My Child's Education; Finding what's best

Making a decision about your child’s education can be heart wrenching. It can be frustrating, even perhaps discouraging. If you’ve been told that your child has processing issues and you are not sure where to turn here are perhaps some options for you to explore. I hope that you can learn from my experience.

In 2005, Halle was in kindergarten when teachers began to tell me that she had a short attention span and that she seemed to stare off into space as though she were not mentally present. I called her a dreamer. I noticed that she was fully capable as long as she was doing something that she was interested in. Halle has a love for dinosaurs and at a very young age decided that she wanted to be a Paleontologist. She also loved to art and anything that allowed her to be creative. Teachers did say that Halle did well if someone worked one on one with her. I also noticed this and began to look at my options.

My searches lead me to homeschooling. At the time I had a thriving business and could not see myself giving up part of that time homeschooling. After a discussion with a seasoned teacher she referred me to SST (Student Support Team), a group of teachers who come together to evaluate and offer suggestions to the lead teacher. They work under the leadership of a school appointed student support team administrator. I had been through this process with my boys so with the knowledge that I had about learning disabilities (ADHD, Aspergers syndrome, ADD) I decided that Halle needed a little more one on one time. My online searches suggested homeschooling so I followed my heart and removed her from public school and homeschooled Halle for kindergarten and first grade.

After those two years it became necessary for me to regain the success I was having in my business. Our finances were getting tight so with a heavy heart I sent Halle back to public school in 2008. Third grade was not good at all. Academically she did well in language arts, spelling and all other subjects that did not directly deal with numbers. In math Halle was behind. Although the information that was being covered had already been covered in home school she failed to retain it and the teachers also felt that she was unable to retain the math she learned from the previous day. Shortly after taking an assessment test to evaluate her abilities Halle was hurt in school. She ran into a brick wall while running from the trailer to the inside of the school building. She was sent to the bathroom with 3 other students and without an adult present she was being chased by the boys who accompanied them. She hit her head above her left eye. She had 14 stitches and her skull could be seen through the hole. I decided from that point that I would find an alternative to public school.

I later in 2008 placed her into a private Montessori school to complete the third grade. She is currently attending the school now and is in the middle of fourth grade. I strongly believe in the Montessori way of teaching but this situation is proving not to be the best environment for her. The work load still requires a lot of one on one for Halle. So here I am again at the same crossroad. I know what needs to be done. I have to be the one to teach her. I now have removed her from school again and have enrolled her into an online K12.com school. Halle remains on grade level with the exception of math which I believe she is a half grade behind. All the decisions I have made in regard to her education have all been in the thought and mind of what is best for her individually. I certainly could have just sent her to school and let the teachers work it out or let her fall through the cracks. I could not and I am at peace with my choices because I made them for Halle and I was not willing to settle for the status quo.

When you get to know Halle you realize how special she is. She has an interest in learning and desperately wants to be successful in school. I am excited to home school her again but this time online. I’ll be her coach and with the help of a teacher that is provided by the K12 program, I know she will reach her goals in mathematics and excel beyond her wildest dreams.

I’ve learned three things through this, the first is;

It is okay to change your mind. If you make a choice and later feel that something else would work better than it is okay to make a change to a better situation. What is important to make sure of is that your child is on his/her grade level or above.

Secondly, do not try to recreate what goes on in the public school classroom. Make sure you cover the basics; reading, writing, math and language arts. You can cover all the other subjects as well. They will fall into place. You will find that your schoolwork will take about 4 hours. So much of the public school day is fluff.

Thirdly, do not let family or friends discourage you. They seem to have all the answers but none of them would have the heart that you have to remove your child from public school for a better education or situation.

Halle is a 4^th grader and currently being homeschooled. She will be 10 years old in 2010. I am her homeschooling coach. I am still running my business from home. I just had to rearrange my priorities.

Spring Break

I've been so busy. I'm tired. I've spent the last 4 weeks working on the ABC Montessori school fund raiser which is over finally, getting my Melaleuca business back in gear and it's been exciting, starting to decorate finally and of course just being Mother and wife around here. I'm still amazed at how busy the children keep me. Wesley can be a full time job if you let him. Justin was succeeding at being as low profile as possible. This is how he stays out of trouble while he's not doing school work or chores. I guess he figures that since he's the middle child it might be easier to over look him, so he can do whatever he wants to. Halle and Kyra are constantly arguing. I have decided that I will just put them outside, no matter what the weather is doing, just so I don't have to hear it. Tony works all the time. Right now i'm listening to Wesley sing with his iPod on, off key and loud, the girls are running up and down the stairs and Justin is waiting for me to take everyone for pizza while they check out the local Karate dojo. If I had my choice today I would take a 6 hour nap. I'm not complaining...just making observations. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being home, it's just these darn spring breaks. Now I understand why families pack up and go. We should have planned something. Tony started painting the guest bath last night. When it's done I'll post some pics.

What's New?

I've been pretty busy. I'm still doing Melaleuca of course. As always I am looking for leaders. I need to really pump it up though. I definitely haven't been working as hard as I used to.

Recently I removed Halle from school (the 2nd time) and enrolled her into the Academy for the Brilliant Child next to Luella Elementary. The rates are reasonable but I have also been able to barter part of the cost. In exchange for my discounted rate I do some work from home for the school. Halle was hurt at the public school and after the accident I just could not send her back. She ran into a brick wall after being chased by 2 boys in school and split her head open, and I mean open. I was able to see straight through to her skull. After a week of keeping her home I decided to put her in private school. Next school year Kyra will attend there also. When I got there I met the owners and one of them coincidentally was a member of my ward. I knew then that Heavenly Father sent me there. Halle is doing well. The school is holding a fund raising event which I am on the committee and oversee the PR and advertising to ensure that we have success and raise lots of money. Aside from that I am decorating the guest bedroom and bath. I am still in the beginning phases though. I've decided to buy furniture (used) for the guest bedroom from Craigslist.com to defer the cost some. Tony is working all the time these days so it leaves me to the house of course. In the past we shared the cooking but now I am doing it mostly myself and have gotten much better at it. I'll admit that I like it more than I did before.


Tony is still working on Tracewood Apartments. He is refurbishing the units and preparing them to be occupied. He's also considering a career change as well. He has some good ideas as to which field he's going to choose but asks that I not mention it to anyone yet.
Wesley is doing well in school. The football coaches have been trying to get him to join the football team. He doesn't want to though. Tony has been trying to convince him as well. He's 6'3" now so Tony has been trying to bribe him with all kinds of things to get him to try out for the team. He still loves music and has been holding 1st chair for a while. His band teacher told me that music is what Wesley was born to do. He wants to be a conductor or write his own music in the future. He'll be 16 in May and is excited because he'll be old enough to date. I still get a play by play of his day after school. I love how he speaks openly with me.

Justin is doing well in school with the exception of math. He's never been the excitable one so getting information from him is still like pulling teeth. He's gotten a bit more expressive as he is getting older. He's finally taller than me. He's happy about that. He's playing the trumpet still but I don't think he likes it very much. He's talked about changing instruments but doesn't know what he wants to change to.
Halle is doing better in the new school. She's in the beginning stages of puberty and getting taller. She'll be singing in the talent show on April 4th. I'm excited about her debut. She also collects dinosaurs. She LOVES dinosaurs.

Kyra is doing pretty good in school but has been complaining that she does not have friends. She still sees homework as a punishment and asks me almost every morning why she has to go to school.

Well that's everyone.