Hello Everyone: I have decided to take my grandson out of ps and hs him but wonder if I am doing the right thing. Last year he went to kindergarten and cried most of the time and was labeled as a troubled child. School indicated that he was not emotionally ready to attend school at 5 years old. He is repeating Kindergarten for the second time and once again has been labeled a trouble maker and would likely have to repeat kindergarten again. School believes that medication is what is needed to keep him focused and I am not ready to concede that he should be labeled as a special ed child. He is extremely smart with no indications there is something wrong until he goes to school. We are well into the 3rd month of school and he continues to cry and throw a fit because he has to go to school. He has indicated that he has to sit by himself most of the day in the "troublemaker spot" and the some of the teachers have hollered at him. He uses characters like Ben 10 and Spiderman who have special powers to help him through the day. Teacher recently called to say that when she ask him to be himself instead of these characters he said he hated himself because he didn't have special powers. Apparentely he says some of the kids have been making fun of him and saying mean things but upon talking to the teacher and principal about it, they refuse to believe any of the other children are doing anything wrong, on the contrary they blame my grandson. I can't let him go through this again for the second time. I am new to the hs concept but feel he would definitely be better off than continuing in this environment. Can anyone tell me if this was a similar situation for them. Thank you so much for listening.
LCdancers, I am soooo hearing you. Sounds like my DS when he started school. We didn't have the opportunity to hs back then, until he finished fourth grade! I WISH I could have pulled him sooner, but it was what it was. Right now I'm teaching Other People's Kids, and I have this 6yo first grader who was identified as developmentally disabled at age 3 and was put in a special preschool class, then proceeded to regular kindergarten at 5, where his teacher tells me he would get so frustrated that he would grab a classmate by the cheeks as though trying to pull the kid's face off!!! They had him with bunches of labels and maybe's for other labels and tons of horrendous stuff. His mom came to me in tears, could I please take her child, because she couldn't bear to see him in agony like that any more! In my little class, with five kids (all bigger than he is), he's fine. He's just a typical first grader. He gets along (well, sometimes not with his sister who is also in our class, but that's a family thing) with the others, he's never once offered to grab anybody, and he's learning first grade stuff! He is great, and cute, and funny, and we are enjoying having him! And his sister told me yesterday that they're looking forward to coming again next year... Yes, the little guy is wiggly, and yes sometimes he doesn't want to work, and okay so he does his reading standing up so he can twist around and move while he's reading -- but he's getting it done and learning and looks forward to learning (most of the time!). Right now we're anticipating DS's family moving closer to us so that we can school our dgs too! I was dismayed that they put him in Head Start this year where they live, but it is what it is. Not my choice. I'm just really really hoping that they get moved so we can have him with us for kindergarten and much longer than that. This is the DS that we hs'd from fifth grade up. At the time, he wasn't keen on homeschooling, but we insisted on keeping on until he was done. Now grown, he says from time to time that he now recognizes that it was best for him and wants his ds to school with us too.
My children have never attended PS, so I can't speak from that perspective, but it sounds to me like HSing would definitely solve at least some of the issues. No little person needs to "toughen up" by dealing with an environment in which they don't feel safe. I commend your willingness to try to overcome the hurdles, rather than force him to keep jumping over them. And always feel free to seek advice here. Some of these ladies are so intuitive and know just what to say.
My GS is such a loveable child. He has been going to a counselor and she feels that it is within his best interest to stay in school until the second semester is over. Basically my daughter and I told her that would be fine as long as one of us was able to sit in the classroom with him everyday. We don't want him going through anymore of this nonsense. Needless to say, school said no that wouldn't be a good idea since he wouldn't act out while we were there. I didn't understand and asked the teacher, "Isn't that what we are actually trying to accomplish? I feel I need to deschool him before actually starting any curriculum from all the trauma. We live in South Texas, so I would definitely appreciate any knowledge of specifically how to get hsing started and what specifically I need to accomplish first.
Welcome, LCDancers, I am a gramma also, and hoping to HS my grandson (I also HSed my children) who lives with me. I can't give you advice, because only you know your situation, but it sounds awful in that school. I have learned there ARE good schools and bad schools. In my estimation you have a couple of choices if the school won't work with you - find a different school or HS. There are private schools as well that might fit the bill. But being a veteran HSer, of course, I think HSing is wonderful!!!
You're on the right track with Deschooling! And at his age, you can take your time rekindling his love of learning. I would think the next step would be to assess what he already knows then go from there. If he's already completed kindergarten once, but was only held back for social reasons, then it stands to reason that he perhaps already has the kindergarten information down. In which case he might be bored going over it all again. A little challenge might be what he needs to kick start his education again.
LCDancers, I sooo proud of you, putting your Grandson first. I was bullied for many years at school, and I would have been very grateful to have someone willing to hs me.
Texas is about the easiest state I know of for homeschoolers. All you have to do is formally withdraw him from the school. You don't have to "report" to anybody, and you only have to make sure he learns English, math, and citizenship (or some such basic requirements). Check your state's DOE website and see if they have the requirements listed. Until you decide on what you want to teach and how you want to do it, just read lots and lots of interesting books you can get free at the library, and there are tons of math games and worksheets on the internet for all ages. For now, just enjoy your grandson!
