This week, I have a cold. Broke down and took sudefed for it, and then had a mild allergic reaction. So the rest of the time I have been toughing it out. I think it's almost on the way out of here.
Other news. We just made some huge decisions regarding Kristopher and school. If you've followed me for a while, you'll know he has clinical anxiety. We've struggled with it since 1st grade when the school did not challenge him to his learning ability. I'll back up here to where my real complaint in this school process had started. September 1st is the cut for kids to start kindergarten. Kristopher's birthday is the 3rd. He was denied starting, and we tried to fight by testing him to prove. Testing ended up being horribly expensive, and there was no guarantee that they'd let him go because socially, he was on a lower level. So he started when he was turning 6. Kindergarten teacher was awesome. After he proved himself to her by reading her some chapter books, she had him bumped into 1st grade reading. They told me they could not do a total bump of the grade because socially and fine motor skills were "low average" for his age. Either way, he loved Kindergarten. 1st grade, anxiety hits hard. His teacher did not give the option to go to higher groups. She offered enrichment, but by taking way social time and he viewed it as a punishment. He hated going to school, nights were horrible, and I quit fighting just so he would be happy and get thru the days. 2nd grade, better teacher, but still not pushed to his potential. Diagnosed with clinical anxiety and potentially aspergers syndrome. He started anxiety meds, and was tested at the end of the school year for gifted. Now we are at 3rd grade. We got the gifted results and were told that he did not score high enough when tested by the outside party. He did qualify based on assessment tests, our tests, teachers test and guidance, but he had to pass the other person and he was nervous. He told me that she wasn't very friendly and he felt very nervous with her questions. So, denied gifted classes, and anxiety hits an all time high this year. Doubled his meds. School has become a "job". He does like it, and listens amazingly. But at the end of the day he comes home and falls apart. I refuse to bump his meds up anymore. So the decision has been made, we are pulling him from public school. We are going to start cyber school within a week or 2. Enrollment is already 2/3 of the way done. He is so excited about it! I am too. They said after placement testing is done, he will be separated into classes based on his ability, not his age or grade level. If he proves he can do 4th grade work, he will move to 4th grade. If he needs a mix of 3rd and 4th, that's what they will do. He will not be bored anymore! I'm really looking forward to this. I've had different judgement from others already. Saying he's not going to be socialized enough, saying he's going to drive me crazy. Basically, they can all shove it. We're joining homeschool gym at the YMCA, so he will have 2 hrs a week of traditional gym (and swim!). The cyber school has groups all around us for social time, and over 500 field trip options to pick from a year. He will still be socialized. With a better mix than our district.
Daniel (our foster) will still remain in public school because he needs a classroom setting. So Kristopher will still see the people at school and still participate in after school activities. I think it will all work out just fine for us.
Well that's it for now. I got to run to the school now. Ready for the weekend! Watch for a new update next week.
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