Spicy Dragons & Dinosaurs

My friend, Norie, commented from the Montessori point of view, that only when the child is ready will the lesson stick. After watching Cheshire flourish in Montessori school for four years, I understand and agree. I remember how scared we were when we signed her up for school, believing that this was the best placement for her, but fearing that she would not do everything to keep up with her regular-schooled peers. We transferred (because of moving) her at the end of second grade and she fit right in with her third grade peers in a gifted school which was working a year ahead. The only think she was missing was cursive writing. She has some stressful, now funny, stories about that.

As I said, I posted on a bunch of yahoo boards as well as on facebook, and it did bring some experts to the top, and some parents who have made education work for their children. I posted a reply to one school-related person, and it does a better job of explaining what I am looking for for Julia.

"I know that she has to learn at least some of the standard curriculum. Goodness, she needs to tell time, count money, write a check, leave tips in restaurants, not to mention get a job one day. Julia goes to a great school. Her teachers and aids could not be better and they have tried many, many ways to put Julia on the road to learning what she needs to know. I don't expect more from them.

My questions reach further down. Julia is 9, she was adopted at 5.5 from a terrible orphanage. She was terribly delays. In the 3.5 years she has been home, she has learned a lot, but we have not managed to teach her to love learning. She resists all things new and all things that she perceives as hard for her to do. She needs to learn trust -- trust that what her parents, therapists, and teacher present to her will be beneficial to her. She needs to learn to love the new idea, the new task. I am looking for ways to teach this.