School Days - Grade 7

Grade 7 is just about done.  Our school goes to Grade 8 so E has one more year and then off to high school.  This was his first year where he rotated between teachers and classrooms.  He started off going to tutoring like he did the year before, where we wanted them to help with his reading comprehension in both French and English as well as getting practice writing down answers to questions.  However, like Q, we found that the tutor wasn't really doing what we wanted them to, so we withdrew them from that.  

Despite our efforts E is still lacking in the executive functioning department (planning, keeping track of due dates, etc.). There were a couple of instances where he was working on schoolwork at the last minute and I needed to sit beside him and help him type out some of the work (with him understanding of course).  It's disappointing because he is such a smart kid and he wants to do well.  I still don't feel like he gets enough support at school, but after next year we are considering moving him into the gifted stream for high school and maybe that will be better for him.  I struggle with wanting to help him, but also wanting him to figure stuff out for himself, along with not having enough hours in the day to do all of the things.

He does have a great time at school and has a great group of friends that really settled in with each other this year.  He joined student council and the strings group where he learned to play cello.  He is taking guitar lessons privately but then applied those skills to the electric guitar for his school music concert at the end of the year.   He's allowed to leave the school grounds at lunch and will often go to a friend's house or go and buy some food.  It's great to have that freedom.  He also walks or bikes to school everyday with his little brother and loves doing it. How lucky they are to spend that time together. 

He got a phone this year too, one of the last one in his class to get one.  But he has been very responsible with it and actually follows the school rules of turning if off during the day and leaving it in his locker.  We are glad he's able to keep in touch with his friends, although we don't care much for the Grade 7 group chat, which we monitor on a regular basis, some people's children, my word!!  Although there are definitely some behaviour issues in his class (it is heavy on the boys and they are a bit rowdy), I know he has a good head on his shoulders and will continue to make the right decisions.  He makes up his own mind rather than always following the crowd. We can't ask for more than that!