WELCOME!!

Hello from The 4 Brothers Ranch! Our family has a lot going on and a couple blogs in order to keep things organized. You can find all our homeschooling stuff here! Annissa's regular everyday blog is called A PAGE IN MY BOOK and also there is a blog to update the kids medical issues at MY UNIQUE FLOWERS. Please check those out too!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Crazyness Ensues ...



Loooong long ago I decided to homeschool my boys.  Due to bullying issues and a few other issues that were going on with Noah just not learning.

We spent a year "de-schooling" and not doing a lot.   It was everyday learning type of stuff... plus two babies in the house - I was B.U.S.Y ....

Well, we moved to Washington State and we debated between homeschooling and putting the boys back in public school and try it out here ......

At first, we were going to homeschool... so I started to prepare .....

And then.......  Cal decided that he wanted to try public school.   So we started down that route ...

They are about to finish their 2nd year in the school system here....   we're not happy.

Calahan is starting to deal with bullying again here ..... but at least here he has friends here.  It's nothing like what it was in Wisconsin...  however, he was hit a few times by one kid, and being the GOOD BOY that he is, Cal befriended this kid.  I remind him a lot of "bullies" have bad home lives.  So he became friends with the kid who was slapping him occasionally.   Then this other - bigger kid - I guess ...  one day... was trying to pull the chair out from under Cal when he was sleeping in class (don't get me started on the sleeping in class) ....  and when the first kid dropped his books and papers all over the floor, and Cal stopped to pick them up ....  he was bent over on the ground gathering them up - and the second kid came and kicked him in the butt sending Cal flying into the fencing.

They also are not following Calahan's IEP at all....  he's suppose to be pulled out for testing because he has trouble getting thoughts from his head out through his hand (he has Dysgraphia) ...  one way or another he's suppose to verbalize the answers to someone who writes them down for him. 

Because of all this - he's failing .... and doing his work at home or through home ... means I can keep a better eye on what he's done and what he hasn't.  I have also asked time and time again that the teachers email me with work that he hasn't gotten done each week so I can keep on top of it ...  and they don't.  I can't help him - if they don't help me....

He wants to e-school next year.

Noah is still only at a 1st or 2nd grade level depending ...  he was diagnosed with dyslexia.  I keep begging the school to hold him back ... but ... thanks to No Child Left Behind ...... he's getting pushed further.   He wants to participate in class, he wants to learn - he's very eager but he gets pulled out of class and he doesn't understand some of the hard stuff in class so he's forced to pull out a folder of work (which he does on his own) to work from while the class carries on.  He has expressed to me more than once that he's "stupid" because of this.

In addition to that - one of my worst fears came true.  There was a school shooting at Noah's school, it made national news.  I really don't want o rehash it but you can read about it on my main blog .....  Serial Killers & School Shootings .....   and my gut instinct was to pull him out and homeschool him again.  Yes, the shooting was an accident, but it was because the kid was BULLIED.... 

My biggest problem homeschooling last time was that Noah wouldn't listen to me and do his work (this was before we knew he had dyslexia but I suspected it.) and coming up with work ...

But now I found the best resource EVER .... Pinterest!  I have tons of boards on homeschooling lessons and ideas ......  I'm really excited.  If you homeschool and want an invite to Pinterest - leave me a note with an email address I can send a invite too :)  (heck even if you don't homeschool! LOL)

So I told Noah that we'll do a "trial" over the summer - and if he listens, then we'll homeschool.   He really wants to do it .... so I think it'll be a success ...

YAY!!!