School is in full swing now. For two of my children that means actually going to a school with other kids, listening to a teacher, playing at recess, and doing homework. For MG it means staying at home and attending an online school.
I hadn't intended that she stay at home. I thought she would go to traditional school just like I did and most everyone else I knew. Homeschooling wasn't something I was interested in doing. I knew a few homeschooling families and I always thought, "I could never do that. I don't have the patience for that. I'm not organized enough. I would go crazy. Homeschooling takes a special type of person." I did admire homeschooling families, but I just figured they had something I didn't.
Well, fast forward a few years, and we are in our second year of homeschool. To be fair, it's not quite traditional homeschool. It's a public online school, but it's at home. The curriculum is provided by the online school and I teach the material to my daughter and help her progress and move along. We also have a certified teacher that consults with us every month and is available when we have questions or need help. MG even receives speech therapy through a webcam and headset. She also has a special ed teacher that helps us set goals and monitors MG's progress. We're not completely on our own, but the day to day learning is up to us.
So how did we get to this point? It's not a great story, because homeschooling was the culmination of several frustrating years of public school and not feeling like my daughter was receiving the help she needed.
Last year I wrote a letter to a member of the special ed department at the school district and listed some of my reasons for keeping my daughter home. Here is part of what I sent:
1) I don't think funding, training, and personnel are sufficient to provide the kind of education that the law claims to be able to provide for special ed kids. I think teachers are overwhelmed and unable to meet the demands of these students' education. One reason I took my child out of traditional school was because I grew weary of the unmet promises and expectations.
2) As an involved parent, I want to be part of the education of my children and be part of the decision making process. I was told that the parent is a member of the "team." However, whenever I tried to stay informed or ask questions or facilitate meetings (especially with the general ed teacher), I felt like I was interfering, wasting time, or that I was causing problems.
3) Another reason I decided to keep my daughter home was because of the transition from year to year. By the end of second grade, the teacher had implemented some nice accommodations for my daughter, but when she went to 3rd grade those gains were lost because the teacher refused to use them. I think by the time a teacher gets accustomed to the needs of a special ed student, a lot of the year has gone by and time is wasted.
4) I think the many regulations and rules make the special ed process very slow and cumbersome. I don't think more rules or even more funding will help the current system in place. I think a more flexible and creative system for special ed kids is needed. Many of these kids are on their own track and I think it's frustrating that the goal of the system is to try to make them conform and fit into a model that may not be ideal for them.
Not included in that letter was perhaps the more principal reason for keeping her home: she is my daughter. Although teachers might love what they do and care for their students and have education training, it is still their job. They have their own lives and families to worry about and support. There is no one as vested in my daughter as my husband and I. There's no one that wants to see her succeed and progress as we do. At the end of the day, we are responsible for her, even her education if needs be.
(as a side note, there are a few charter or private school options, but they are not available or feasible for us right now)
