Well I went and did it :)

So yes I realize its been about meh.....4 years since I've been on ATS but in those 4 years I've been at school, battling schools, and recently I fought my last battle with Brick and Mortar institutions with my son, I pulled him out of school to do virtual school at home (Connections Academy) I had gotten So incredibly fed up with his school calling me 8/9 times a day EVERYDAY texting me EVERYDAY. Their claims are that my child has ADHD. And were demanding I have him placed on meds.
Needless to say we withdrew him from that institution which caused a whirlwind of problems. child services, doctors appts, psychiatrist appts. yeah a massive headache over removing a child from an "educational" setting in which he was not thriving AT ALL. mind you my son is a kinetic learner so he learns best by doing instead of read recite repeat. for him its more like let me take it apart put it back together and then tell you how everything works. Oh and he was found to not have adhd with 3 out of 4 doctors and a brain scan. the psychtrist was the only one that cut a script -_- not surprising.
So I guess my question is if any of you have school age children have you had HORRID problems with your schools, I wish kids didn't have a one size fits all education.....especially when one brain isn't the same as the other.

a reply to: MissCoyote

Jeees louise, talk about meddling in your private family affairs. Good for you, screw the system anyway. They want us all minions, drones, or dead.

a reply to: MissCoyote


Never trust a shrink! The are the new age mad alchemists!

Hats off you ya from and old timer!

a reply to: intrptr


funny thing is he's still in a public school its just he will be at home where the ratio is 1:1 not 1:30 lol on top of that he'll get to catch up and his classroom and b/m was always read silently like a ninja to yourself.....:/ back in my day we got to awkwardly get called on to read a paragraph out loud LMFAO

a reply to: MissCoyote

Good for you!

We home school also.

a reply to: MissCoyote

Not all schools are alike. If you are home schooling, you might still need to high a private tutor for basic curriculum.

Read John Gato Dumbing us Down...great book.

a reply to: Umberto


he has a teacher

a reply to: Umberto


its a virtual school they send me all the curriculum for free I've gone through them before with my daughter who is still in a brick and mortar but I LOVE her school so he'll be home taught until he enters middle school. he's starting 4th grade this year.

a reply to: MissCoyote

I wish kids didn't have a one size fits all education.

Because they want all kids to become one "size"..

a reply to: MissCoyote

You are an outstanding parent with a lot of courage. So many people don't have the fortitude or energy that you have. I congratulate you and know that your child will be wildly successful. Why don't people understand that parents know best. I bet more than half of those you had to fight with don't have children of their own.

originally posted by: MissCoyote
So yes I realize its been about meh.....4 years since I've been on ATS but in those 4 years I've been at school, battling schools, and recently I fought my last battle with Brick and Mortar institutions with my son, I pulled him out of school to do virtual school at home (Connections Academy) I had gotten So incredibly fed up with his school calling me 8/9 times a day EVERYDAY texting me EVERYDAY. Their claims are that my child has ADHD. And were demanding I have him placed on meds.
Needless to say we withdrew him from that institution which caused a whirlwind of problems. child services, doctors appts, psychiatrist appts. yeah a massive headache over removing a child from an "educational" setting in which he was not thriving AT ALL. mind you my son is a kinetic learner so he learns best by doing instead of read recite repeat. for him its more like let me take it apart put it back together and then tell you how everything works. Oh and he was found to not have adhd with 3 out of 4 doctors and a brain scan. the psychtrist was the only one that cut a script -_- not surprising.
So I guess my question is if any of you have school age children have you had HORRID problems with your schools, I wish kids didn't have a one size fits all education.....especially when one brain isn't the same as the other.

My husband had aspergers his whole life and experienced issues similar to what you face.

Some kids are simply not academics. Different learning styles.

If your kid thrives in a virtual classroom or alternative form of education, then it doesn't seem right that ANYONE should try to force a specific education program or meds on a child or parent.

Good for you!! Your kiddo will be much happier, and will thrive. It will be challenging, but so worth it.

A school suggested our oldest (who was only a 3-year-old preschooler at the time) needed to be medicated. Why? He wouldn't sit for circle time like the other kids. I'm not kidding, that was the actual reason they gave us. He got along fine with everyone, did fine "academically", but he refused to sit in a circle at circle time. Again, he was THREE. The school called a conference with us regarding this issue and handed us a referral to a shrink for meds. (What meds?? "Encirclen"?) Hahahahahahahahaha.... yeah, no.

We left. No regrets.


(I realize every time I share this story that it sounds like fiction... but it isn't. A school really suggested we look into medication for our three-year-old preschooler specifically because he wouldn't sit at circle time with all the other children. I would think it was hyperbole if it didn't happen to us.)

originally posted by: VegHead
Good for you!! Your kiddo will be much happier, and will thrive. It will be challenging, but so worth it.

A school suggested our oldest (who was only a 3-year-old preschooler at the time) needed to be medicated. Why? He wouldn't sit for circle time like the other kids. I'm not kidding, that was the actual reason they gave us. He got along fine with everyone, did fine "academically", but he refused to sit in a circle at circle time. Again, he was THREE. The school called a conference with us regarding this issue and handed us a referral to a shrink for meds. (What meds?? "Encirclen"?) Hahahahahahahahaha.... yeah, no.

We left. No regrets.

(I realize every time I share this story that it sounds like fiction... but it isn't. A school really suggested we look into medication for our three-year-old preschooler specifically because he wouldn't sit at circle time with all the other children. I would think it was hyperbole if it didn't happen to us.)

Wow... #ed up. I refused naps at 3, didn't play well with others, etc but i turned out fine and now i get along with everyone.

No meds! Ever!

Granted i had strict parents and grew up in a day when parents were ALLOWED to be parents.

Now those rights have been mostly stripped and the state is taking over...

a reply to: MissCoyote

back in my day we got to awkwardly get called on to read a paragraph out loud LMFAO

Same here. My best english teacher used to just drop a pile of books on m desk and say 'pick'.

My best memories of that class, everyone else was getting abcs while i was getting to read my ass off.

Partial list she provided: Tom Wolfe, Ken Kesey, Hunter Thompson, Carlos Castenada...

The moment they started to give 7 year old's homework assignments I knew the public school system was f#cked. Looking at the worlds best education models they are fairly far away from what we get in the UK and I would guess the US. Iceland is a perfect example.


It seems the systems just demands more masters degree Baristas for their minimum wage job. Well done for doing all this, I myself will be home schooling my Lad, I will also be going a step further and heading overseas soon, the school system along with the social and economic issues we are facing just means we will be producing fairly self centred low IQ (so called good education) yes men (And women).. I think there is a far better way of doing things...


The truly unsettling thing is how the system makes a individual feel when they try and do what is best for their child, it is border line bully boy tactics..


RA

Things are becoming more institutionalized these days. More of a push for conformity than before. That's what I see and it worries me for the sake of my daughter. She has too much of me running through her veins, I have seen this for many years now, and so I have kept up the mantra that says Do what you feel is right for YOU. Conform to what feels right and discard the rest. Be true to yourself, don't do what others ask of you simply to "fit in" and, whatever you do, make sure that it won't make you cringe when you look back on it 10 or 20 years from now.

You can't really do any of those things in a public school setting and live with peace of mind.

Good job Coyote........Good Job.

School is not just about textbook education.

A large part of education is experiencing and learning from interaction with other people your age and above and below.

Finding the "right school" is better than "home school".

If you're going to "home school" your kid, make sure to add some other activity that enables him to meet other children. Like yoga classes, or karate, or boy scouts, or something where he learns to talk with other folks.

a reply to: AMPTAH

He has friends And he also is part of Boys & Girls Club where I am and he's also a Boy Scout (cub scout to be exact) he'll be fine
its a huge misconception that children in Homeschool settings suffer socially.

We're getting ready to fight that battle ourselves.

We had an awful experience with kindergartern with an inflexible teacher who felt she was there to tell us and not really listen to what we had to say about how to handle our kid. Then we had learning issues crop up for the first time that hadn't sprouted in 1 1/2 years of full day pre-school, pre-K, or a summer Montesorri program, and by the end of the year, I was a basket case, our son was regularly telling us he was a horrible person who wished he was dead, and the teacher was convinced he needed medication.

I am NOT doing that again this year.

Thing is that he's very smart, maybe gifted level which just adds to his frustration and confusion with the other difficulties and then when you get a teacher who refuses to be flexible ... it's not good at all. And on top of it all, we're pretty sure he's a visual/spatial learner, not sequential which is how most every classroom is patterned.

Our entire educational system is entirely wrong in its approach to education. But unless we can convince most people it needs a total gutting and rethinking, then it wont get better. Its a 19th century style education that was only meant for a small percentage of wealthy elite to make it through. They only expected most kids to go through 6th or 7th grade.

Wake up to the 21st century and nobody is learning to do anything useful past that same point.

Public education should go no further than a basic core of reading, writing, math and basic science / computers. After 6th grade, children should be given a certain amount of directed education vouchers. They can then apply to be taught specified skills.

Special institutions for things such as engineering, e.g. would replace 19th century style universities, that make everyone waste money / resources on a huge swathe of classes that will inevitably be useless to the individuals. Other kids will apply to learn things like how to be an electrician, or how to do woodworking. Schools for applicable business skills would also exist, but would have the fluff stripped off.