I Love My Girls!

In the last post I talked about perceived 'doing something'. My spouse doesn't see our son as doing anything, but I see that he is always doing something just maybe not what dad is wishing he would do at a particular moment. This has lead to an interesting couple of days.

The youngest is trying his hand at persuasion and manipulation by going back and forth between my spouse and I and trying to pit us against each other. This might work if I was persuadable and or if my spouse and I hadn't been in a talking friendship for over twenty-five plus years. We have a few more years under our belt of dealing with each other then he has of being on earth. I get where my spouse's issues are coming from. I just don't agree with them. I believe that my spouse will come around pretty quick to not wanting to send our son back to school. I don't for a minute believe that my spouse ever really wanted to send him back to school but the threat was made, therefore, the options looked into.

The original game plan was to let him unschool until he he was around fifteen and then get him started in Early College. I always figured around fifteen or sixteen and my spouse has always wanted to start him earlier. George himself has stated he would like to be taller so he doesn't stand out so much. Going before he can grow a beard makes him stand out from the crowd.

So with this current decision on the table of whether or not to send him to middle school, of deciding to place him in sixth grade as one of the older kids in the class or to seventh as one of the younger kids in the class, (by birth it would be sixth grade), or skipping to eighth just because he can, has been getting tossed around. The school isn't open to discussing placing him into gifted nor honors but I know I could argue for honors classes but I won't as I wouldn't be sending him there for an academic education.

Since both my girls attended this school, I did ask them both individually for their thoughts on the matter. The oldest who experienced the range of classes; regular, honors and gifted, highly recommends NOT allowing him to get placed in the gifted program. Most kids who do gifted don't recommend it. She took some time and talked to her brother about behaviors of the kids, how to behave himself, what are things to not say and things that would be fine to say. She gave him good advise on how to read a teacher and had him practice sending and receiving text messages so we know he is comfortable texting in case he should need one of his sisters to come rescue him.

She also gave me some good advice on the best way to get him aquanted with the school and their procedures. She advised me to request a conference with his teachers, find out what he needs (supplies), what he needs to know (procedures), and what he needs to read/do to be where the rest of the class is. She also recommended getting a tour of the school so he knows where everything is including the cafeteria and those procedures. None of this was offered by the school but it makes sense and would make the transition smoother.

My other daughter said she has never thought of her brother as uneducated or lacking in knowledge. She does feel that he is lacking in social skills, more by his own choice then any real lack of skill. She feels that his attending school would be excellent training in how to deal with the social issues of a concentration camp. She went on to say she doesn't fault the parents nor the schools for the situation but the schools are more of a daycare then a place of learning. The teachers just do what they have to do to get a paycheck which doesn't necessarily mean teaching.

She went on to say many people have told her college professors don't really care about the students but that hasn't been what she has found. She feels that the professors she has met teach because they wouldn't know what else to do with themselves if they didn't teach. They teach for the love of learning not the paycheck. She says the college classes can't even be compared to all the other school classes she has ever had. Sending her brother to school will only allow him to see how much better college is of an option.

Both my girls have clearly stated that they will be there for their brother whether it's help with school work, help with dealing with social issues, or just needing to be picked up from the place at any time. They both have said they will even leave their own classes to come and get him should he need to escape. I love my girls!