Thursday, January 12, 2012

How we became accidental homeschoolers....

So.....if you are a reader of my blog... you know we are accidental homeschoolers! Though it seems so long ago that I forget we haven't always been homeschoolers.
What is an accidental homeschooler....well, if your child is attending private or public school on a normal basis and you suddenly either have an issue and decide to pull them and homeschool OR they have been kicked/removed from the school and you are forced to homeschool them to continue their schooling...that is considered an accidental homeschooler!
Ours was a combo of both! My oldest son was 5 weeks into 6th grade, his first year at middle school when it came to blows-literally! My son was over 6 ft. tall at 12! He was taller than most of the teachers and all but one other kid. We had already had issues with his Math teacher over lessons and her non-communication and/or help....so the day that my son was jumped in the school by 2 kids was the final straw. HE was punished for defending himself. HE was sent home and suspended for 3 days because HE was walking down the hall and attacked by 2 students and in defense, he punched one. The other 2 kids were NOT punished, the school did NOT call us to inform us of the fact that our son was in an altercation OR that they were suspending him, they claimed that they DID call us and number was disconnected when in fact all numbers they had on file for us were correct and working and I am a SAHM so there was someone here. We never got an official notice, they just sent him home on the bus and he told us. At this point....I am sure FLAMES were shooting out my eyes! I was LIVID, my husband was livid!! This tops off the week where he had turned in some REALLY stupid word problem to Math teacher, they had 2 weeks to work on it and it was this CRAZY problem that ended up in pages of written work to show how we came up with answer. It took all 3 of us to attempt to figure it out. He brought it home with a D. No explanation, no telling how she came about the correct answer, nothing. He was crushed. We sent her an email asking for help. She replied that she doesn’t help. WHAT? You are a TEACHER....that is your JOB! We said apparently he is not getting the Math you are teaching, is there a way to get assistance from you on this matter. She replied that she doesn’t help but suggested that he get a tutor and spend 3 hours a day after school in the library with the tutor, the front office had a list. WHAT! Really, that is your answer..... OMG!
So....we were already hot under the collar about that when the fight and suspension came about!
My husband took the day following the suspension off to confront the school. He left here with the words that if something was NOT fixed, he was bringing my son home to be homeschooled!
2 hours later, they were home with the contents of my son's locker and a refund check for his lunch account!
We were officially homechoolers....
And I am here to tell you, while it was the start of a crazy, wild adventure and there are days I want to pull out my hair and scream....it is also the best darn decision we ever made!!

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