CatchyNameHomeschooling

  Some kids are described as having a "spiky" profile where their testable attributes alternate between high and low. My kid has always had a prodigious vocabulary, but read at or below grade level for a chunk of elementary school*. Teachers would hear her speak and assume she had good handwriting and could read quickly.    Expectations based on her tallest spikes meant that grownups often talked to her as though she was behind or not working hard enough. This made school more stressful for her than for kids with a flatter profile. We assume that kids in the same room doing the same activity are all having the same experience. That assumption can keep us from noticing that some kids are actually very stressed. It keeps us from noticing that only some kids are getting positive feedback on their work ethic and results. It keeps us from noticing who is getting the satisfaction of finishing a task and meeting expectations.   Some Special Ed professionals had expectations...

  Two thirds of the way through a task I saw my kid was starting to struggle so I asked "Do you want to stop here?" and she said, "I am determined to continue!"    This is an excellent sign for multiple reasons. It means her general background stress level has gotten low enough that she has the capacity to handle brief new stress as a challenge instead of as one more difficult thing to handle when she's already barely hanging on.     It means the homeschooling stuff I've set up is engaging to this particular student.     And it means she trusts me to let her take breaks when she needs them so she doesn't need to take a break every time she's allowed in case the next stretch of academic-ish stuff is long.