How to get back to homeschooling.

Here we are again.

So, Jasmine did Kindergarten and 1st grade with Carson Montessori. It was a good fit for her, she's a very social person. Then we moved to England, specifically Leeds and the first school was okay, but she was one girl out of four in a class of twenty.

Then the second school was a Catholic school which we weren't really looking for but didn't mind. There were actually a large amount of Muslim students who went to the school, because it was the closest school to their home. So, while it was a "religious" school it was considered what an American would call a public school, in the UK they are called state schools, and a public school in the UK is what we in the USA would call a private school.  You can read more about different types of schools in the UK here.

We noticed even back when Jasmine was in the Montessori school that she was having trouble with reading and writing, but she was mostly keeping up with the class, things just took a bit longer to finish.  While she was in the Catholic school, which she attended for two years, things got a bit more extreme. This would have been for 3rd and 4th grade, Year 4 and 5 in the UK, so of course there was more homework, but things were just taking longer and long. Towards the end of Year 5 we knew that we were moving back to the US, so we paid approximately £240, about $290 back then, to have Jasmine tested for dyslexia. Which she definitely came back with, and the tester also suspected dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is the UK term for what the USA just calls developmental coordination disorder (DCD), but the tester wasn't qualified to certify that she does have that.

We got back to the States, and on the first day of school while I was registering Jasmine for class in Virginia and I told them that she has what would be considered an IEP for the UK (Special Educational Needs (SEN)) that they would not accept, they wanted to test her themselves, she had one also at Carson Montessori. And we waited, and waited, and waited. I went back in January and asked them about it again. And we waited, and waited, and waited.

We finally got a meeting in April and I was so frustrated with it. They told me that Jasmine didn't need an IEP, because there was nothing that they could teach her to help overcome her dyslexia. The difference between an IEP and a 504 is that for and IEP a student may be removed from class for individual or small group learning, basically the school was saying that they wouldn't remove Jasmine from class for extra help because there wasn't nothing that could be taught to her to help her overcome her dyslexia. Except Jasmine had been taken out of class since the beginning of the school year to see the dyslexic teacher because I spoke to her about the problems Jasmine had been having. I strenuously objected, they went with there isn't a teacher like that for middle school, and we had to settle for a 504.

The 504 meeting was a separate meeting near the end of April, they gave us an hour and we didn't even get through half the things that I wanted on the plan. That makes it sound like I was overly pushy about what I wanted, but they school told me to search for other 504 plans on the internet and see what is common, so I did that and of course came away with a long list. Now, to be fair the school agreed with everything that I wanted, we just weren't able to get through everything that I wanted.

So I asked at the beginning of the school year, school starts in September here, and it wasn't until right before May that there was a 504 in place, which isn't even what I wanted. With all of that time wasted of course Jasmine did poorly in 5th grade English.

Jasmine started middle school okay, for her 1st semester she got a B in English, and I guess we were too excited and thought she had a handle on things and kind of cut her lose to take care of homework on her own, that combined with her having a substitute for English for three weeks she failed the 2nd semester.

We had a meeting with her teacher in February, a full month and half after the 2nd semester, where he informs us she's in advanced English. Why would you do that to a kid who got a D in 5th grade English? It doesn't make sense. Also he had no clue she had a 504? Why? Do you not look up your students? I don't think I should have to go to every teacher that Jasmine has and tell them that she has a 504 plan and that she's dyslexic. I do understand that middle school teachers have a lot more kids, since the kids are changing classrooms, but I would think that there is some sort of system in place to let teachers know if their students had IEPs or 504s, this comes from my being a substitute teacher and always having notes on which students have IEPs and 504s. So Jasmine's English teacher either had to do the research himself and just didn't for whatever reason, or the ball was dropped some where and Jasmine's grade suffered for it. So we spent some time going over the things she needs help with, and really it felt like I could have been talking to the wall. She got a D for the 3rd semester, and she'll probably get a D for the 4th semester.

So, all of that drama, combined with they are shutting down the middle school and moving the 7th and 8th graders into a wing of a high school, one with a pretty bad reputation, we are pulling Jasmine out of public school again. I'm not sure how long we'll homeschool her, our lease is up in December and we are hoping to move to a better school district, a good high school. We might do all of 7th grade, we might also do 8th grade it all depends on how it goes. I think Jasmine would go back to public school for high school, there are a lot of social activities that I think she would miss.

Honestly once we stopped homeschooling I didn't think we would go back to it. Besides the actual education problems she has done wonderfully in making friends, which she needed when we moved to the UK.

If you have any suggestions for 7th grade materials, subjects, etc. they would be greatly appreciated.

We were in Virgina

There are tons of things that I need to write about, and hopefully I will remember them all. (It was April 18th when I started writing this post, but the internet at the hotel we were staying at kept dropping out, so I wasn't able to post until now.)

Jasmine and I have been in Virgina since the 9th of this month. We joined my husband in Hopewell, VA. My husband is going to a school at Fort Lee and we thought that we'd have time to see the area and explore, but it has not been so. Until today I have been taking 24-hour Claritin twice a day and Benadryl-D every four hours. It has not been fun and poor Jasmine has been mostly stuck inside watching T.V.

Today we went to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, VA. (http://www.lewisginter.org/) It was very lovely. We spent most of our time in the Children's Garden. I had heard on an advert that there was a butterfly exhibit, Jasmine really likes butterflies right now, but unfortunately that doesn't start until May 22nd and we leave this Wednesday.

Tomorrow we are going to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. (http://www.buschgardens.com) We will probably spend a lot of time in the Sesame Street area, hopefully Jasmine will like it, although even if she doesn't it is a one-time free deal (http://www.herossalute.com) And hopefully the weather will cooperate and be nice too.
EDIT: Jasmine loved the water park at the Sesame Street area, and about $25 later we now have a new swimsuit and towel (we had both before, we just have more now.) If I had known they had this kind of area I would have just brought her swimsuit (it was in our suitcase) and a towel from the hotel with us. Unfortunately it was a cloudy day and the water wasn't warm, so she mostly stood with her hands in the water and shivered. She was pretty good about leaving the water, even though she didn't want to. We were kind of worried about if she would have a good time, we started out later than we should have and she was getting cranky about such a long car ride (over an hour), but refused to go to sleep. We thought we might have to just turn around a leave, but she pulled through. She rode with her daddy on Oscar's Whirly Worms and really seemed to enjoy it swinging back and forth and spinning. She was a real trooper about walking through a lot of the park and fell asleep as soon as we got into the car.

Tuesday Jasmine and I met a friend and his wife for lunch at Weezie's Kitchen for lunch. (http://www.weezieskitchen.com/) I don't think we ordered anything crazy, but the wait for our food was long, and the resturant wasn't crowded. I had the Portabella Melt, it was very good, but I would hate to see the wait for food when the place is busy.

Afterward we went to Maymont Park. They had tanks of fish, turtles and otters. I think some of the fish scared Jasmine, there were at least 2 that were as big as her. Then we walked some of the trails and saw loads of wildflowers, a Scottish bull, Gray Foxes, hawks, Bald Eagles and a bear. Jasmine did really good with the walking again, but got tired and had to be carried most of the way back and we didn't really see that much of the park, maybe an eighth of it.

So the best part of our trip was at the end of it. Oh, yeah I got to drive in a thunderstorm with hail while a tornado waring was going off. Good times (that's sarcasm in case you don't know.

I signed Jasmine up for some art classes at VSA arts of Nevada. (http://www.vsanevada.org) She will be attending both summer sessions of Start with the Arts. It is on Mondays from 9-10AM, which means my husband will be able to take her some times (he has every other Monday off, but he isn't an early riser, if given the opportunity he'd stay in bed until evening.) I wish I would have known about theses classes a long time ago. The Start with the Arts class is for 18 months to 3 years and Jasmine will be 3 years-old at the end of August. I was able to find an art smock for Jasmine while we were in Richmond, I was looking for one because I didn't see any of the children on the website wearing any and Jasmine has grown recently so none of her clothes are old or stained yet.

Jasmine should be starting pre-ballet dance classes this fall at Western Nevada Performing Arts Center. (http://www.westernnevadaperformingarts.com) This is supposed to be the best dance studio in our area. She really loves to dance when music is playing on the television or radio, so I am really hoping that she will like this class, but I am kind of worried because she tends to be shy around new people and new situations. Which unfortunately means that it will take her a few minutes (about 10-20 minutes) each week to warm up to the people in the class as it would be a new situation to her each time we go. But hopefully with starting the art class first the dance class won't seem so intimidating. Another reason I like this studio is they have this statement on their rules page,

"This studio does not agree with young children performing in mature dance routines. We want strong technique first and foremost.
There are plenty of dance studios around that will put your young child in routines that we believe are too mature in nature and content. You are welcome to take your child somewhere else if you do not agree with our philosophies."

As a mother to a daughter I really appreciate this philosophy. There is too much sexualization of young girls in the media as it is. I'm sure that Jasmine will see it eventually, on television, in a movie, in cartoons, in an advert, whatever, but she doesn't need it in her dance class.

What we are currently reading:
Jasmine's selection: Meet Blueberry Muffin by Silje Swendsen



My selection: Pandora gets Jealous by Carolyn Hennesy