Publik Edjukashon Sistum




I think it's about to turn into a war.

A battle has come up that I didn't think would. We had a "parent teacher" conference with Austin’s teacher last Thursday. In this case I think that I will call it a "teacher teacher" conference because she dominated the whole conversation and didn't care what we had to say. Austin, is in the "gifted" (but they are not allowed to say gifted anymore) program and has been since kindergarten. In the program he is pulled out of regular class for some extra reading/english based things. Well... he is starting to get into trouble in school. He will not shut up, is getting a cocky attitude with his teacher and acts like he knows everything. He is a smart kid and knows he is. We suggested to his teacher that he is bored. She shook her head. I asked, "Can you give him more work or just more challenging work?" Her answer was, "He has plenty to do, after he is done with his work he can get on the computer and we have plenty of books for him to read. And, besides, a TRULY gifted child will never get bored." (Uh ha, doesn’t her degree in teaching include common since... everything in the classroom for him to "do" is at the second grade level!) She went on again about the discipline problems. She then makes a statement that followed me all the way home before it smacked me in the head. "I'm not suggesting that he should be on medication, but we need to get a handle on the discipline issues." WHAT!! If she wasn't suggesting it then why bring it up? This kid picks up on everything at twice the speed of his peers and CAN sit quietly and listen. Her answer to "fixing" all this is that she isn't going to send him to the "gifted" classes if he keeps this up. It was stated in such a way that it too didn't smack me in the head until I got home. This happened Thursday and I'm still fuming over it. She is going to take away the one thing that does truly challenge him, the one thing that he needs to keep him out of trouble. But of coarse, I forgot, he isn't bored.

I talked to Austin on Friday about something completely off the subject of school and HE turned the conversation to school. He told me that it is like he is in first grade again. He just likes to talk and he doesn't want to sit and do "the stuff" that he has already done a million times. Some of it he has done in kindergarten!

So, what does that tell you?
It tells me that he is bored.
He needs to be challenged.
Where’s my fu*#ing degree?

I thought school was the best place for Austin. He requires a more structured environment, or so I thought. Turns out he needs a bit more freedom to move foreword. I have a feeling that if the school keeps this up I'll be homeschooling all of them soon. Who knows? I never thought it would go this far.

I also get a lot of "looks" when I walk into the school building. I didn't think homeschooling would piss people off this much! The general public just can't stand for others to go against the grain can they? It amazes me that statements like, " I can't wait for summer brake to end! My kids are driving me nuts!" are socially acceptable. It's acceptable to send them off to school for 6-8 hours a day then they go to daycare for three more hours then you get home and pop a frozen dinner in the microwave for them to eat WHILE watching TV. But I can't keep my kids home in a family environment, where we live life and learn together. Honestly, which scenario sounds crazy?