homeschooling rocks, maybe a school...
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| Mon, 11-13-2006 - 7:49am |
In the continuing saga, we have definitely made this homeschooling thing work. AND DH and I have both started therapy (separately) now (WOOOO-HOOO!!! DH and therapy!!!!), and we are swapping off separate nights out, so I go out Tues evening and he goes out Thurs.
We have a tutor 2xs a week and have DOE provider OT starting hopefully this week, I would rant about all the amazing continuing DOE beaucratic crap but it is too insane to even write about. Needless to say, we found a good OT, ST and a behavioral counselor who specializes in social skills groups that are all providers, but they can't start because of NYC DOE NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM... AUGH, I am writing faxes fast and furious every day.
Malcolm is really doing great, although he still has temper flashes from time to time -- but he really seems to be learning to calm down faster and is thinking, thinking about how to deal with his "hot temper".
And the school we saw this week looks terrific, it is really far away, very small classes, goes through high school and is very strong academically, uses the "Explosive Child" model and they are (of course) very, very interested in Malcolm. And they are so expensive, SO expensive -- so this will involve sueing to get DOE to pay for it. We meet with our amazing lawyers right after Thanksgiving.
Malcolm loved the school. He was chatting up the principal, hung out without us for a few hours, actually saw a student losing his temper and how they worked with him and was impressed.
But having taken the time to learn to homeschool, we are really in the cat seat. We can't come up with the money, so we can wait until this is all figured out one way or another. Also, school may be willing to start him and wait for the money after court battle. We shall see.
Yes, I am taking copious notes and may be writing a book about all this. Or at least a very scathing magazine article.
Sara

Sara,
My hat is completely off to you and your DH for all your fabulous efforts.
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Dear Paula,
They will bus, and actually that will likely NOT be a battle particularly -- although if we do start him in middle of the school year we may run into the beaurocratic nightmare just trying to get the bussing set up and switch him into school from homeschool, probably the new computer system won't be able to handle that either. But as we have never LEFT the beaurocatic nightmare, it will at least be familiar!!!
DH and I can swap off driving him and picking him up for awhile if we have to, both our schedules are actually flexible, and for awhile we may want to do that anyways so his commute won't be as LONG as it will taking a bus.
Hope you and yours are doing OK...
xoxoxo,
Sara
Sara,
Thanks for posting this. I'm facing exactly the same thing where I live. I will start homeschooling soon (probably right around winter break) and I'll be putting together a team similar to what you're doing.
I have found a private placement that would be perfect for my son, but I do not have $310/day to start him there myself (plus no transportation b/c it's far away). I will be facing due process to get the private placement.
In the interim, I've got to get my boy out of the public school system so he can learn something. They view him as a behavior problem, yet have denied him FAPE at every turn. Don't get me started on how many ways they have violated IDEA. It makes me sick to think about it.
Best wishes. You give me hope :)
Well, I'd have to look it up. We are on Upper West Side Manhattan and the school is way on other side of Queens. It's probably not 35 miles away but there is no way to get there directly, lots of round-about ways and most all of them can involve very heavy traffic snarls. I think we have made it there in about 45 minutes when we really didn't hit traffic.
Assuming he does go to this school, once the bus starts up that will take longer. There are not lots of kids at this school, though, and because we have a doctor's note that keeps his ride under an hour, he may end up one of the only kids on the bus!!! That will keep the bus company from scheduling pickups all over the City before heading out there --- one kid I know whose parents haven't done anything about it has a 2 hour bus ride each way...
No way.
Sara
Sara, you amaze me with each and every post.