Praise the Lord and Cancel the Peanut Bus
The past several weeks have been quite difficult, schoolwise. Chuck is plugging along admirably, but Eddie has been having a lot of trouble. It has been painful to watch him work up a sweat while struggling with a reader that is actually below his grade level. Working in his phonics work book has been equally dreadful - his face turns red, he grips the pencils so hard they break and just about starts foaming at the mouth all in the course of 4 or 5 exercises. (Yes, 4 or 5 individual questions, not 4 or 5 pages!)

The past day or two have found him making hissing and growling noises when he sees the reader coming out of the cubby. I can see the same pattern of frustration that made school hell for Chuck. Chuck was not the type to vent this frustration at school. He would just come home and go into a rage, perhaps even clobbering a sibling on the way home from the bus stop. There have been moments when I have made comments to Dad about looking into having him studied to find the cause of the problem. (Not that the school and the Reading Recovery Program or the neuro-psych people at Children’s were able to find a magic solution for Chuck.....but I was feeling desperate.) Just to vent my frustrations, I would whisper the term ‘peanut bus’ under my breath. When I was in grade school, the special and remedial students came to school in a smaller bus which we referred to as a peanut bus. My only personal experience with a peanut bus was when the tennis team took one to the State Tournament. So Rick knew what I meant when I would ask, “Is it time for the peanut bus?”

I decided to keep at it with Eddie, but not allow things to get into the area of unpleasant confrontations that have led to readers and workbooks hidden under massive pieces of furniture, feigned illness (for a homeschooler!?!) etc. This morning we plunked down on the couch and I told Eddie just two pages in the reader and then we could move on to the subject of his choice. He read them beautifully and when I remarked that with such good work he would probably finish this reader by Christmas, he asked to keep going. He finished the whole book by noon. After lunch he went to the bookshelf and plucked the next book in the series and began reading from it. The rest of our plans for the day were cancelled as I sat and listened as he read and read and read. When it was time to make a trip to the grocery, Eddie tagged along. Toting the reader. He read on the five minute drive to the store. And as much as possible in the fading light on the ride back. He read while dinner cooked. As soon as we finished the celebratory little Christmas Tree cakes that I let Eddie pick out to mark his day’s accomplishment, he picked up the book and started reading. He is now over half way through the new reader. No grimacing. Little sweat. He enjoys it. I am overjoyed.