5th grade he would be graduating to middle school. I thought my son would probably be labeled a behavioral issue if we stayed on the public school path we were on.

Every summer, we put together rich programs to expose our son to things he wouldn’t ordinarily be exposed to in school. During a Stock Market class we enrolled him in during the summer between 5th and 6th grade, our earth angel, Mr. Shilhanek approached us about our son. He recommended we have his iq tested and that’s when we discovered, it wasn’t that he was a bad kid, he was a really smart kid.

Parents, trust your instincts about your child, have a #TeamYourKid (our son’s Godfather has been very involved in EVERY aspect of his life) and stay prayed up. I promise, that summer between 5th and 6th grade, I prayed a lot and my prayers were answered!

Thank you, Mr. Shilhanek! You really paid attention to my child.