Okay 8;15A had two cups of coffee,sitting here in a quiet house,waiting for post cards….
Yes,that is right,my two ADHD/LD/Gifted boys,are again in Peru visiting the Amazon Rainforest with their teacher.. Do I ever get a post card? NO.Why do I wait? Because this is what a mom does. 14 and 13 years old. This will be thier third year going,this will be my third year waiting.
Exciting things have happened at the school this year,thought I would share:
Sam,one of the father’s,actually Sam has two boys like I do,enrolled at the school. Both gifted,both ld. Has been out of work for last half of the school year,has built floor to ceiling book selves the whole perimeter of the main classroom,they are beautiful! Honey colored oak. Took the rest of us 5 months to catagorize all of the classroom books and placed them back on the shelves,but they are back. Sam then moved into the computer room and made counter tops the whole perimeter of the room,fits ten PC’s wonderfully. Painted the closet door with the blackboard paint so now we have one more classroom possibility. Doing feedback this year,and FFW as usual.
Now as if this wasn’t exciting enough,the reptile room is NOW completed,floor to ceiling shelves specificly designed to fit terrariums,of all shapes and sizes,shelving for the plants they are raising to go into the hundreds,and I do mean hundreds, of terrariums,or aquiriums,every one has a light,and in the middle of the room we have a classroom! Mrs. V will be soo excited! No one is telling her ,because they want it to be a surprise. She has been asking for another classroom for a long time. The other day in this classroom,I was sitting at the table looking at the newest addition to the room,two big tree frogs,and listening to the crickets sing,it was after work,and damn it if I didn’t feel relaxed,after that sensory treat! I know your thinking,but wait it is summer,no one is in school,WRONG,this is the school family’s busiest time. Some of us mom’s can’t wait for Dr. Stark to take the Peru trip,because this is the only time we can throw away some of the articles,from 1970 something! He just won’t throw away anything! But do we know how this is? YES,I have two boys,just like this :roll:
Then there is the kitchen,all the kids drew a tile,and then glaze it,so above the sink we are tiling the splashboard with their tiles,quite eclectic and some are incredible! Finnished painting the room,what walls that are still exposed,and without a book shelf, sky blue,looks great beside the honey color of the wood :lol:
Oh and before I forget,Frank,one of the dad’s,he has a daughter that goes to the school,and electrician,installed electrical outlets,by almost every desk,on the floor with a cover,for the laptops :lol:
Hopefully everything will be done when the school year starts,it never is,but we always shoot for it,sigh. The work never ends..
Our school,what an education :wink:
My boys attend a very small private school for gifted lder’s,and or ADHD ,only 22 students,but from grades 2nd to 12th,it is in an old house and is basicly a coop of families trying to give their kids a better education then what the public school has to offer. Most attend under the state voucher. The McKay Scholarship.
Oh, socks!
Your school does sound so wonderful!
My little LD/gifted one was just diagnoised in Jan. The school isn’t interested in letting him into the gifted classes and I’ve let it pass as I’ve had other fights to fight first. Towards the end of the year, his case manager insisted the “powers that be” put his name on the mailing list of summer opportunities. They did. I called and signed him up for a summer camp. All “you know what” broke loose when I called the teacher to discuss accomidations. I would have made an issue but my son found out about it and insisted he didn’t really want to go anyway. Next time, when I have more time to prepare, things will go differently.
Sigh…
where our school is,
The school is between Tampa and Lakeland in a little town called Seffner,Fl.
The name is Academic Achievment Center.
Again like I said it is an old house turned one room school house. One huge room serves as the main classroom,a room to either side is the computer room and the other is the reptile room. It is a wonderful place. One must forget all their preconceived notions of what a school is supposed to look like,and what a school is supposed to do. It is a LOT of hard work,but worth it to us. Funny we were standing there chatting before Dr. Stark and the class(5 boys) left on the escalator to the flight gate,and an airport employee walked up. She asked my husband and DR Stark if they were related,and my husband looked at Dr. Stark and said “yes,oh yes,definitely,but he’s Jewish”. :lol:
But in a way this is true. We are all a big family. And what better way for your kids to feel?
I will take pictures and put them on a webpage,so everyone can see them,if you all want?Anybody know any free webpages out there?
Andy, how did you do a green guy?
Barb,
the very reason that you are talking about, is the very reason I finally took my kids out of public school. They were either going to have to give me a voucher or I was headed for Due Process,and I would have gone there too,but thank God I didn’t have to. I would have walked through fire for my two,now I just wait to hear of their adventures,bummer.
Andy,I am going to suffer terribly from empty nest syndrome I feel it coming.
green guy
Hey Socks,
Green guy is found in the “view more emoticons” just below the faces :roll:
Andy
postcards
BGB-
Just FYI, my gifted LDer blazed a new frontier in being the first dyslexic to attend the gifted classroom. It was QUITE a year.
I FIRMLY believe it is one of the reasons she does so well, b/c of the enrichment and self esteem boost she receives. You might want to look into getting your child in there. BTW, she could NOT read on grade level or copy from the board (still can’t do that well) when she went. I “explained” the law to the school :-) and the allowed her to attend. The other gifted children read to her if she can’t read something and she uses a laptop.
Might be something you want to consider.
Good Point Leah!
Leah is absolutely right,of course. Your child has right’s and in most states gifted students have specific regs as well as Ld students.
I totally understand the “pick your battle wisely” but it might be of benefit to check into your state laws.
Re: Postcards from the boys?
Socks,
I read your post and thought of the essay about going to Holland..instead of Italy…and about all the things Holland had to offer that you would not have seen in Italy. Truly, you have had many blessings.
Beth
your right,Beth
I absolutely love that essay. Thanks Beth,your right. I am blessed
Like The old rolling stones song” you can’t always get what you want,but if your try sometimes you might find,you get what you need.”
Re: Postcards from the boys?
You know Socks, that is a great thing that you were able to put your kids in such a positve environment! It almost inspires me to start a little school EXCEPT that we don’t have those vouchers in NC!!! I loved hearing about your school!
Instead, my child is in a wonderful little charter school. LD teacher is trained in PG and Lindamood-Bell and Language! (but her caseload is a little too high). Principal is an ed. and clinical psychologist and understands special needs. But, they have attracted a lot of LD or struggling kids that the public school failed, and that depresses their test scores, which is the key to survival if you are a charter school. So they now tell me that they will be emphasizing that they are a college prep school and the first change will be that Algebra I will be in eighth grade for everybody. Well, I was just praying my child could make it through Alg. 1 and 2 and Geometry in high school. If they do this, then they’ll be forced at least into Trig to get three maths. That’s just dandy for the advanced kids, but what will it mean to my non-gifted possibly LD child?
Moving her to the public school will bring new problems and boy do I not feel equipped to homeschool her all the way up. But I will if I have to, of course. I’ll never let them kill her self-esteem. You did a great thing for your kids!
Janis
post cards
Well, we’re in Florida, like Socks, but there’s NOT a school around her like hers.
Socks is darned near a rocket scientist on how to navigate the school systems and “get what you need”. (I liked that, Socks!)
I am not working currently, so I can spend ALOT of time at the school. I AM, however, going to have to go back to work at some point. Guess I’ll spend my money on private school.
I’ve asked Socks to let Jami “board” there for the school year, but she hasn’t taken me up on that yet! :0)
Re: Postcards from the boys?
Thank you socks and Leah-FL for the suggestion.
I will look into David’s situation more.
The #&$^?# State Department of Education was recently completely reorganized under our new Gov. Their website used to be plain but very usable—easy to find laws and lincs. Now it is beutiful—lovely flash intro—but has NO content! Just a bunch of fluffy stories about how good the schools are. I can not even find the sped ed stuff and I got pretty good at that before the change. It will make it harder to find the gifted stuff but I can be pretty…persistant. :D
Barb
Re: Postcards from the boys?
Leah,
well come on down. What’s one more lder in my house? BUt seriously,what is stoppping you guys over there? You got the McKay,open your own school!
I can tell you,this is what John McKay wanted. Parents to open their own schools.
I met with a group not to long ago,looking to open a small private school for their kids. One was a SLP( Janis!) One was a mom,and the other was a behavior specialist.
I wish them all the luck in the world.
Socks - You Are Such An Inspiration
I always enjoy the stories you share about your kids, both your own and your little ones. They are such an inspiration. Your school sounds wonderful. My 10y/o dd was in a private LD school for 3 years — although our situation was far from wonderful. We’ve now moved to a catholic school, and think it will be a much better fit. This particular school has a wonderful reputation of working with students individually — to include an on-site tutor trained in OG, with whom we working this summer to get a headstart. The teachers have all made it clear that they will accomodate and modify anything necessary to make her feel capable, and will strive to ensure she gets a well-rounded education in a safe environment. Here’s hoping :lol: ![/code]
sock's boys
Hi Socks,
Love news about your boys, they and you are an inspiration to us all.
You have a few years for the empty nester syndrome. I will be aweful too. My son says he will live with me forever!
Re: Postcards from the boys?
Heck Socks, we gotta get a McKay scholarship in NC before we can think about opening a school!!! You are 100% right, though. Having that gives one the possibility of making it work. With no funding, it’s almost impossible. Is Mr. McKay still around? Maybe he’ll come up here and help us!
Janis
the nightmare of voucher's
Hey Janis
You almost make me cry! Okay your first question, Yes Senator John McKay is around. He is chair of the senate and the Senator for Manatee County.
In April of this year I was contacted by the House of Represenatives in Minnesota,to testify at a hearing regarding voucher’s. The Minnesota house had a bill drawn up that looked real close to the McKay. Ironicly the Florida department of Education was invited to testify and gave my name as a parent advocate to testify also. ( felt very weird,being that in 2000 I filed against the state of Florida on the McKay to the OCR) I do not know how much of the reauthorization of IDEA you follow ,but at the very same time span,the special ed voucher clause that some of congress was trying to get into IDEA,had failed miserably,or at least was being torn apart by groups such as DREDF. DREDF claims that the McKay has no means of determining whether the child is making progress,because they do not force the private schools to participate in the state wide assessments
( thank god! One huge reason I went for the voucher) DREDF also claimed that it was unfair to children who had disabilities ,because the private school could pick and choose who they wanted,where as the public couldn’t. Anyway their campaign made it a night mare in MInn. We had reps who knew nothing what so ever about special ed law,but only knew what they were told to say,most had their mind made up. The room was full of Teach Assoc. PTA,groups who believe in public education,hundreds of people. We were four. The director from the DOE,me,a private school in Minn. and a parent wanting to go to the private school. What a fiasco! Very bad timing.
Prior to this trip,I spoke at the national COPAA conference on the drawbacks and benefits of the McKay,or special ed voucher’s,I should say. I had the opportunity to speak with some of these attorney’s for DREDF( disability rights education defense fund) I explained to them that there were some drawbacks,one of which is termination of most IDEA rights. You are considered a parentally placed private school student,this means you no longer have the right to an IEP,which wouldn’t matter except in Florida this means you can not ever regenerate funding needed to provide services,once you leave the system. You can however revealuate.
The concern of not having accountability is absurd. I can pull my kid out of the school,place him in another private school,or if I go totally insane,place him back into public school,simply because I am not happy with anything about the school.The private school is not only accountable to the parent for the child making progress,but they risk losing finanacially if they left. How much more accountable can one get? I asked DREDF where they have been. Have they heard,or do they know what kind of accountability issues we have in Florida? Gee,so let me get this straight,being the dumb parent and all,I should ,if I knew what was best for my kid,place him back into the public school and allow IDEA to hold the system accountable for all they have done and have yet to do to my kid,all in the name of education?
Oh and our kids take the standford prior to the school year and after the school year every year to see where they are at and where they need to go.
NO,not all of the private schools are like mine,but they could be.
Just another piece of info for you. The guy I went to Minn. with, the director of the choice office,just caught DOE employees falsifying documents,refused to stay quiet and was demoted. He has since filed a whistleblower’s suit and the attorney general’s office is now investigating. Is florida grand or what?
Just in case you were thinking NC was bad,thought I would dispell that for you. In any case the McKay,made by a flawed system has some drawbacks,and in less a parent planned for the exit of public school,it can become a night mare. Been there,done that.Still doing it for other people!
Re: Postcards from the boys?
Gee, Socks, we need to clone you! NC has resisted vouchers (for anyone) by allowing charter schools…and my child attends one. But the big flaw is that they are required to take the state tests. The school really has a superior curriculum, but it has had to make adjustments to meet the testing requirements. So while the school has better curriculum (and a well trained LD teacher), we will still battle those tests beginning at third grade. I’d really rather have a little school than to homeschool her by herself, but parents would still have to fork out some money. I just couldn’t do it for free. And I’d prefer to have another teacher so we could split up the subjects. But it is very unlikely that the state will allow vouchers at this point. I agree with you, though, schooling should be by parental choice. Bad private schools won’t stay in business…and that is the way it should be in the public schools! I’d even homeschool and spend my voucher at a LMB clinic for a few weeks. That would be better than what the schools provide.
Janis
Re: Postcards from the boys?
exactly! Nothing wrong with competition. The voucher debate will continue I am quite sure. Ironicly most people, if asked, are secretly for vouchers! But some people feel like they are antigovernement or some how unamerican if they go against public school. What a crock!
Socks,
Your post is incredible! The school situation sounds awesome! :D
One day the postcard(s) will come, and when they do, you will probably be busy and then feel guilty that you weren’t “waiting”. :wink: But rest assured, you’ve put your time in so don’t let it bug you too bad, ok? :mrgreen:
Just out of curiosity, where is this school? :?:
(Thought I’d try to match you with smileys :!: )
Andy