These are all good questions and I would love to answer them for you but the mom is well-known by many here and on other boards and her baby just died so now is not really the time to discuss it. Maybe when I stop crying I will attempt to answer.

:lurk5:

Wow. We just had a big meeting last Thursday about doing a major library renovation on campus. A couple of men on the leadership team were suggesting something similar. The librarian and myself were both appalled at the thought! I own a kindle and I love it but I still packed TONS of books and brought them with me here. I can't imagine a world without books!

Dh and I have been talking about this A LOT over the last two days. We are still not entirely sure what we are going to do but we have been able to calm down emotionally speaking and what we realized is that we are mixing two separate issues: 1. issues with their curriculum and 2. Kyle's special needs. If it were ONLY issues with the curriculum we would not pull Kyle. I would find ways to work around it. We made a big mistake in assuming Kyle had sufficiently overcome his obstacles and would be able to survive in a classroom setting all day. We thought he had gotten "much better" when in reality he just hasn't been in a setting where his issues caused a major problem. He HAS gotten better but not enough. You would have to know a lot about severe sensory integration dysfunction to understand. But the fact that Kyle can make it through half a day of a classroom setting is a huge improvement. But we see him every day at lunch and he is mentally exhausted! After almost 4 hours of using every resource he has to block out the overwhelming sensory input and concentrate, he is SPENT. He needs quiet, alone time to recharge. We should have phased him into this situation instead of throwing him in the deep end and hoping he could swim. It is OUR mistake, not the school's. Having said that, I am NOT upset that many of you think I should just suck it up and deal with it. I HAVE considered that and it is pretty much what we have been doing since school started on August 11th. And to answer some of your questions: - I'd rather NOT make parents upset but YES I am willing to do that if it is what is best for my child. - I won't get fired. For one, I have a two year contract so unless I do something awful like steal from the school or sleep with a student, I will be fine. Also, homeschooling is an option and that was made clear from the start. We have a DLRC (distance learning resource center) that caters to homeschooling families in the community or others who are too far away to attend and want to take online courses instead. So we HAVE options. -Even if I WOULD get fired for doing this, if I thought it was best for my child I would risk it. My children are more important than a job. I love my job but I love my kids more. - I am good at what I do. I will continue to provide the best education I can for the students in my school. I will continue to work for better curriculum and getting teachers what they need to be successful regardless of what my son is doing and I would hope mature, intelligent adults would notice and appreciate that. -Most parents who send their kids to this school do not want to homeschool anyways so I doubt they would fight to do the same thing. If they get upset because my child has special needs and has to do something different for his education that is THEIR problem not MINE. Maybe they need to be more compassionate and worry about their own family and stop worrying about what I do with mine. - We DO accommodate special needs. We have two children who are autistic and they each have an educational assistant who comes to class with them and helps them full time so they can have that experience. -The idea would be to help Kyle eventually get to a point to where he COULD manage an entire day of a classroom setting. But going from none to 8 hours was too much to ask and it is my fault. -The real issue will be WHERE he does his afternoon classes. Will it be on campus? Or at home? If it is on campus will other kids be mad? I doubt it. What kids want to go sit by themselves for 3 hours and do lessons if that is not what they are use to? If it is at home we will either have to hire someone to be here with Kyle or my husband will have to go part-time, both of which we are willing to do. We have talked to Kyle about it and it is what he wants as well. I asked him what he would say if/when his classmates ask why he isn't there in the afternoons. He said "I'll tell them that I homeschool in the afternoon." And I asked him what if they want to know why you do that? He said "Because I want to. It's really none of their business." Maybe I am just used to swimming upstream so the idea of people not liking my decision doesn't bother me? It seems that most things we do, like homeschool, adopt a child, move to the other side of the world, etc., seem to upset people so we are used to it. I am going to speak with director and the head of special services on Monday and see what we come up with. They may even have ideas I haven't thought of. Truthfully, I really want to get my kids settled with what they need so I CAN focus on doing what I came here for.

Well, in my 15 years in the ps realm the "unspoken" educational philosophy is the shotgun approach...shoot for the middle and hope some of the spray hits the rest.

I am not trying to "justify" any decision as we have not MADE a decision yet. I am trying to look at it from all angles and I realize mine is partly an emotional one which is why I came here for more opinions. But I WILL do what is best for my son regardless of what anyone outside of our family thinks. I just need to figure out what that is. I hired on to be the principal of a school. It is a JOB. It is not my LIFE. I will do the job well...very well. But enrolling my children in this school free of charge is a benefit they offer to employees, not a requirement for hiring. I use to teach in a dangerous inner city school. My kids didn't attend that school either. I taught there because those kids DIDN'T have a chance at a better education and I wanted to help but I was NOT willing to sacrifice my own children's education to do so. What good would that do? I still haven't made a decision but I don't think that giving my son the unique education that he needs makes me a bad principal.

what do you use to supplement it for a creation perspective and christian worldview? (x-post)

What do you use to "supplement" it to add in the creation perspective and Christians worldview?

I pledge to stop grabbing a candy bar out of the staff refridgerator EVERY TIME I PASS IT.

That is another issue. His classmates WILL want to know why he isn't there half the day and we are not sure how to handle that. Which is another reason we haven't made a move yet. He would be doing independent study for 3 hours each day. He would go to school from 8:30 until noon and go to homeroom, Bible, LA, SS and lunch/recess (and chapel on Wednesdays). Then from 12-3 he would work independently on math, science and latin. This would lighten his homework load too a lot. It is a tough decision.

Here are a couple more details: 1. I cannot realistically afterschool. We tried it at first. He has TONS of homework that takes him right up until bedtime every night. We have NO "family" time. It is school, piano, dinner, homework, bed. 2. Another reason we want to cut the school day in half is because my son has pretty severe sensory integration issues...always has. I thought it had gotten better, and in some ways it has, but really he just wasn't in a situation where those issues were a problem. Now that he is back in a large group situation for 8 hours a day, they are rearing their ugly head again. He has a great deal of trouble blocking out ANY sensory input to focus on his work. This is another reason why he has so much homework and why it takes him so long. I am thinking we might have made a mistake putting him in for a full day to begin with. Maybe we should have eased him in? 3. I went to college to become a teacher before I was married and had children. After teaching for several years, then getting married and having a special needs child, I realized that homeschooling, for my family, is the best way to educate. So even though I continued to work in the ps field, my own children were going to have the best I could give them. So I could pull this off by blaming it entirely on Kyle's special needs and not bring up the issues I have with their curriculum. Also, I don't want to sacrifice the best education I could give him while I help this school bring their curriculum up to par. If I wasn't willing to do it before then I why am I willing to do it now? Because I work here? Where do my loyalties lie? Where SHOULD they lie? That is what I am struggling with right now. I am excited about the possibilities for the school and I am excited to lead this project but we are talking about a 5-year plan in order to revamp all curriculum k-12 (ideas come fast, change comes slowly). My son will be close to graduating by then. :confused:

Around here we call it their "internet muscles" because they would never pick a fight with you IRL but man, look at the size of those internet biceps they have! :lol:

Please tell me if you think this is a bad idea. First an update for those who are following the story: I have met with the powers that be regarding the curriculum at this school. The good news is I am the only one with any professional curriculum experience so they are listening to me. They are willing to take suggestions on any revamping necessary. However, we are limited by money (isn't everyone?) so these revisions will have to be phased in over several years. Also, at the end of the meeting, the director said to me "You do realize that you have great job security, right?" Basically the whole leadership team is made up of a bunch of men and me. The men don't want anything to do with "details". So they are happy to give it to me and I am happy to take it! BUT As mentioned, these revisions could take YEARS to be put fully into place. My children attend the school NOW. So when I take off my professional hat and put on my mommy hat, I want to pull my kids out (well, at least my 6th grader). I don't like the way the teacher grades, the types of assignments they do, the topics they are studying, etc. The teacher is a nice guy and Kyle likes him. Kyle also likes seeing his friends, lunch, recess, etc. So he doesn't want to be pulled out. So here is what I am thinking. What if he went to school for a half a day and homeschooled half a day? He would be in school for Bible, Language Arts and Social Studies but home for everything else. Well, actually he wouldn't go home. He would stay on campus but do his work in the learning lab or library. That would also allow him to participate in afterschool activities. And Kyle actually likes this idea too. Has anyone tried something like this?

That's a great idea! Let's start a riot! (can you tell I am a little crabby? it's not my cycle...it's the %#@$& driving in this country!!!!! and NO I am NOT used to it yet so don't ask....there I go again shooting off at the mouth).

Well I haven't used any bible study guides by Piper but I LOVE his book "Don't Waste Your Life". It changed MY life.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

snicker, snicker..... :D I just think Tim Hawkins is funny. He has a video about homeschoolers that I think is funny too. OH, and his video about Chick-Fil-A sung to the tune "Yesterday" had me in stitches. Lighten up ladies! I think it is pretty well known around here that I am very conservative but I even laugh at...gasp...Stephen Colbert sometimes. YIKES!!!!!

http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=37c4b3685c84e75f4b78 This made me laugh all day today!

Can someone explain why the author felt the need to put in the whole foot amputation thing? I don't feel like it added anything to the story.

I'll let you borrow my paddle for your upstream swim. Stand firm.

I coached competitive travel cheerleading for 10 years and you did the RIGHT thing. Cheerleading is a very dangerous sport...considered to be one of the most dangerous when it comes to injuries. You HAVE to have a coach who knows what they are doing and whose NUMBER ONE priority is the safety of the team in ANY situtation she is in charge of...whether it is working on stunts or on a fund-raiser. I treated my team like they were my own children when it came to their safety. Find a different cheer team for her to be on...research all-star teams. There are good coaches out there. :grouphug:

We bought litter deoderizer powder made by Arm & Hammer (we also like their Multi-Cat litter). But the best thing we did was buy a Litter Maid automatic litter box. It was well worth the money!

We love the game "Blokus"!

Great. Now the tiny masochist in me wants to read "Atonement".

1. What is your age? 39 2. How many hours of sleep do you get on average? 6-7 3. You are driving down a country road with good conditions and visibility. The speed limit is 55mph, but you're in a hurry. There is no one around, how fast do you go? 65-70mph DH 1. 40 2. 7 3. 80