A new school year

This summer has been tough with their schooling plan up in the air. We had applied to a private Catholic school. We knew they weren't equipped for severe special needs. We were hopeful after David was on the honor roll all year and his special education teacher gave such a glowing recommendation saying that there really had been only two times during the whole year that he really needed to leave his mainstream classroom. After reading his IEP, they didn't agree.

So we went about the plan B which was public school again. We really have no complaints about their elementary school last year. James would be in the same school with possibly the same teacher moving from third grade to fourth grade. David would be in middle school. Katie Rose would be in pre K. But there were a few issues.

When going to the orientation for sixth grade, David was excited but not really paying attention. I was not feeling good about expecting him being younger than most 6th graders with the challenge of ADHD to be able to pay attention and keep track of all his assignments. My husband challenged, "but he has to learn sometime." I agreed, "yes, but is he capable at this point?" I have no problem with high expectations. The boys say that I am harder than public school teachers. I just don't want to have unrealistic expectations and set them up for failure.

Katie Rose's language had greatly improved over the summer. There was more social language. Asking appropriate questions. Answering with full understanding of what had been asked. Her conversation was smoother. I had really doubted that she would qualify. She barely fit in under the umbrella of developmental delay which probably had more to do with the ability to follow their instructions rather than her ability to actually do what was asked of her. But I knew there was a social delay that could be helped in the right classroom like David in attending the reverse mainstream preschool at MSU.

I had been disappointed with the services available to her. They would only give one day of service a week with all developmentally delayed children. The funding had been drastically cut so that there were very few spots and no reverse mainstream classes. Reverse mainstream is a special education class where normal peers are brought in as models for the developmentally delayed. David had been in both a regular special education class and a reverse mainstream. The difference was astounding.

James would do well in school but I had him evaluated for dyslexia. He did have a phonological weakness that would not be addressed at school because it was too mild. He had compensated enough with a good memory and hard work to be one of the top 5 readers in third grade for his school. We had been working on segmenting words over the summer. A little more work on this area of weakness would go a long way to helping him excel in the future.

I really do appreciate having the option of public school last year. Although I might could have continued homeschooling, I wasn't feeling confident in my ability to manage it all. I was able to get professional assessments of how well the boys were doing and where they really needed extra guidance. I had felt like it was really myself that was being graded. I can move forward knowing that all the efforts were effective and worthwhile. I loved the Leader in Me training they used at the elementary school. I read the book and we are implementing a lot of the ideas at home to encourage leadership.

In the end, the only option that truly felt right was going back to homeschooling. Yes, my house is still a bit crazy. But I've learned to schedule better to make sure everyone has something to do at any given time so that they aren't looking for trouble. Our newest baby is very laid back. He can get into trouble but he really didn't add a whole lot to the craziness. Plus after the boys were on honor rolls all last year, no one can argue that I'm not doing a good job. This is my calling. I take it seriously and I do it to the best of my ability covered with a lot of prayer. We now have boys scouts and taekwondo for frequent opportunities to socialize along with all church and homeschool functions.

Since I had planned out a Charlotte Mason curriculum last year but didn't use it, most of my planning was already done. There were a few tweaks for math and spelling. We started a timeline in a binder which is really cool. You can find it at Mater Amabilis at the bottom of the page.

We decided to choose a patron saint for this school year. I read an article that suggested that St Teresa of Avila might be a good patron for those with ADHD because of her disorganized writing style. Focus, responsibility and follow-through will be high priority this school year.

St Teresa of Avila, pray for us!