Like Peanut Butter and Chocolate

We would be lost at this point without IXL.com and Khanacademy.org. When we started using them both several years ago, I thought we were just having fun. I never realized I would rely on them for Alex's education. Alex has pretty much given up on school. He promised himself throughout kindergarten that first grade would be more challenging and that he would find it interesting. But here he is, into his fifth week of school, and his disappointment at the lack of educational challenges has left him deflated. Every morning I have to hear his complaints about what a waste of time it is to go to school. I'm not entirely sure what the answer is to our dilemma in the long term (private school?), but thanks to IXL and Khan Academy, I have the tools to teach math to Alex in ways I could never do on my own (he is actually surpassing me in math at this point...), challenge him to work on his own in very rewarding programs (you earn stars and banners flash at you with words of praise), and allow him to soar. "Yes," I tell him. "School is boring right now, because you aren't yet in your place. You haven't found your people. Why don't you help the other kids catch up with you. And when you get home, we'll do the real learning." He sighs. "We'll work on converting fractions to percentages," I promise. He cheers up slightly. "Well, at least I have music today," he concedes. "Maybe I'll win another participation award." Thank goodness for music class.