Part 1: More Than Second Grade Jitters…

Photo Credit: Kat J

In my mind, Grade 1 was always the biggest educational milestone for our children, where our little ones entered “real school” and the learning truly began in earnest.  What other reason would all the little cardboard hats, and pomp and ceremony of a kindergarten graduation ceremony be for, if not this stepping stone?  I remembered being incredibly sad that this marked the end of my son’s carefree childhood, of joyful innocence and play, all to be replaced with homework, assignments, and sitting at a school desk for endless hours.  Kindergarten would be but a distant memory and magical place in time.  

Surprisingly though, Grade 1 was seemingly more of the same for my son.  His teacher was lovely, and someone who embraced the Reggio Emillia philosophy and techniques (something I truly appreciated at the time), and play-based learning was still heavily part of his curriculum.  Because he was a smart young man, there were stumbling blocks to his education, but nothing he couldn’t charm his way out of, and nothing unscaleable – or so we all believed.   In hindsight all the signs were there.

Grade 2 was the rude awakening that I had expected in Grade 1, and where the cold reality of school hit my son like a dump truck that the he used to love so much. When I picked him up from school that very first day, I came face to face with a very disappointed boy. “Mom, there are NO toys in the classroom, there was NO free-time, there was NO play-time. There is SO much work!”  I had to stifle my giggle at the mention of no toys in the Grade 2 classroom, seeing the look of devastation on his face - the pain was very real for him.  This new stark reality was a little too much to swallow.

Photo Credit: Chris Hardy

After the initial shock, I had hoped that things would get better as he settled into a new routine.  The expectations in Grade 2 mounted, having to sit still, stay focused, keep quiet, and trying to keep up with the school work was a tremendous adjustment.  For whatever reason, the learning expectations between Grade 1 and Grade 2 was an enormous gap that couldn’t be closed easily.  We didn’t know if it was a failure on our part for his lack of preparedness, or if Pierce just slipped through the system with his charm and humour.  Perhaps play-based learning and the Grade 1 approach were the perfect foil to easily mask his challenges so well.  Maybe there really was a drastic change to the curriculum between the two grades.  All we knew was that the homework ramped up from his weekly reader in Grade 1, and replaced with French reading practice, English reading, writing assignments, math homework and more.  It was overwhelming, and what we didn’t expect...anxiety inducing.

As the weeks went by and the school work piled on, my gregarious, fun-loving boy was disappearing and was crushed under the weight of second grade.  French was now heavily used in class, and the class work more involved, where math and reading were failing him.  Being in a split Grade 2/3 class added to his challenges, given that there was a lot to navigate socially.   Mentally and physically, he was spent at the end of each school day, and unfortunately, there was little reprieve for him at home on days where there was schoolwork to be finished.  15 minutes worth of homework would languish into HOURS and the tears and the frustrations on both sides were routine and inescapable.

As parents, we are aware that children develop differently and at their own pace, and being told he was bright his entire life, there was always the hope and promise that he would catch up.  His academic struggles (though pressing), was not critical, knowing we were willing to put in the work and be patient.  Pierce’s growing anxiety, however, was not something we were willing to overlook and allow to fester at the risk of it manifesting into something lifelong and debilitating.  And so we reached out …