The summer has ended and it's back to the grindstone. On the one hand I'm ready and glad for the kids to be at school. On the other hand, I really dislike waking up at 6:30 am (it's still dark here) and doing the whole homework-be-in-bed-on-time thing. But we made it. Isaac was only 5 minutes late; Aspen was way early. They said it was a pretty good day. Aspen got one class she didn't want - but her best friend is in it too, so she'll keep it. And Isaac's school hasn't sent any hatemail about his green hair. (We'll see how long that lasts.) I'm just not ready to buzz it off yet. It will fade out eventually anyway.
Toby isn't in the first picture because we are trying out home school this year. Dealing with the middle school's administration/teachers/counselors wasn't working last year. And the almost daily bullying was negating any positive social experiences we wanted him to have. So we're trying something different. It is an opportunity to spend some much needed one on one time with Toby. I think it will work out. Here he's working on spanish on the computer. It's pretty cool. He repeats the word/phrases into the headset and it makes him repeat it until the pronunciation is correct. Gotta love technology!
Today went well anyway. It must have been a long day for everyone - they all went right to sleep before the sun went down. Now it's my quiet time.
Wow Aspen looks so tall. She must be going through a growth spurt. She's growing up faster than I was thinking.
ReplyDeleteI was just telling Jake today how much I wanted to come see you guys. I can't wait until November! It seems like forever.
ReplyDeleteOn the otherhand, yay for school! I was so ready this year for it.
I am definitely not ready for school to start, but I think my kids are. Why is that? Maybe because I hate getting up early adn having to be places at specific times. Structure just isn't my friend.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like everyone is doing well. I am hoping that Toby will really do well. I think that he will. I have Spanish homework to do today as well.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on deciding to homeschool Toby. I bet that was a hard decision to make. Even though Robin and I are both public school teachers we both agree that we would homeschool our kids too before we would send them to a school setting that was bad for them. It's too bad that some school administrators/teachers can't or won't do what's best for kids--that should be their primary concern. Have you looked into any online schools in your area? There's an online school here in Utah, but I don't know anything about it.
ReplyDeleteI had just started 6th grade when you and nate got married. man, i'm old now.
ReplyDeletei've always held the position that if something's not working for my kids, we adapt. we homeschooled for one year, and if we needed to again we would. i refuse to force them to endure a miserable situation out of principle. so hats off to you and nate! and good luck to toby! i'm sure there will be up's and down's, but that's how life is. ♥
ReplyDeleteI still wonder why you can't get the services and setting Toby needs!!
ReplyDeleteI wish I lived nearby so I could attend one of the meetings - SPED law may be federal law, but it's certainly practiced differently from state to state and even school to school.
I have kids like Toby every year and we are able to accommodate them just fine - they end up doing fine too.
And I have noticed that the other students in our school are becoming much more aware of, and more compassionate about kids who are "different."
Which is the whole reason for inclusion for all disabilities - so we can all heighten our awareness.
(I usually have more of a problem "educating" teachers than I do students!
Good luck - and there are lots of online schools - and BYU has a secondary school program for distance education.
It would be nice to have someone on our side who knew the law better. I think that because TOby's challenges aren't obvious and readily apparent, the teachers and counselors and administrators discount what we have to say and refuse to believe that there is something wrong. They just don't spend enough time around him to know the difference. But I think that we'll have a good year at home. We signed him up with a distance learning program. Hopefully the materials will arrive soon. For now we're easing into it.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck with Toby, I think it is great what you are doing. You are such a great mom, you always have been! Miss living by you! Julie
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