So sorry. My eagerness to empathize overtook my good sense.

When I told my husband this, he told me I can read it to him. He's a keeper. 😜

That I really can't reasonably do *everything* the idealistic, energetic, young version of myself wanted to do with her life. Also: money can very much be a limiting factor. Sigh.

I wonder, too, how much libraries could help as disseminators of this information.

Yes! This is exactly what I've seen.

For my color analysis with Created Colorful, I draped myself about forty times total and took a selfie in each color to email to the consultant.

That's good to know! I think their very real fear is that it will be an organization that actually appears legitimate but in reality does nothing. (Their fears aren't entirely unfounded because such "homeschool resource centers" have existed in our area.) ETA: also, this is a high poverty district, so the need for money is great and would be a temptation for many. Additionally, these are mostly students who REALLY don't have much in the way of intellectual enrichment going on anywhere besides school.

@Melissa Louise I hope my response didn't seem an oversimplification. I'm going to make a comparison in situations--but I am NOT equating one scenario with the other--but just for the sake of comparison-- It is sort of like parenting a child with special needs (be they physical or intellectual) or even some sort of mental illness. Often the situations are complex and fraught, and people who THINK they understand chiming in with advice does not help. (Ask me how I know. 🙄) However. A kind listening ear, and even better, someone with experience in the situation you're in, DOES help. I love the ideas you shared, @Melissa Louise, and I think they're useful across the board, not just in a situation involving poverty.

I just finished reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe aloud for what might very well be my very last time. 😭

Money quote!

This is actually the fear of homeschooling among public school teachers and admins. Talk of money following the student makes them REALLY fear suddenly-"homeschooling" parents who register with some organization that crops up to take their money so they'll look legit, all the while simply splitting the money and the kid working a job or doing literally nothing. My husband works in PS administration and they discuss this a lot and can totally see it happening.

That's exactly how I feel

Also--quoting myself to add--parents with struggling kids in my area almost to a one (among the ones I know) end up taking their children to the Big City for neuropsych testing. The ones who come to mind immediately who have done that include homeschooling families on a single, law-enforcement income, as well as wealthier, double income public schoolers.

I'd say that's possibly not unusual, and that for sure a parent should also do due diligence. (All the teachers I know for sure would love to see the parents as partners in education!) I'm not sure how to solve the unwilling father scenario. 😕

And while we're on the subject-- it's not uncommon in my neck or the woods to be met by 8 or 10 or 12 or 14 year old youngsters asking for donations so their travel ball team can realize their dreams by going to "World Series" of their particular sport. This shows how cantankerous I really am, but I would be over-the-top embarrassed to ask perfect strangers to help me foot the bill so we can spend the week or weekend in south Florida (or somewhere) playing ball. I cannot imagine a circumstance that would induce me to do that. okay, rant over (again)

Out of curiosity, is this a child in institutional school or homeschooled? In my state, a slight push toward more teacher training for dyslexia has been on in the past 15 years or so. However, all of my homeschool friends who have children with dyslexia (quite a few considering the size of the pool) have started out by going through the free screening provided by Scottish Rite. I don't know anything about it, other than there is always a waiting list.

Agreed--but still, I have to HOPE what is accessed at school IS better than nothing. ETA: it all comes back to individual wealth in the end

This probably goes without saying, but have you checked your local public library? The (hopefully!) inclusive nature of libraries should serve as a deterrent for cliquish-ness. The library where I work has an adult bookclub that meets in the evenings. I am sorry you're struggling. ((HUGS))

Except--impoverished schools have historically gotten more federal funds, to the tune of funding classroom units (teachers), etc. And the impoverished school I worked in definitely had access to more social services than I ever saw in the wealthier schools. Now, how much this helps, I cannot say, but it can't hurt.

I never imagined that I'd be the sort of uninvolved parent that I am when my kids went to school (and I, a teacher myself, no less), but I all but refuse to participate in any fundraiser. My public school kids go to a fairly wealthy school district, and I'm not all that interested in guilting people into buying something just so the PTO can lavish the teachers with fantastic lunches and cool water bottles or "tea bombs" or what-have-you. Neither am I going to sell so some athletic team can have X, Y, or Z. I know how much is spent on education and it's not insignificant. okay, whine-rant over

Hear, hear!

The last public school I taught in had 98% poverty rate, and this absolutely was the case. And the school looks medium-bad for our area, but I'd say AT LEAST 75% of the teachers at that school worked as hard as or harder than any teachers I'd worked with in my previous three systems. the "undereducated" student whom I wrote about above in my previous post was helped because I and a colleague put our heads together about the student AND (most important) my colleague had an interventionist in her classroom (thanks to Covid funding) who had taught first grade for years, so remediating a big kid who couldn't read was easily in her wheelhouse. I think public (& private!) schools are a mixed bag but have historically been mostly okay. Society has changed and schools are reaping that whirlwind. (I say this as a teacher who finally opted out, mostly because of the unmanageable workload.)

As a mom who has homeschooled, taught in public school (highschool and lower and upper elementary/middle) and private school (elementary and high), I feel like I have seen it all. I've seen kids come back to public school after years of being "homeschooled" and not being able to read above a first/second grade level in sixth grade, despite nothing organic standing in the way. "Undereducated" is the best way I know I describe one particular student who made quick gains with some one-on-one help in school. The flip side to that is subset of homeschoolers I know (knew) who. . . Just have their own educational priorities. I'd say the prevailing philosophy among this subset is "anything is better than public school."

I used Created Colorful, which I learned about via IG.

My beyond messy (dirty, even) house My work schedule (even though I really like my job) a super busy weekend that will likely be very short on downtime the trials of parenting many ages and stages simultaneously these aren't the same kind of whine, but it's all I've got 😣