Thursday, July 24, 2008

School Decision

I think we finally know what we're doing this fall for school for Holland. I was really wanting him at the same Charter school as his brother, but the rep and the principal are so against it, I feel I would not get the support I needed if I push the matter.

Right after school let out, my sister and I took a tour of the newest charter school in our area. It combines homeschooling into a public school setting. It's quite unique. You are assigned an Educational Specialist who works one on one with you to develop your yearly plan and they check in weekly. We put our kids on the wait list, not knowing what we wanted to do, but to have that option should openings occur. We were so far down the list that I was not considering that an option. I got a call yesterday that both the boys got in (I put Romania in there just to be able to change my mind about the other Charter school). I filled out the paperwork and they will request records, his IEP, and any other documents they need to transfer his placement to the new Charter school. I will get $575 to spend for the entire year. This can go towards curriculum, classes at the Charter school, extracurricular activities or lessons. The only catch is it can't be faith-based. So some of the curriculum I used before I won't be able to buy with this money. I can still use it, I just can't include it in my school schedule.

It will be interesting how this works out. I feel better about him not being at the same program he was at last year and hopefully I will be able to make some progress.

At this point, his placement from last year would just not work. Behaviorally he's improved so much that it makes no sense to put him back where he was. Springwater will not approve of the placement, so my only other option was to homeschool again. I see no reason to leave him in a classroom full of kids with potentially severe behavior issues.

1 comment:

Laura and the family said...

I'll keep my fingers cross that everything goes in your way especially for your older son.

It is same as for my younger son who is now in his brother's school site (full-time mainstream classes, 30 minutes RSP and 2X a week for speech.) Also, I am teaching pre-school kids where both of my sons are at the same school site.