Let's see....today Andy was taken off of his I.E.P. at school (which Bob and I were NOT supportive of, but signed off on after being given the impression it was a battle we would lose), and a second bomb threat (in the past two months) closed the high school again. That alone makes me want to pull all of my kids out of school never mind all of the other reasons that I have for doing so.
Andy's I.E.P. (which I believe stands for individualized education plan) was for language arts. I feel very strongly that he should still be on one, but the school feels very strongly that he should not be on one. And of course in this case, the school won. Andy struggles with spelling. As in he cannot spell very basic words such as: what, could, should, because, etc...I feel that this is a huge issue. I know that there are people who cannot spell very well, but to not be able to spell the most basic of words tells me that there is problem. The schools response was that there are just some bad spellers in this world, and that as far as they are concerned I should be happy that Andy is off of his I.E.P. because so many kids never come off of one. Now, let me be the first to say that I am very proud of all of the work that Andy has done to get himself caught up. I credit his success almost entirely to his 4th & 5th grade Intervention teacher who happened to retire last year. She is a wonderful woman who took Andy to places I did not think that he could reach in a traditional academic setting. The school also was kind enough to let me know that beginning in 7th grade most of Andy's papers would be written using Microsoft Word, so he could just use the spell check to fix any spelling errors. Does anyone else see a problem with this answer? AAAHHHH!!!! Let's not go back and correct the root of the issue - let's just gloss it over and rely on technology even more, so that it appears that my son knows how to spell, but in fact he does not. The teachers that spoke at his conference all had glowing things to say about him, his behavior, and his effort, and all I could hear was that because my kid is well behaved and tries hard he is going to be pushed along the school factory line toward graduation without ever "fixing" SLL of his learning disabilities- instead the school will just pick and choose which ones are worth fixing. And, how by the way, is one learning disabled one year (thus needing an I.E.P. to begin with), and then magically not the next? In my opinion, as a lowly mother, either he was never disabled to begin with or he still is, but not enough to actually matter anymore because he can now perform adequately on all of the state tests. I just want to puke. Bob, on the other hand, was more calm about the whole thing (surprise, surprise). I was ready to punch him in the face too by the end of the meeting (sorry, honey). He is not happy about Andy being taken off of his I.E.P., but thinks that now is a good time to do so rather than later because if he fails in school next year we can just get him on a new I.E.P. in 8th grade rather than waiting until high school to see if he takes a downward spiral. Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier in this post that I was also told that if every child who couldn't spell very well was given an I.E.P. then the whole school would be on one. HELLO???!!!! If you have a whole school of kids who cannot spell then MAYBE THERE IS A PROBLEM HERE!!!!
Now, let me just say that I know that Andy's team of teachers are doing the best that they can. The problem here is larger than themselves, and they are doing everything that they can with the resources that they have to provide Andy with a "quality" education. I know that there are a limited number of I.E.P.'s that are going to be given out for one reason or another, and honestly, there probably are a number of students who need it a lot more than Andy. BUT - and this is a big BUT, to say that my kid is bad in some academic areas, but not bad enough to necessitate anything beyond normal interventions, makes my blood boil. My kid is not an experiment or a guinea pig. My kid is a human being who deserves the absolute best that this life has to offer ESPECIALLY when he tries so hard to be successful in an academic setting. His current situation is just not cutting it. I was ready to yank him out of there the instant I walked out of that meeting. I could still spit nails I am so fired up about it.
As for the high school being closed because of a bomb threat - yeah - that is a new bonus of being a student in this school district that was added within the past two months or so. Lovely isn't it? Normally, I am not one to get spooked by such things, but this second time spooked me. I hope that the authorities catch whomever is sending these threats. In the meantime that is just another reason in my pocket to bring my kids home where they belong.
For those of you who are curious, I have been reading 'The Well Trained Mind' by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. This is the style of home schooling I am looking to do (minus the Latin part). I am in the process of searching out texts and reviewing them, and then looking at making a mock daily schedule to see if I am able to fit in all of their subjects and still be able to do the normal chores that I need to do. There is a lot of material in this book, but for those of you who take the time to read it (A.L. I know you will be on the Internet scouring for information) there is a LOT in here that makes sense.
I have talked to the boys about home schooling them (I cannot remember if I mentioned that in one of my last posts). They are old enough that they should have a say in whether or not they come home. I was curious to find that Josh is more eager to be home schooled than I anticipated. He came home from school today, and said how bored he was, and how all he could think about what what he would be doing if he was home schooled and what kind of things he would be learning.
I know that I can do this. It hurts me to know that I have to PROVE to most people that I CAN do this, but I know I can. There are some things in this life that I know with such certainty that I cannot explain to anyone why or how I know - I just do. Bringing my kids home and adding to my family feel right in the deep depths of my being. I will do everything in my power to research the heck out of this home schooling possibility with or without support. With support would be much easier, but I tend to live my life on the outside of normal this has caused me to build up a thicker skin than some as someone always has something negative to say about how I choose to live my life. Either way, one of the benefits I have found of aging is that I am very slowly starting not to care as much what other's think. What is good for me and mine is good for me and mine whether or not you approve - and vice versa.
Whew! I feel much better now. Thanks for letting me vent.
No comments:
Post a Comment