Another desision to make

I can tell you exactly why they are offering what you asked for. The principal just found out that you are serious about withdrawing your child to homeschool. The withdrawal of your child means a loss of revenue to the school (thousands of $$$). Teachers don’t have to deal with budget issues, but the principal does. That’s why the principal suddenly showed up to give you options that weren’t available before — although I hardly consider keeping things the same, or dropping the child back one grade mid-year *viable* options! The school is making a sales pitch, trying to entice you to keep your child enrolled.In my opinion, your older kids are giving you good advice. Your daughter would learn more and have better self-esteem by the end of the school year if you start homeschooling now. The contained class is likely to (1) not meet her needs as well as homeschooling and, (2) damage her self-esteem. Children see clearly what *really* goes on in school.I have yet to meet a parent who wishes they had kept their child in school longer before starting to homeschool. I have met many who wish they had started homeschooling earlier.Mary: I had just about decided to home school, when I went for a meeting
: with my daughters teacher. The principal showed up to announce I
: had three options to consider. I could keep everything as is,
: which is not working at all. The second choice would be to put her
: back in grade two (she is in grade 3 now) and the third option is
: a special class. It would only be frm Jan to June because she will
: be too old for the class in Sept. Then I will have to try and find
: a class with room for her in another school or put her back in a
: regular class. I am thinking maybe I should let her try this class
: for six months and then if there is no space for her in the fall I
: could keep her home then. I was ready to keep her home in the new
: year, but the small special class is what we asked for in the
: fall. Now I think I should probably give it a chance. It is also
: what the psycologist recommended for her. I don’t know why the
: principal decided to offer this now, because there is still the
: same number of students that were there this fall. There was four
: of them there at the meeting and only one of me (my husband
: couldn’t come as the meeting got moved at the last minute due to
: bad weather). It seemed like they wanted to gang up on me to
: presure me in to choosing this class which seemed very weird
: because this is what I had asked for in the beginning. I am
: thinking I should give this class a try and if it doesn’t work out
: I could still take her out to home school. My older kids all say
: they think I should hs her rather than put her in the contained
: class. Sorry this is so long. I guess I am just trying to think
: things through.: Cathy

Hi Cathy-I guess I felt I had to write and tell you of my experience. My son was in the 7th grade this past March and during an IEP meeting, his English/History teacher ranted and raved about him not being focused so the IEP team “decided” that the best placement for him would be a special day class for English and history, a class with very few students. Unfortunately I signed the IEP agreement without really knowing what I was doing. They swore it was the best program for him. Afterwards, I felt set up. I realized that the school already decided before the IEP meeting that my son would be transferred to the Day Class. Anyway, he did not seem to be progressing academically. The teacher taught to the lowest denominator and there were some behavior problems in the class as well.I tried to get my son back into regular classes this past September but was unsuccessful. The IEP team was adamant about keeping him in day classes for history and English. I then decided to home school him for those 2 subjects. So he is doing concurrent enrollment at his middle school in the morning and and I homeschool him in the afternoon. It’s been about a month and he is doing really well. I had to change my work schedule a little and it is more work for me, but it is well worth it.The kids don’t often voice it, but they know when they are being “taught down to.” I felt that was happening to my son. He felt even more “stupid” in the class. I told the IEP team I really felt strongly that that was not a correct placement for him, but of course, I was made to feel like I didn’t know what I was talking about.If I were you, I would definitely visit the classroom and see what you think. I wanted to visit the classroom, but ended up not doing so because I could already tell from the things my son was telling me that it was not a good environment for him. He was functioning too highly and the class was not challenging for him; yet regular core was a little too hard. The school did not have many options for me, so I chose homeschooling. I am glad I did!