Need some reassurance

[Devaskyla]

I pulled my 5 year old out of kindergarten today. We've been thinking about it for awhile, but I just decided not to prolong it any more.

I just wish I were certain I'm doing the right thing. I had one brief moment just after I told the teacher that today would be his last day where I was completely at peace about it & now I'm back to worrying.

We've already been homeschooling my oldest since he was school age. More like unschooling actually, but I'm not really comfortable with the results of that, even though our facilitator isn't worried. She's not the one who had my complete & utter (& uttterly baffling) fear of having my mom disapprove of/be angry with me. I'm sure that's mostly a whole other thread, but it's probably at least a part of why I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing. The other part is that I feel like I've failed my oldest. He's reading, he can do some mulitplication/division but he can barely write or spell. He might need occupational therapy to help with his writing & that's mostly looking like it will require us to pay out of pocket. And I already know that my 5 year old needs both speech & occupational therapy.

And now I'm back to thinking that how ever wrong school was for us, I should have just made him go this year so he could continue getting help.  ARRRGGGG!

[SundayCrepes]

My 2 year old is in speech therapy. I do not know if she will still need therapy when she is school age. I also worry that her speech delay could go hand in hand with a reading disability. We won't know for several years.

I called a private reading specialist to get her advice. She had nothing good to say about the school system. A friend of mine teaches special ed in the high school. She has nothing good to say about how the schools help kids who need extra services.

I told the reading specialist that early intervention runs out for our daughter at age 3 and at that point we'll have to choose between therapy provided by the school district or private covered by us and our insurance. She said to go with private.

We are on the unschooling spectrum, but I do not believe that means not directing my kids. My son will be 5 next month. I recently asked if he wanted to play on www.starfall.com. He did and has learned all his letter sounds. I am now buying early readers. Some arrived today and we looked through them. When he got tired of it, I put them away. Unschooling doesn't mean no direction to me, it just means reading your kid.

So get your kids into the therapy they need and see where you can direct their attention for learning.

AND, if my daughter does have a reading disability, she will never be stigmatized by the schools or other schoolkids. She will be spared all that pain. Also, I think kids who are embarrassed by their special needs do worse because they emotionally set themselves up for failure. You have also made sure your kids will not experience that.

[Devaskyla]

Thank you for the reply. I'm feeling a bit better about it today. Still wondering if we should have waited until Christmas break. Still terrified to tell my mother. She really pushed us to put him in; clearly thinks we're screwing up our eldest. *sigh*