I'm ready to give up on school.

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Seriously.

I was sick today and Mr. B was home sick too. "Luckily" Mo is over it and back at school.

Today I was busy so Mr. B walked down to school to pick Mo up and Mo's teacher told Mr. B that she would like to have "a word" with him.

That word was Ritalin.

Last summer I spent $1,500 at the best children's hospital in the PNW getting an evaluation done. Their determination: Mo does not have ADD or ADHD.

Knowing this, the school still thinks we should put Mo on drugs.

I am so seriously pissed off that this "word" happened on the one single day I did not come pick Mo up, but that is really beside the point.

I can't really afford private school right now but I'm thinking of shopping for some kind of homeschool network and withdrawing him from public school.

Has anyone here home schooled? How did you get connected to others who were doing this? Where did you get your materials? Were you happy about your decision? Was your kid?

What about unschooling?

What do I need to know?

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Type: Question • Score: 24 • Views: 8,484 • Replies: 116

Charter schools are free to YOU because they take the money that your child is given by the government and use it in their own school.

If you enroll in a private school, you are paying twice for education.

Mo has "money" ( so to speak ) to be given to the school he is in the district for.
Charter schools cater to ANYONE , anywhere with out making you do the paper work to transfer state money.

charter baby.

Smaller classes, personal teachers, non traditional teaching techniques..

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so now you are going to cave into a demand from a teacher who does not want to deal with your kid? Why? Schools tend to roll over for the loud and persistent, sounds to me like it is time to go off in the principals office, to be an advocate for your kid. This is no time to wimp out.

I did home school for ten years though, it is an option. It is very important that you are not pushed out of the public schools , that if you leave it is because you want to go.

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

I am so seriously pissed off that this "word" happened on the one single day I did not come pick Mo up, but that is really beside the point.

Good. This proves they're afraid of you. Keep 'em that way.

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I understand your anger, boomer, but keep in mind that this is ONE teacher
only and she might be looking for the easy way out. Mo is more lively and
challenging than other kids, so what? As a teacher she should be able to
handle - or I should say - occupy Mo in a manner that is not disruptive to the
class but satisfying to him.

Mo does not have ADD so why would the teacher even consider drugging
him. Has she given specific examples?

I won't say anything about home schooling, except that I don't approve of it!

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

Mo's teacher told Mr. B that she would like to have "a word" with him.

...

Knowing this, the school still thinks we should put Mo on drugs.

Does the teacher speak for the school? I think I'd check with 'the school' in the form of the principal.

I'd also want to know from the teacher specifically what brought the 'word' into play. It's unlikely to just come out of nowhere.

I don't think it's a surprise that the 'word' happened when you weren't there. Right or wrong, it's not a surprise.

Charter's not a bad consideration. It can be quite a time investment for the parents, so not always an option when both parents are working full-time. Blaise Daley's son went the charter route.

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I know many people who homeschool. Some are great, some not so great. Boomer, I think you would be great. You do need to network with other home schooling families and still have Mo keep in contact with his current classmates, but I think Mo is not the kind of kid that benefits from what this society passes off as education. I think Mo flourishes under your guidance. You "get" him. I hope you at least give it a try. He can always go back to public school if it doesn't work out.

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Here's a website that seems to have numerous resources. They are obviously pro-homeschooling:

http://www.homeschool.com/articles/mostimportant/default.asp

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Quote:

Mo does not have ADD so why would the teacher even consider drugging
him.

I don't have a god damn clue.

Mo is challenging, I don't doubt it.

And I don't intend to wimp out but I'm frikken sick of it. The reason I put Mo through this huge evaluation is because I was frikken sick of it and I wanted to finally put the ADD baloney to bed. I thought I had. I thought I'd jumped through all of their stupid hoops and then some.

I've had it with the whole lot of them.

Oregon schools suck. They're overcrowded and underfunded. I don't hold his teacher responsible for that. But for her to suggest drugs!? WTF.

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

Quote:
Mo does not have ADD so why would the teacher even consider drugging him.

Quote:
I don't have a god damn clue.

R u curious enuf to call the teacher and ask what the hell happened ?

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Maybe he requested fonetic spelling
and that was the response.

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

David, Every kid in America can write like you - it's called "texting".

1 Reply

@boomerang,

You've got a good 15 to 20 years of this ahead of you. It's what you signed up for with Mo. As the annoying saying goes, it is what it is.

You're going to have keep questioning. Something happened. What happened? Has the teacher been storing stuff up that she doesn't want to talk to you about? what? is something coming from other kids/parents? Are they (teachers/school) truly afraid to tell you what they really think?

You know it's not going to be an easy slog.

Explore the alternatives and find out what caused the teacher to speak to Mr. B. Did he ask?

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@boomerang,

Quote:

Today I was busy so Mr. B walked down to school to pick Mo up and Mo's teacher told Mr. B that she would like to have "a word" with him.

That word was Ritalin.

I was wondering pretty much the same things as ehBeth, boomerang.

What happened?

It was quite inappropriate of the teacher to "prescribe" any drug. She is not a doctor. If she thought Mo was having difficulties she should have contacted you & your husband & made an appointment to properly talk it through with you. Throwing this at Mr B, as he is collecting his child after school, was .. well .. not a helpful or a positive way of resolving whatever difficulties exist.

I think you said Mo was "challenging" a few posts into the thread. In what ways do you think he would be challenging in a classroom situation?

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@Green Witch,

Green Witch wrote:

David, Every kid in America can write like you - it's called "texting".

YES!
Its supposed to be fast n ez: effortless, like Spanish.

If it were only ME proposing this,
I 'd have no chance of success.
Teddy Roosevelt tried it when he was President.
He was ridiculed in the press,
tho he was a very popular president,
and Congress rejected his plans,
but the public is getting in on it now with texting
and therefore becoming progressively more aware
of easier, faster n better ways of writing.

Based on that,
I believe that the groundwork has been laid for a paradime shift.

That groundwork was not in place around 100 years ago,
when Roosevelt tried it the first time.

( Forgive me, Boomer; I only meant to offer a little joke.
I did not mean to drag us off topic. )

David

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Boomer, some teachers are great and can handle a child who is more challenging, others can't/won't. Just remember, in a few months this teacher is out of your life.

We have had one school year (second grade) where it was difficult for Jane and her teacher. There was just no chemistry between them, but other years the
teachers were exceptionally tuned into her and enjoyed the entertainment
value my kid provided.

Boomer, just do as you always have done: protect Mo's interests regardless
what others say. This teacher will be only a short time in his life, and probably
won't make a difference anyways.

1 Reply

@CalamityJane,

CalamityJane

(Speaking as a teacher...) some challenging behaviour is extremely difficult for any teacher to deal with & turn around. And dealing with it effectively often involves giving the misbehaving child heaps of time and attention (sometimes the child is behaving badly because they know they'll get lots of attention ..), at the expense of other students & their learning.

I honestly have no idea whether this applies to Mo or not. I just wanted to say this. Been there & it sometimes isn't easy at all.)

2 Replies

@msolga,

msolga wrote:

CalamityJane

(Speaking as a teacher...) some challenging behaviour is extremely difficult for any teacher to deal with & turn around. And dealing with it effectively often involves giving the misbehaving child heaps of time and attention (sometimes the child is behaving badly because they know they'll get lots of attention ..), at the expense of other students & their learning.

I honestly have no idea whether this applies to Mo or not.
I just wanted to say this. Been there & it sometimes isn't easy at all.)

This can be true.
I remember when I was around 15,
I almost killed a history teacher (accidentally)
by challenging him with historical (not hysterical) argument.
He just about got a heart attack; sweating, labored breathing.
I thought he was made of sturdier stuff than proved to be the case.

I got another teacher.

David

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@boomerang,

Quote:

That word was Ritalin.

Last summer I spent $1,500 at the best children's hospital in the PNW getting an evaluation done. Their determination: Mo does not have ADD or ADHD.

Knowing this, the school still thinks we should put Mo on drugs...

Find some sort of a better school for Mo and THEN....

And then get him a 70-lb heavy punching bag and insist that he take frustrations out on it for ten or fifteen minutes before heading off to school.

The two things which most resemble work in any gym are leg-press machines and heavy punching bags. Have him throw that basic three punch combination of Duran's against a heavy bag thirty or forty times before school and it would be highly unlikely for anybody to accuse him of being hyperactive when there.

Running a half mile or a mile or so prior to school might accomplish the same thing.

1 Reply

@msolga,

msolga wrote:

CalamityJane

(Speaking as a teacher...) some challenging behaviour is extremely difficult for any teacher to deal with & turn around. And dealing with it effectively often involves giving the misbehaving child heaps of time and attention (sometimes the child is behaving badly because they know they'll get lots of attention ..), at the expense of other students & their learning.

I honestly have no idea whether this applies to Mo or not. I just wanted to say this. Been there & it sometimes isn't easy at all.)

Oh yes, I agree with you msolga, every child is challenging to some degree
and it needs to be defined what's acceptable within a class setting and
what's not. Unfortunately, in the United States, teachers are all to eager
to have unruly children labeled with ADD whereas many kids just act age appropriate, especially when they're still as young as Mo. I always felt
so sorry for the little ones who have to behave from 8 am to 3 pm with
just a 30 min lunch break. In Germany, first and second graders are out by
12 noon, and I think that's age appropriate .

1 Reply

I'm ready to give up on school.

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