Why did we choose home school?

Why?

So many people, many of them complete strangers, have asked me why we’re home schooling. I really don’t have a good short answer. Especially since my son is usually standing right there.

The start of 7^th grade seemed to be going smoothly. I emailed all his teachers and filled them in on his diagnoses. We have never asked for his work load to be lightened or for less to be expected of him. All we asked is that they be aware of a few issues and head off trouble before it got too big. At the end of September, his progress reports were amazing – all high A’s. Mid October I emailed his teachers again and was assured he was doing well.

My husband’s final straw happened one week later. I found out that my son's grade in English had actually dropped from an A to nearly failing! We were never informed. An unproductive teacher conference later, my husband was pushing home school.

My final straw happened two days after that. Another of my son’s teacher stopped me in the hall (did I mention that I work in his former middle school) and asked me if I thought he might have a problem with writing assignments. This was after multiple emails sent to her along with the IEP paper work and the pages of testing reports detailing his known issues with writing. It took all my control to not break down in frustration right there.

My son’s final straw is much sadder. He was being picked on in the hallways and no one seemed able to stop it. The administrators tried to stand guard in his hall, but there just weren’t enough people to go around to watch him all the time.

So, we quickly went from “what if” to “let’s do it.” And, even though he’s working harder, he is happier than he’s been in years!