In Trouble with the School (that he doesn't even go to!)

How does my kid DO this? He doesn't even attend a school, but still I get a phonecall FROM one and my kid's in trouble. He took some girl's backpack yesterday and threw it down the hill, then buried it in leaves where she couldn't find it. His excuse is,
"So-and-so told me to do it!"

Kid, I don't care if the POPE told you to take that little girl's backpack, throw it down the hill and bury it. You KNEW that was mean, and you were being a bully!

So, I took him to go dig it out, take it to the school office, have the secretary call the teacher's room - "He's here!" - and then apologize to the little girl... after an introduction to her, as he didn't even know her name.

This is NOT the first time we've had this lesson. This is a kid who is generally, genuinely sweet. He loves to do things for other people. But he's just a follower in the WORST kind of way. I'm terrified of some kid saying, "Hey! pick up that gun!" and then walking him through God-only-knows-what. How do you develop common sense in a 9-year old child?

Repetition... facing deep doo-doo when he lacks it... and more repetition of the lessons. But then, for him, it's a big part of why he homeschools. It's not that he never gets the opportunity to be socially inappropriate, no, those opportunities still abound. But it's a greenhouse environment where the guidance and direction he lacked in his early years can now take place. It's much harder to relearn behavior response & reactions than it is to learn it in the first place. And to grow past how one behaves when they're being watched, and when they think they aren't! now that's an even greater challenge!