Homeschooling in the Ski Lodge

The kids are on Winter break this week. There has been skiing, socializing, organizing and laziness but no time to write posts! Still, teaching opportunities present themselves.

Last night in the ski lodge my daugher asked me about the Twilight sequel, New Moon, and if they were shooting in Italy. I replied that they were probably doing “pre-production work”. This piqued her interest (and my son’s) and they began asking questions about the movie industry.

We went all through it from producers and investors to distribution rights and promotional item sales. I had no idea I knew much about how the industry works but I just kept dredging up more info. It must be all those trashy magazines I’ve read in doctor’s offices over the years. Anyway, my point is – when you teach something you find out just how much you know about the subject and it’s usually more than you think.

It made me feel good about my ability to teach.

It made me remember another odd circumstance. I was in a restaurant in NYC with my husband’s extended family. A cab caught fire and burned to crisp directly in front of the restaurant windows. This provided hours of entertainment for my young nephews but it also provided a teaching opportunity. I talked my 9 year old nephew through everthing that would take place, from the 911 call to the fire being extinguished to the car’s smoldering carcass being removed to the insurance settlement and the replacement of the cab. The surprising thing is that he was genuinely interested. Kids want to know how things work! These are life skills they’ll need someday.

This is a skill they won’t learn in public school. Our public schools increasingly focus on facts and test prep and memorization skills. That’s not the same thing as thinking skills. Looking back, I learned more from teachers who had conversations with us in class than I ever did from those who lectured. Those conversations left me thinking, they left me curious and were a springboard from which I learned to take the initiative to investigate and teach myself.

Homeschooling provides endless opportunities to each practical thinking skills and you know more than you think you do.

Feel good about it.

Sea Change at the IEP Meeting

We went to my son’s triennial IEP meeting. Present were me, hubby, resource and speech teachers, school psychologist and district people. It was startling to say the least. First – we all agreed that the IEP should me “math and writing disability” and not “language disability”. So that will change. The testing I had done with an independent doctor confirmed and expanded upon the testing performed by the school psychologist. I explained my son’s FAE and ADD diagnosis.

The startling change was the culture. I was offered home-bound instruction (with proper medical excuse). I had previously been strongly discouraged from seeking this, which consists of two hours a day of individual tutoring supplemented by parent instruction. I was previously told my son would never qualify, the district would never agree to it because there was insufficient money to provide itinerant teachers.

I was offered part-time attendance. Part-time attendance is not authorized for homeschoolers by the NYS Regents  but apparently it is available for kids with IEPs who are enrolled in school (again with medical documentation). I had NO idea this was possible.

I was told they are modifying the way they deliver instruction within the school day. Instead of “push-in” in the classroom, or pulling the kids out and having them miss core instruction, they will pull them out in groups during study hall time and tutor them then. This is what my daugher receives at her expensive private school (she is not learning disabled but still needs some help).

Well, hallelujah, common sense and flexibility are reigning supreme in my school district! While I have enjoyed homeschooling my son I DO hope he can eventually return to the public school system. There are advantages there for him at the high school level which would be difficult for me to provide.

There has obviously been a huge change in my school district at the district office level. I sense collaboration among the professionals involved. I sense that my concerns are being taken seriously and people are focusing on my son’s needs and not the inner turmoil within the school district. I sense calm and purpose and an optomistic outlook. There have been changes in the staff at the school and at the district level and they have apparently been a good thing.

For the first time I came away from one of these meetings feeling GOOD and filled with HOPE. What a huge sense of relief I have right now!