homeschooling advice

[december]

Please pay attention to what your son is telling you. Our son was telling us for years that he just "wasn't happy" at school. Well, DH and I both kept telling him that was no excuse because you have to go to school and later on you have to go to work. We tried to figure out what was going on.

When he was younger, I think it was mostly verbal but when they moved into jr. high, everything got much worse very quickly. He came home once with a very bad bruise on his leg which he claimed he got playing kickball, but that explanation just never set right with me.

Then he calls from school one day and says he has hurt himself and we need to come get him. By the time DH got to the school, his eye was black and he was really upset. He claimed he turned around too quickly in the bathroom and walked into an open stall door. I just knew that explanation didn't sound right. DH and I kept questioning him, but he stuck with his story. A few weeks after it happened, another mom came to me and told me that her son knew what happened to him.

It turns out that 5 other boys ganged up on him in the bathroom. The sad part was that the school refused to do anything about it. They said that it was only our sons word against the other 5 and they just didn't know who to believe. The day after we reported this, one of the students attempted to bring a knife to school and was arrested. He was back at school 3 days later and threatened to kill the kid who turned him in for the knife. Nothing was done about the threat, BTW. Same excuse, the administration couldn't take the word of kids. The threatened kid had witnesses, but nothing was done.

Once our son told us, he refused to go back to school there. Which brings us to our current dilemma. Just be very careful with your son and if you find evidence of violence against him...go to the local authorities with it immediately. We would have gotten much better results if we had involved the sheriff's dept., but by the time we actually knew what had happened, it was too late.

Good luck. I sincerely hope everything works out for you all!!!

Wow-I was going to apologize for hi-jacking your thread, but it seems we have similar stories. I am paying attention-just wish dh was. He knows I'm not happy here, but keeps saying the kids are happy, but say they aren't to make me happy When a 10 yr old tells you that there is no discipline in his school, something is wrong. dd is kinda liking being further ahead-she is the only one in her 2nd grade class that can tell time! They all ask her, and it tickles her to death. I'm worried that if we are here too long, they will be too far behind to catch up. Luckily, my kids like to learn so we do alot together.

My son does get sick easily, like I did as a child, but he has been throwing up every morning and begging to stay in my classroom, and that got me really concerned. Several of us have kids in that grade, and have discussed that something was going on. None of them want to go to school. One teacher is walking her child to class every morning because of the bullying between our building and their building. And another mother told me yesterday that she had seen lots of small bruises (like from pinching) on her son's neck and back, but he wouldn't tell her where they came from. My son told me it was the same boys who were messing with him. I passed the info on to her and she asked him. He finally admitted it. She asked him what day they hit him-his answer was what day to they not hit me.

Since your story is similar, I will go into more detail here. Wed night after trick or treating, I laid down with him to tuck him in (we do that every night-just to talk about the day a little). I found a cut on his hand, and him where it came from. He teared up but wouldn't tell me. Then I saw alot of scratches and bruises on his legs. He finally admitted that 2 boys in his PE class have hit him every day for over a month. The PE coach does nothing! Wed, one of them picked him up around his legs (he was bruised heavily here) and threw him down. He landed on some roots and acorns. The coach was on his cell phone at the time and didn't see it. According to my son, even if he did he wouldn't do anything.

Thu morning I emailed the principal, coach, his teachers, and the superintendent. ds went to class but got "sick" right before PE and came to me. I got a call to go see the principal, and she told me that my problem was solved because these 2 boys were caught vandalyzing the school Wed night (about 10 kids were-can you believe 2 were 4th graders!) and were suspended for 3 days. She said she had such a huge stack of bullying referrals on them that she was recommending 20 days of alternative school placement after the 3 days suspension, and she would handle it when they come back. My principal warned me not to listen to her, and to be prepared for the boys to be worse when they get back, that this coach and principal have been there for a long time, and there would be no discipline at PE regardless! So at least now we have 21 more days of peace from these 2.

I also found out during all of this that my son and his friends don't go to the bathroom most of the day because of the bullying that takes place in there. If they have to go, they say they are sick so they can come see us and go in the high school hall.

My nerves are shot over this. I am stuck here until May, but then I have a big decision to make. And I'm afraid dh and I will have problems, but my kids have to come first!

Again, sorry to take over here. I'm in a new town, and don't really have anyone to vent to. Thank goodness for my disney boards!

 

[Pixiedust34]

We're in our fifth year of homeschooling, and we love it!

A good place to start is to go to

http://www.hslda.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1

to find out what the homeschool requirements are for your state.

There are many (many!) companies that sell curriculum materials for homeschoolers. Shop around and find materials that are a good fit for you and your ds. Talk to homeschoolers in your area, and ask to see their materials and share what they like/don't like about what they are using. Send away for homeschool catalogs and browse. There is a catalog from Rainbow Resource that is as big as a phone book. That's a handy catalog to have, as just about every product has an extensive review.

Find a local homeschool group and let them know you are thinking of homeschooling. Ask if your ds can join in on some of the social activities so he can make some new friends. Whether or not you decide to homeschool, he can still enjoy the new friends. : ) There are different types of homeschool groups. Some get together for mainly social events and field trips. Others have co-ops with classes for kids. And some groups do both the social activities (bowling, playground days, etc) and co-op classes.

All the best to you with what you decide!

ETA: Our local community college has classes for homeschoolers. Some of their classes include working in their science labs, which is a nice opportunity for upper level science courses! Check the schedule of your local community college and see if there are any classes offered for homeschoolers in your area.