There is one little compound word in the English language that scares me more than all the rest. //////Homeschool\\\\\\. There I said it! I have only actually ever been able to say it outloud once ever, today when Mickey and I discussed it. I'm not scared of actually teaching my kids, I'm pretty sure I can do that. I'm petrified of being home with them all day, everyday, but that is exactly what they need, especially Ellie.
I don't even feel up to going into all the RAD stuff Ellie has done in the past week. She needs way more than we are giving her, and giving up, though sometimes a fantasy, is not an option. So last night, as I laid awake, I came to the conclusion that the one thing that I have dreaded, is exactly what she needs. More time with us and less time with people she can manipulate.
I have an endless list of hopes and fears. A big fear is because she is in Non-Public school. That means that the local school system threw their hands up (did not have a program suitable), and are paying for her to go to a Private Special Needs School. If I pull her out and homeschool her, and we eventually decided to send her back, where will she go? Public school is not an option in our area. Her non-public school has not done such a great job for her either, emotionally or academically.
Now, I need to start working out my plan. At the end of June, Ellie's school is moving 45 minutes away. I'm thinking I will let her go to the new school through the end of the summer. The summer program is more like a camp anyway, unless it would be better to make a clean break in June. I just don't know! At this point school is just a place for Ellie to lie and manipulate as many people as possible in a day. She has yet to finish the first grade and will be 9 in June!!! The kicker is, SHE IS NOT intellectually limited!
About Me
- Dancing on the Edge
- My partner and I have been together for 5 years. We have four kids. Two are grown and out of the house, and the other two are 11 and 8. Our youngest children have been diagnosed with RAD, ADHD, and Mood d/o. We dance on the edge of many things, including the RAD dance--two steps forward and one step back!
Ohhhhhh, I feel your pain. Not even joking. It was the absolute scariest thing ever. However, it's been the best decision (although I had to grieve for a month). I highly recommend time4learning. The link is on the right side of my blog. You can try it for free for 14 days and there's no contracts or commitments. The best thing is that I don't "have" to sit right beside J all day drilling stuff into her head. It's all on the internet and it's unbelievably fun. We tried the drilling and it didn't work. It became a control battle. Time4learning made it easy and she loves it!
ReplyDeletePlease mention my blog or name if you try it.
Thanks!
BTW, feel free to email me if you have questions about it.
Homeschool Corazon was the best decision I ever made. She was in early 2nd grade and was manipulating the heck out of EVERYONE, lying about everything and doing some pretty unsafe things. I just sent her back to school in January (so we homeschooled for about a year and a half) because she wanted to try it again and I needed a break and the school made sense if any school was going to make sense. So far, I can see the progress she made in the time we homeschooled and I can see areas where she may not be ready. BUT I needed the time to dedicate to some of the other kids' needs and having her with me 24/7 made it hard. SO I say all that to tell you to TAKE THE PLUNGE as soon as possible. In fact, I homeschooled (more loosely) throughout the summer because of the academic progress Tortuga needed/needs and we saw tremendous progress. So if you are ready, then do it sooner than later is my advice.
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