Lord, I am blue tonight. I can’t explain it to my Precious J because I really don’t understand it myself. It is strange that after having dealt with this condition for years the first question that people ask when you say you are depressed is, “What are you depressed about?” I have even caught myself saying the same thing to others when they have shared their depression with me. I suppose it is human nature to want to understand and help fix the problems of those we love.
Of all the things I could have inherited from my mother and my paternal grandmother depression and panic attacks would not have been my choice. But I didn’t get to choose, You did. I know that You love me and want the very best for me. Maybe the depression is a way to draw me close to You. When I am depressed I feel like a child longing to crawl into the arms of my parent to be comforted and assured that they will keep me safe from the storms raging outside my window. Only now the storms are trapped inside me and I find myself coming to You to free me from their torment. Unlike human parents (or husbands) You are always there. You are never asleep; never too tired to hear the fears of my heart. Rational or irrational You take me into Your loving arms and hold me as long as I will allow You. Just as I never tire of holding my Sweet G, or having a sweet moment with my T, You never tire of holding me. I have tried over the years to memorize each little detail of my boy’s faces-- like the fact that T has three moles on his left cheek that form a triangle and G has a sprinkling of freckles all over his nose and cheeks. But You don’t need to try to memorize my features or my characteristics because You were the one that created me. You love and adore me more than I love my boys. You dance over me as I sleep. Just as I find myself waiting patiently for T to come to me for a moment of closeness You are always there waiting for me.
You are the amazing, beautiful creator, my defender, Emmanuel, faithful, forgiving, and gracious Healer, intimate Father, Jesus, the King, who is the loving, loyal Lord and Master, mender of my soul, near and omnipotent, patient, Prince of Peace, quiet, righteous Savior, who is tender and trustworthy, unmatchable and unchangeable, a victorious warrior, You are the eXalted Yahweh who is zealous in His pursuit of me. Thank you for loving me and letting me crawl into your lap tonight Abba Father, my Daddy.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Abba
Lord, I am blue tonight. I can’t explain it to my Precious J because I really don’t understand it myself. It is strange that after having dealt with this condition for years the first question that people ask when you say you are depressed is, “What are you depressed about?” I have even caught myself saying the same thing to others when they have shared their depression with me. I suppose it is human nature to want to understand and help fix the problems of those we love.
Of all the things I could have inherited from my mother and my paternal grandmother depression and panic attacks would not have been my choice. But I didn’t get to choose, You did. I know that You love me and want the very best for me. Maybe the depression is a way to draw me close to You. When I am depressed I feel like a child longing to crawl into the arms of my parent to be comforted and assured that they will keep me safe from the storms raging outside my window. Only now the storms are trapped inside me and I find myself coming to You to free me from their torment. Unlike human parents (or husbands) You are always there. You are never asleep; never too tired to hear the fears of my heart. Rational or irrational You take me into Your loving arms and hold me as long as I will allow You. Just as I never tire of holding my Sweet G, or having a sweet moment with my T, You never tire of holding me. I have tried over the years to memorize each little detail of my boy’s faces-- like the fact that T has three moles on his left cheek that form a triangle and G has a sprinkling of freckles all over his nose and cheeks. But You don’t need to try to memorize my features or my characteristics because You were the one that created me. You love and adore me more than I love my boys. You dance over me as I sleep. Just as I find myself waiting patiently for T to come to me for a moment of closeness You are always there waiting for me.
You are the amazing, beautiful creator, my defender, Emmanuel, faithful, forgiving, and gracious Healer, intimate Father, Jesus, the King, who is the loving, loyal Lord and Master, mender of my soul, near and omnipotent, patient, Prince of Peace, quiet, righteous Savior, who is tender and trustworthy, unmatchable and unchangeable, a victorious warrior, You are the eXalted Yahweh who is zealous in His pursuit of me. Thank you for loving me and letting me crawl into your lap tonight Abba Father, my Daddy.
Of all the things I could have inherited from my mother and my paternal grandmother depression and panic attacks would not have been my choice. But I didn’t get to choose, You did. I know that You love me and want the very best for me. Maybe the depression is a way to draw me close to You. When I am depressed I feel like a child longing to crawl into the arms of my parent to be comforted and assured that they will keep me safe from the storms raging outside my window. Only now the storms are trapped inside me and I find myself coming to You to free me from their torment. Unlike human parents (or husbands) You are always there. You are never asleep; never too tired to hear the fears of my heart. Rational or irrational You take me into Your loving arms and hold me as long as I will allow You. Just as I never tire of holding my Sweet G, or having a sweet moment with my T, You never tire of holding me. I have tried over the years to memorize each little detail of my boy’s faces-- like the fact that T has three moles on his left cheek that form a triangle and G has a sprinkling of freckles all over his nose and cheeks. But You don’t need to try to memorize my features or my characteristics because You were the one that created me. You love and adore me more than I love my boys. You dance over me as I sleep. Just as I find myself waiting patiently for T to come to me for a moment of closeness You are always there waiting for me.
You are the amazing, beautiful creator, my defender, Emmanuel, faithful, forgiving, and gracious Healer, intimate Father, Jesus, the King, who is the loving, loyal Lord and Master, mender of my soul, near and omnipotent, patient, Prince of Peace, quiet, righteous Savior, who is tender and trustworthy, unmatchable and unchangeable, a victorious warrior, You are the eXalted Yahweh who is zealous in His pursuit of me. Thank you for loving me and letting me crawl into your lap tonight Abba Father, my Daddy.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Intelligent T
I recently had an opportunity to talk to a fellow homeschool mom about her fears of teaching her daughter to write. She has looked at all the Georgia Performance Standard with all their educational lingo and has had a sudden onset of fear. I can totally relate to this newbie homeschooler. I remember being so afraid that I couldn't teach T to read. I would often say, "If I can teach him to read I think I can teach him everything else." After T quickly mastered reading my fears soon changed to the fear of teaching him how to write effectively. I didn't know anything about GPS or QCC or whatever standards were being used at the time and had no way of knowing what level of performance was acceptable for children at certain ages. So, that became my source of fear. Am I pushing him enough or expecting too much for a child of his age?
Long story short--the son that I so worried I would not be able to teach the art of writing is strongly considering a journalism or creative writing major. He is taking a creative writing course this semester and came home two weeks ago and spent every waking moment he wasn't working on writing a 12 page short story. Last weekend he came home with the short stories of many of his classmates with the assignment of critiquing them. As he read the essays of his peers he began to doubt the strength and beauty of his own writing. "My story is ordinary. My characters are boring. I should have chosen another storyline." I had read his story and thought it was beautifully written and assured him that this first draft had a lot of potential. This weekend he returned to tell me that his instructor loved his story, thought it was one of the best first drafts she had ever read, and assured him that he would have no trouble getting it published when he was finished revising it.
Although I cannot take full credit for his ability to write well, I was the one who laid the foundation. I can't help but beam with pride every time he brings in a new book, goes to hear and author speak, or I see him curled up with a good book just for the fun of it. I did that. I taught him to read, helped him create a love and passion for reading that surpasses my own, and started him on the writing path that ended with him seeking to be a published author someday. While attending traditional school he was blessed to have a few really good teachers that recognized his potential and helped him to reach the point he is today. I am so proud of my talented son and am grateful to God that He allowed me to be the one to teach him to read and write among many other things. He won't admit it often but the homeschool life created a spark for learning that still burns in him today. Who else but a homeschooler follows the Iditarod, chooses a rookie and a veteran musher and follows them daily to check their progress? Oh, how I love my T.
Long story short--the son that I so worried I would not be able to teach the art of writing is strongly considering a journalism or creative writing major. He is taking a creative writing course this semester and came home two weeks ago and spent every waking moment he wasn't working on writing a 12 page short story. Last weekend he came home with the short stories of many of his classmates with the assignment of critiquing them. As he read the essays of his peers he began to doubt the strength and beauty of his own writing. "My story is ordinary. My characters are boring. I should have chosen another storyline." I had read his story and thought it was beautifully written and assured him that this first draft had a lot of potential. This weekend he returned to tell me that his instructor loved his story, thought it was one of the best first drafts she had ever read, and assured him that he would have no trouble getting it published when he was finished revising it.
Although I cannot take full credit for his ability to write well, I was the one who laid the foundation. I can't help but beam with pride every time he brings in a new book, goes to hear and author speak, or I see him curled up with a good book just for the fun of it. I did that. I taught him to read, helped him create a love and passion for reading that surpasses my own, and started him on the writing path that ended with him seeking to be a published author someday. While attending traditional school he was blessed to have a few really good teachers that recognized his potential and helped him to reach the point he is today. I am so proud of my talented son and am grateful to God that He allowed me to be the one to teach him to read and write among many other things. He won't admit it often but the homeschool life created a spark for learning that still burns in him today. Who else but a homeschooler follows the Iditarod, chooses a rookie and a veteran musher and follows them daily to check their progress? Oh, how I love my T.
Intelligent T
I recently had an opportunity to talk to a fellow homeschool mom about her fears of teaching her daughter to write. She has looked at all the Georgia Performance Standard with all their educational lingo and has had a sudden onset of fear. I can totally relate to this newbie homeschooler. I remember being so afraid that I couldn't teach T to read. I would often say, "If I can teach him to read I think I can teach him everything else." After T quickly mastered reading my fears soon changed to the fear of teaching him how to write effectively. I didn't know anything about GPS or QCC or whatever standards were being used at the time and had no way of knowing what level of performance was acceptable for children at certain ages. So, that became my source of fear. Am I pushing him enough or expecting too much for a child of his age?
Long story short--the son that I so worried I would not be able to teach the art of writing is strongly considering a journalism or creative writing major. He is taking a creative writing course this semester and came home two weeks ago and spent every waking moment he wasn't working on writing a 12 page short story. Last weekend he came home with the short stories of many of his classmates with the assignment of critiquing them. As he read the essays of his peers he began to doubt the strength and beauty of his own writing. "My story is ordinary. My characters are boring. I should have chosen another storyline." I had read his story and thought it was beautifully written and assured him that this first draft had a lot of potential. This weekend he returned to tell me that his instructor loved his story, thought it was one of the best first drafts she had ever read, and assured him that he would have no trouble getting it published when he was finished revising it.
Although I cannot take full credit for his ability to write well, I was the one who laid the foundation. I can't help but beam with pride every time he brings in a new book, goes to hear and author speak, or I see him curled up with a good book just for the fun of it. I did that. I taught him to read, helped him create a love and passion for reading that surpasses my own, and started him on the writing path that ended with him seeking to be a published author someday. While attending traditional school he was blessed to have a few really good teachers that recognized his potential and helped him to reach the point he is today. I am so proud of my talented son and am grateful to God that He allowed me to be the one to teach him to read and write among many other things. He won't admit it often but the homeschool life created a spark for learning that still burns in him today. Who else but a homeschooler follows the Iditarod, chooses a rookie and a veteran musher and follows them daily to check their progress? Oh, how I love my T.
Long story short--the son that I so worried I would not be able to teach the art of writing is strongly considering a journalism or creative writing major. He is taking a creative writing course this semester and came home two weeks ago and spent every waking moment he wasn't working on writing a 12 page short story. Last weekend he came home with the short stories of many of his classmates with the assignment of critiquing them. As he read the essays of his peers he began to doubt the strength and beauty of his own writing. "My story is ordinary. My characters are boring. I should have chosen another storyline." I had read his story and thought it was beautifully written and assured him that this first draft had a lot of potential. This weekend he returned to tell me that his instructor loved his story, thought it was one of the best first drafts she had ever read, and assured him that he would have no trouble getting it published when he was finished revising it.
Although I cannot take full credit for his ability to write well, I was the one who laid the foundation. I can't help but beam with pride every time he brings in a new book, goes to hear and author speak, or I see him curled up with a good book just for the fun of it. I did that. I taught him to read, helped him create a love and passion for reading that surpasses my own, and started him on the writing path that ended with him seeking to be a published author someday. While attending traditional school he was blessed to have a few really good teachers that recognized his potential and helped him to reach the point he is today. I am so proud of my talented son and am grateful to God that He allowed me to be the one to teach him to read and write among many other things. He won't admit it often but the homeschool life created a spark for learning that still burns in him today. Who else but a homeschooler follows the Iditarod, chooses a rookie and a veteran musher and follows them daily to check their progress? Oh, how I love my T.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Plodding Right Along
Whew!! Time has been flying by at a blistering pace since taking G out of public school. It is hard to believe that it is almost time to send in our first attendance report. Yikes, time stands still for no man! We have been very busy getting our school organized for the past four weeks. Almost every piece of furniture in this house has been moved at least once in an attempt to find the right place for everything. On top of that the boys decided to switch rooms. G has slept in T's room every night since T left for college partly in an attempt to annoy his big brother and partly because it makes him feel close to T while he is gone. For the first few weeks T ran G out when he came home every weekend but two weeks ago T said, "Let him sleep in there. I am getting used to sleeping on a twin bed." So, since then the big bed has been G's and the twin bed has been T's but the contents of the rooms remained as they have always been. Last weekend, however, T said he really likes G's room better (don't know if he is being totally truthful or not but he said it is quieter in there which is a possibility). Anyway Sunday was spent switching everything except beds and dressers from one room to the other (this was J's project).
My major project has been the school room. I have pulled most of my books out and arranged them (somewhat) on a bookcase we moved into the den-now schoolroom/cafeteria. I didn't realize that I had so many books. I sold most of our homeschool books after moving to this house 3 years after putting T in traditional school thinking that we would never need them again. Of course soon after selling all the books which T almost had a stroke over I decided to go back to school to complete my degree. My love of books took over and I began to build a library for a future classroom. I didn't realize how many books I had accumulated from book sales in the last three years. I even bought one of my own books back at a consignment sale without realizing it until I got home and T recognized my anal retentive organizational coding on the spine. I had sold it on ebay 4 years prior to finding it at the consignment sale!!
We are happily plodding along without formal curriculum for the time being. I would have cringed to have been curriculum free this far into the school year with T but G and I are doing a unit study on apples, working on reading and phonics, fine tuning computer skills, and plunging into math at a blistering pace. T was even impressed last week when he came home to hear G skip-counting. His favorite things right now are playing sight words games online, going through a sight word powerpoint I made him and playing a virtual math manipulative game with base ten blocks. I just love the sound of his voice when he says, "I have ten, time to bundle em up." He is such a sweet and smart boy. Tonight he was asking how many years until he will be 16 and his dad said, "about 9." Without missing a beat G said, "and it is about to be 8." He is exactly right. He knew how to apply subtraction in a real life situation!!!
My major project has been the school room. I have pulled most of my books out and arranged them (somewhat) on a bookcase we moved into the den-now schoolroom/cafeteria. I didn't realize that I had so many books. I sold most of our homeschool books after moving to this house 3 years after putting T in traditional school thinking that we would never need them again. Of course soon after selling all the books which T almost had a stroke over I decided to go back to school to complete my degree. My love of books took over and I began to build a library for a future classroom. I didn't realize how many books I had accumulated from book sales in the last three years. I even bought one of my own books back at a consignment sale without realizing it until I got home and T recognized my anal retentive organizational coding on the spine. I had sold it on ebay 4 years prior to finding it at the consignment sale!!
We are happily plodding along without formal curriculum for the time being. I would have cringed to have been curriculum free this far into the school year with T but G and I are doing a unit study on apples, working on reading and phonics, fine tuning computer skills, and plunging into math at a blistering pace. T was even impressed last week when he came home to hear G skip-counting. His favorite things right now are playing sight words games online, going through a sight word powerpoint I made him and playing a virtual math manipulative game with base ten blocks. I just love the sound of his voice when he says, "I have ten, time to bundle em up." He is such a sweet and smart boy. Tonight he was asking how many years until he will be 16 and his dad said, "about 9." Without missing a beat G said, "and it is about to be 8." He is exactly right. He knew how to apply subtraction in a real life situation!!!
Plodding Right Along
Whew!! Time has been flying by at a blistering pace since taking G out of public school. It is hard to believe that it is almost time to send in our first attendance report. Yikes, time stands still for no man! We have been very busy getting our school organized for the past four weeks. Almost every piece of furniture in this house has been moved at least once in an attempt to find the right place for everything. On top of that the boys decided to switch rooms. G has slept in T's room every night since T left for college partly in an attempt to annoy his big brother and partly because it makes him feel close to T while he is gone. For the first few weeks T ran G out when he came home every weekend but two weeks ago T said, "Let him sleep in there. I am getting used to sleeping on a twin bed." So, since then the big bed has been G's and the twin bed has been T's but the contents of the rooms remained as they have always been. Last weekend, however, T said he really likes G's room better (don't know if he is being totally truthful or not but he said it is quieter in there which is a possibility). Anyway Sunday was spent switching everything except beds and dressers from one room to the other (this was J's project).
My major project has been the school room. I have pulled most of my books out and arranged them (somewhat) on a bookcase we moved into the den-now schoolroom/cafeteria. I didn't realize that I had so many books. I sold most of our homeschool books after moving to this house 3 years after putting T in traditional school thinking that we would never need them again. Of course soon after selling all the books which T almost had a stroke over I decided to go back to school to complete my degree. My love of books took over and I began to build a library for a future classroom. I didn't realize how many books I had accumulated from book sales in the last three years. I even bought one of my own books back at a consignment sale without realizing it until I got home and T recognized my anal retentive organizational coding on the spine. I had sold it on ebay 4 years prior to finding it at the consignment sale!!
We are happily plodding along without formal curriculum for the time being. I would have cringed to have been curriculum free this far into the school year with T but G and I are doing a unit study on apples, working on reading and phonics, fine tuning computer skills, and plunging into math at a blistering pace. T was even impressed last week when he came home to hear G skip-counting. His favorite things right now are playing sight words games online, going through a sight word powerpoint I made him and playing a virtual math manipulative game with base ten blocks. I just love the sound of his voice when he says, "I have ten, time to bundle em up." He is such a sweet and smart boy. Tonight he was asking how many years until he will be 16 and his dad said, "about 9." Without missing a beat G said, "and it is about to be 8." He is exactly right. He knew how to apply subtraction in a real life situation!!!
My major project has been the school room. I have pulled most of my books out and arranged them (somewhat) on a bookcase we moved into the den-now schoolroom/cafeteria. I didn't realize that I had so many books. I sold most of our homeschool books after moving to this house 3 years after putting T in traditional school thinking that we would never need them again. Of course soon after selling all the books which T almost had a stroke over I decided to go back to school to complete my degree. My love of books took over and I began to build a library for a future classroom. I didn't realize how many books I had accumulated from book sales in the last three years. I even bought one of my own books back at a consignment sale without realizing it until I got home and T recognized my anal retentive organizational coding on the spine. I had sold it on ebay 4 years prior to finding it at the consignment sale!!
We are happily plodding along without formal curriculum for the time being. I would have cringed to have been curriculum free this far into the school year with T but G and I are doing a unit study on apples, working on reading and phonics, fine tuning computer skills, and plunging into math at a blistering pace. T was even impressed last week when he came home to hear G skip-counting. His favorite things right now are playing sight words games online, going through a sight word powerpoint I made him and playing a virtual math manipulative game with base ten blocks. I just love the sound of his voice when he says, "I have ten, time to bundle em up." He is such a sweet and smart boy. Tonight he was asking how many years until he will be 16 and his dad said, "about 9." Without missing a beat G said, "and it is about to be 8." He is exactly right. He knew how to apply subtraction in a real life situation!!!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Home Where We Belong
J and I recently made the decision to take G out of public school and bring him home. We were homeschoolers once upon a time and thought that season of our lives was over. After spending a day in the life of G (I observed him at school) and seeing how different he was there, how disengaged he was during the lessons, the numerous times he missed all or part of lessons, and the time he spent traveling to and from classes and bathroom breaks our decision was easy. G needs to be at home.
We have been told things by educators that we don't agree with. How anyone who has spent any amount of time with Sweet G could put those limits on him is beyond my understanding. I am sure they would say, "Well, they are just in denial." The truth is that it is hard to accept the limitations and obstacles that your child has to face. Each of us have weaknesses and strengths and G is no exception. He has huge obstacles to overcome but he also has great strengths to carry him through difficult times. I see him blossoming into a determined, strong, yet sweet little boy. He sat at our "cafeteria table" (that is what he calls our school table since we put it in the kitchen) the first day we homeschooled and did the very things public educators have said he is not capable of doing. He does have problems with attention and is very easily distracted, but when asked to do things when there are no distractions he can complete them.
We are not angry with the school system and are not disappointed with his school. They did the best that they could for our child. I know that he is loved by everyone there. They were simply not equipped to meet his very specific needs. It is just the nature of how school is set up. Public education is a wonderful thing. That is, it is a wonderful thing if your child is an average functioning child. I don't think it is the best option for children with special needs. I did for a long time because that is what I was told. But after spending the last three years doing my practicum and student teaching in public education I see that teachers are stretched beyond their limits, funds are nonexistent, the smallest need takes an act of congress to get done, the paperwork is endless, the meetings are heart wrenching, and somewhere amoung all those things a little boy was falling through the cracks.
Something is going on that limits G's progress but nobody knows what it is. They keep trying to fix it without knowing what "it" is they are trying to fix. So, even though it may not be the most popular decision we are prepared to face the criticism that is sure to come. We have been there and done that all before. Criticism is just a part of life. No matter what you do someone is not going to like it and they are going to tell you about it.
Amidst all the whirlwind changes that have taken place in my life in the past two weeks, I feel a sense of calm. I feel as if I have come home after being gone for way too long. We are settling into our "new normal" and we are thriving. My house is clean, we have had several homecooked meals, my baby is loved and becoming more curious daily. We even made homemade applesauce this week. There really is nothing like living the life of a homeschool mom!
We have been told things by educators that we don't agree with. How anyone who has spent any amount of time with Sweet G could put those limits on him is beyond my understanding. I am sure they would say, "Well, they are just in denial." The truth is that it is hard to accept the limitations and obstacles that your child has to face. Each of us have weaknesses and strengths and G is no exception. He has huge obstacles to overcome but he also has great strengths to carry him through difficult times. I see him blossoming into a determined, strong, yet sweet little boy. He sat at our "cafeteria table" (that is what he calls our school table since we put it in the kitchen) the first day we homeschooled and did the very things public educators have said he is not capable of doing. He does have problems with attention and is very easily distracted, but when asked to do things when there are no distractions he can complete them.
We are not angry with the school system and are not disappointed with his school. They did the best that they could for our child. I know that he is loved by everyone there. They were simply not equipped to meet his very specific needs. It is just the nature of how school is set up. Public education is a wonderful thing. That is, it is a wonderful thing if your child is an average functioning child. I don't think it is the best option for children with special needs. I did for a long time because that is what I was told. But after spending the last three years doing my practicum and student teaching in public education I see that teachers are stretched beyond their limits, funds are nonexistent, the smallest need takes an act of congress to get done, the paperwork is endless, the meetings are heart wrenching, and somewhere amoung all those things a little boy was falling through the cracks.
Something is going on that limits G's progress but nobody knows what it is. They keep trying to fix it without knowing what "it" is they are trying to fix. So, even though it may not be the most popular decision we are prepared to face the criticism that is sure to come. We have been there and done that all before. Criticism is just a part of life. No matter what you do someone is not going to like it and they are going to tell you about it.
Amidst all the whirlwind changes that have taken place in my life in the past two weeks, I feel a sense of calm. I feel as if I have come home after being gone for way too long. We are settling into our "new normal" and we are thriving. My house is clean, we have had several homecooked meals, my baby is loved and becoming more curious daily. We even made homemade applesauce this week. There really is nothing like living the life of a homeschool mom!
Home Where We Belong
J and I recently made the decision to take G out of public school and bring him home. We were homeschoolers once upon a time and thought that season of our lives was over. After spending a day in the life of G (I observed him at school) and seeing how different he was there, how disengaged he was during the lessons, the numerous times he missed all or part of lessons, and the time he spent traveling to and from classes and bathroom breaks our decision was easy. G needs to be at home.
We have been told things by educators that we don't agree with. How anyone who has spent any amount of time with Sweet G could put those limits on him is beyond my understanding. I am sure they would say, "Well, they are just in denial." The truth is that it is hard to accept the limitations and obstacles that your child has to face. Each of us have weaknesses and strengths and G is no exception. He has huge obstacles to overcome but he also has great strengths to carry him through difficult times. I see him blossoming into a determined, strong, yet sweet little boy. He sat at our "cafeteria table" (that is what he calls our school table since we put it in the kitchen) the first day we homeschooled and did the very things public educators have said he is not capable of doing. He does have problems with attention and is very easily distracted, but when asked to do things when there are no distractions he can complete them.
We are not angry with the school system and are not disappointed with his school. They did the best that they could for our child. I know that he is loved by everyone there. They were simply not equipped to meet his very specific needs. It is just the nature of how school is set up. Public education is a wonderful thing. That is, it is a wonderful thing if your child is an average functioning child. I don't think it is the best option for children with special needs. I did for a long time because that is what I was told. But after spending the last three years doing my practicum and student teaching in public education I see that teachers are stretched beyond their limits, funds are nonexistent, the smallest need takes an act of congress to get done, the paperwork is endless, the meetings are heart wrenching, and somewhere amoung all those things a little boy was falling through the cracks.
Something is going on that limits G's progress but nobody knows what it is. They keep trying to fix it without knowing what "it" is they are trying to fix. So, even though it may not be the most popular decision we are prepared to face the criticism that is sure to come. We have been there and done that all before. Criticism is just a part of life. No matter what you do someone is not going to like it and they are going to tell you about it.
Amidst all the whirlwind changes that have taken place in my life in the past two weeks, I feel a sense of calm. I feel as if I have come home after being gone for way too long. We are settling into our "new normal" and we are thriving. My house is clean, we have had several homecooked meals, my baby is loved and becoming more curious daily. We even made homemade applesauce this week. There really is nothing like living the life of a homeschool mom!
We have been told things by educators that we don't agree with. How anyone who has spent any amount of time with Sweet G could put those limits on him is beyond my understanding. I am sure they would say, "Well, they are just in denial." The truth is that it is hard to accept the limitations and obstacles that your child has to face. Each of us have weaknesses and strengths and G is no exception. He has huge obstacles to overcome but he also has great strengths to carry him through difficult times. I see him blossoming into a determined, strong, yet sweet little boy. He sat at our "cafeteria table" (that is what he calls our school table since we put it in the kitchen) the first day we homeschooled and did the very things public educators have said he is not capable of doing. He does have problems with attention and is very easily distracted, but when asked to do things when there are no distractions he can complete them.
We are not angry with the school system and are not disappointed with his school. They did the best that they could for our child. I know that he is loved by everyone there. They were simply not equipped to meet his very specific needs. It is just the nature of how school is set up. Public education is a wonderful thing. That is, it is a wonderful thing if your child is an average functioning child. I don't think it is the best option for children with special needs. I did for a long time because that is what I was told. But after spending the last three years doing my practicum and student teaching in public education I see that teachers are stretched beyond their limits, funds are nonexistent, the smallest need takes an act of congress to get done, the paperwork is endless, the meetings are heart wrenching, and somewhere amoung all those things a little boy was falling through the cracks.
Something is going on that limits G's progress but nobody knows what it is. They keep trying to fix it without knowing what "it" is they are trying to fix. So, even though it may not be the most popular decision we are prepared to face the criticism that is sure to come. We have been there and done that all before. Criticism is just a part of life. No matter what you do someone is not going to like it and they are going to tell you about it.
Amidst all the whirlwind changes that have taken place in my life in the past two weeks, I feel a sense of calm. I feel as if I have come home after being gone for way too long. We are settling into our "new normal" and we are thriving. My house is clean, we have had several homecooked meals, my baby is loved and becoming more curious daily. We even made homemade applesauce this week. There really is nothing like living the life of a homeschool mom!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)