Those of you who've read my past posts have seen the issues I have with my son's transition to public school. Basically he's in special ed, which complicates things a billion fold.
So now... my son's been in school for a few weeks. At first he liked it, but he's still in special ed class and I've been pushing hard to get him out of there because while it was good for him in 2nd grade it is NOT good for him in 7th grade. He has ADHD and it has subsided immensely in the past couple of years while we've homeschooled.
But now they're saying that because he is educationally "behind" (basically we didnt follow their exact program but we followed a homeschool program by Alpha Omega and he excelled at 7th grade math (which is the only class he's been mainstreamed in) I should keep him in special ed classes until the start of the school year. The problem with this is that they are basically doing 4th grade work in 7th grade here, and this school does not individualize the lesson plans like past special ed classes have. (for the record, my son is labeled Emotionally Disabled and here they put ED and educationally challenged kids together and teach them the same stuff) So if they move him into mainstream classes he will be "behind" because my software, while very on grade level, was not written specifically for South Carolina, but if they don't, he will be even FURTHER behind because the work they are teaching in special ed classes is waaay behind. But they seem to think it wont be a big deal because he is starting at the beginning of the year next year. (at home he was dividing fractions and doing pre-algebra and in special ed class they are adding and subtracting 5 digit whole numbers for example) Add on top of this the fact that the kids in this class are mostly there because they have behavior problems (read: refusing to function in a normal class room and some of them are prone to violence and various aggressive behaviors)
On top of this, I had a long conversation with my son's teacher 2 days ago that has me unbelievably freaked out. (all of the following are her words/from this conversation with her or paraphrasing of her words/the conversation) She said that he behaves immensely well. She said that 95% of the time he just his work (which even he says is like kindergarten stuff and way easy for him), finishes way before everyone else, and then just quietly reads a book at his desk. Because of that, he is picked on for being a "goody goody". She asked me why on earth I would send my son to this school. I told her that I had just had a baby and was having trouble giving him enough attention academically, and that he wanted to make friends and socialize. She told me that "the majority of these kids are babies raising babies, hoodlums, and crack babies" and that "nobody who has a choice would send their child to this school". She said that there is a lot of violence, gang activity (my son had mentioned "Bloods" and "Crypts" graffiti on the bathroom walls and someone trying to make him say "I like the Crypts" to a high school kid on his first day, and another kid saying "what are you trying to do, get him killed?" I thought it was just kids playing around at the time), and that it was not surprising to her at all that he was being bullied or that he had parts stolen off of his bike and that nothing could be done about it (he had fancy dice caps for his tires... those little ones over the air nozzles). She also said that he was probably going to continue to get picked on if he did not fit in more (which would mean acting more like those kids, which I obviously do not want - especially at the tender age of 13).
This is not the first time I'd heard negative things about the local public school. I am not saying that low income = crime but the entire area is low income and driving through town about 50% of the town (the east side) looks like the ghetto with run down houses and lots of people hanging out in mass amounts in front of very run down stores. There are people crossing the street with no regards to cars (expecting cars to stop so they can talk to their friends that are driving by and stopping in the road - this is the main thoroughfaire to Georgetown from Florence too) Its an area that I wouldn't walk through at night.
None of the kids in my neighborhood go to this school. They all go to a private Christian school or pay out of county fees to go to the school in the next county. But we are not Christian and the cost to go to the school in the next county (which is a fantastic school with a "top of the state" athletics program) is $5600 a year PLUS there has to be property in the school district in the child's name with a cost of $5000 or more (so we'd have to buy my 12 yr old a 1/4 acre of land
: )
I had no idea that being a mom of a school age'd student would be so difficult.
: If I wasnt having so much trouble homeschooling my son because of our personality clashes and my having a new baby I would have pulled him back out of school already. I just dont know what to do. I think we're going to be moving because of how bad this school is. I was just hoping that prior to moving (which I dont anticipate happening until this summer) we could get my son's "Emotionally Disabled" category removed, because every time he's gone to a new school with that label, they've treated him like he was about to pull a Columbine.
So now... my son's been in school for a few weeks. At first he liked it, but he's still in special ed class and I've been pushing hard to get him out of there because while it was good for him in 2nd grade it is NOT good for him in 7th grade. He has ADHD and it has subsided immensely in the past couple of years while we've homeschooled.
But now they're saying that because he is educationally "behind" (basically we didnt follow their exact program but we followed a homeschool program by Alpha Omega and he excelled at 7th grade math (which is the only class he's been mainstreamed in) I should keep him in special ed classes until the start of the school year. The problem with this is that they are basically doing 4th grade work in 7th grade here, and this school does not individualize the lesson plans like past special ed classes have. (for the record, my son is labeled Emotionally Disabled and here they put ED and educationally challenged kids together and teach them the same stuff) So if they move him into mainstream classes he will be "behind" because my software, while very on grade level, was not written specifically for South Carolina, but if they don't, he will be even FURTHER behind because the work they are teaching in special ed classes is waaay behind. But they seem to think it wont be a big deal because he is starting at the beginning of the year next year. (at home he was dividing fractions and doing pre-algebra and in special ed class they are adding and subtracting 5 digit whole numbers for example) Add on top of this the fact that the kids in this class are mostly there because they have behavior problems (read: refusing to function in a normal class room and some of them are prone to violence and various aggressive behaviors)
On top of this, I had a long conversation with my son's teacher 2 days ago that has me unbelievably freaked out. (all of the following are her words/from this conversation with her or paraphrasing of her words/the conversation) She said that he behaves immensely well. She said that 95% of the time he just his work (which even he says is like kindergarten stuff and way easy for him), finishes way before everyone else, and then just quietly reads a book at his desk. Because of that, he is picked on for being a "goody goody". She asked me why on earth I would send my son to this school. I told her that I had just had a baby and was having trouble giving him enough attention academically, and that he wanted to make friends and socialize. She told me that "the majority of these kids are babies raising babies, hoodlums, and crack babies" and that "nobody who has a choice would send their child to this school". She said that there is a lot of violence, gang activity (my son had mentioned "Bloods" and "Crypts" graffiti on the bathroom walls and someone trying to make him say "I like the Crypts" to a high school kid on his first day, and another kid saying "what are you trying to do, get him killed?" I thought it was just kids playing around at the time), and that it was not surprising to her at all that he was being bullied or that he had parts stolen off of his bike and that nothing could be done about it (he had fancy dice caps for his tires... those little ones over the air nozzles). She also said that he was probably going to continue to get picked on if he did not fit in more (which would mean acting more like those kids, which I obviously do not want - especially at the tender age of 13).
This is not the first time I'd heard negative things about the local public school. I am not saying that low income = crime but the entire area is low income and driving through town about 50% of the town (the east side) looks like the ghetto with run down houses and lots of people hanging out in mass amounts in front of very run down stores. There are people crossing the street with no regards to cars (expecting cars to stop so they can talk to their friends that are driving by and stopping in the road - this is the main thoroughfaire to Georgetown from Florence too) Its an area that I wouldn't walk through at night.
None of the kids in my neighborhood go to this school. They all go to a private Christian school or pay out of county fees to go to the school in the next county. But we are not Christian and the cost to go to the school in the next county (which is a fantastic school with a "top of the state" athletics program) is $5600 a year PLUS there has to be property in the school district in the child's name with a cost of $5000 or more (so we'd have to buy my 12 yr old a 1/4 acre of land
: )I had no idea that being a mom of a school age'd student would be so difficult.
: If I wasnt having so much trouble homeschooling my son because of our personality clashes and my having a new baby I would have pulled him back out of school already. I just dont know what to do. I think we're going to be moving because of how bad this school is. I was just hoping that prior to moving (which I dont anticipate happening until this summer) we could get my son's "Emotionally Disabled" category removed, because every time he's gone to a new school with that label, they've treated him like he was about to pull a Columbine.
