We have an area of 26.2 square miles and a permanent population of 250,000 people. That number doubles during tourist season from November to April. The people double I mean, not the area. ;) :p hehe

Yes, I'm sure that is why the school is pushing the forms so that they can get funding and that is a good thing, I want them to get whatever funding they can, my "issue" with the forms was the intrusiveness of them and I they seem to be more so ever year. This year's "race and ethnicity" form just seemed so over the top, I couldn't believe it.

Oh yes. I know. :) I was just being faecetius. :) My family live in the latin quarter of Tampa and when my mom was growing up, English wasn't necessary at all in the entire community. Kind of like little Havana in Miami that way. We used to speak mostly Spanish at home when dd was young and when ds was too, but when we found out he had Autism, we made and effort to speak mostly English since he had no spoken language at all. If he speaks now, he speaks mostly English, although he will say some things in Spanish too. :)

LOL 1. can you say redundant? 2. Do you say redundant in Spanish or in English. 3. When you speak redundantly what language do you speak it in? 4. Can you say redundant? ;) :p

lol My son is brown too. :) He looks mostly Indian though. :)

LOL I know! Crazy! I had to check the box that my son was hispanic and then check off African American, white and Native American. I just thought it was amusing too that they had such a long list of names for the other ethnic groups and then just "white" for caucasian. :p hehehe

Oh that's brilliant!! Thanks so much for posting that! :)

Fabric softener.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

:grouphug: I go through this with my dd as well. She spent one year in a charter school for 3rd grade (dh's idea. not mine :p ) I said to myself, "well. If she has to go to school, I am going to make it the best experience it can be for her." and I signed her up for chorus and she took dance classes and I got her involved in as many activities as I knew she would enjoy. I tried to make it good, but she was bullied a lot (she's got high functioning Autism and ticks to boot from OCD). One day 5 kids had her up against a chain link fence and were punching her in the stomach and kicking her in the shins. It still makes me furious when I think about it. The school told me, "well, getting kicked a couple of times isn't really that bad." I couldn't believe my ears! This was the Vice Principal talking. After 2 months my dh (who never was on board with the homeschooling before) told me that he wanted me to homeschool her again the following year and she's been home ever since. Do you know she'll still tell me sometimes that she misses going to school. She liked the chorus and the dancing. I told her that I paid a lot of money for her to be in those classes and that they weren't part of the curriculum. I told her also that if she was there for the grade that she is in now she would hate it because of the amount of homework she would have. She had 3-4 hours of homework a night when she was there for 3rd grade! Imagine 7th! :eek: I hear her heart and I don't discount her feelings, but I just gently remind her that no school is perfect, not even homeschool, but that it is the best fit for our family and to just be happy that she got to go to a "real" school for one year anyway. And then I remind her to not romanticize it and forget the bullies that were there too. And of course our fun Fridays that we have in homeschool where we go to movies, lunch, field trips, the puppy palace. There is alot of stuff she wouldn't be able to do in a typical school and the sitting still and focusing for that long would be so difficult for her.

Okay I can see that. That makes sense.

:grouphug: thanks. :) My dd is Asperger's too! :) She does well at home though so I keep her here with me, but ds is severely Autistic and he's much better off at the school. I'm not going to fill that lunch form out anymore. He doesn't eat lunch there and even if he did he wouldn't qualify for the free/reduced lunch program.

Actually the race thing is really just more of a pet peeve of mine. It just makes no sense to me why they would need to know the race of a child in order to educate them and to me it smacks of racism and profiling to me which is why I don't like it, but I do fill the forms out. It was just that this new form this year was just so over the top I was incredulous. The social security #'s, listing the name of my dd (even though she is homeschooled and not a student there) our income, that kind of information bothers me more.

I just wonder what the doctor's offices, schools etc do with all of that information?? I mean, what do they really need it for?

hehehe Yeah, every year it seems they add another piece of paper to the stack and this year's with all of the requests for such detailed information really bothered me. Yes I did. As I was filling out the forms, I became increasingly annoyed with the amount of information they were asking me for and each consecutive form just seemed more intrusive than the one before it. I guess it just never occurs to me that I can say no to them. :( Oh you're welcome. :) I'm glad I could be the cautionary tale for you I guess. :p I wish that I could homeschool my son also. I really hope that I can at some point as he develops more, but right now he really is better off in the school because of the therapies and stuff that he gets. I really thank you all for your comments and contributions to this thread. I guess I have this type of mindset that the school as an extension of the school board has some kind of powers and that I have to comply with their requests. Next year I will leave things blank. I feel stupid now for having given them the information even though it bothered me. Now I am upset with myself that I let them intimidate me. :(

LOL I wish they would make a contribution. :p I'm one of those people that feel like I have to fill all the forms out. I don't know why it never occurs to me to "just say no" Yes, it is the information privacy that concerns me too and as you say, it's none of their business.

hehehehe I just hate that the race of the child even matters to them at all. What does it matter if a child, is black, white, brown or purple? It has nothing to do with their capacity to learn. If they are concerned about meeting children's needs then it would seem more appropriate to ask if English is their native language or not. I've really never understood why they need to know the race of a child at all. To me it only invites trouble. :rolleyes:

hehehehe oh boy!! My dd too gets so fixated on the "perfect attendance" awards. She usually would get a cold once in a year at least that would be severe enough to keep her out of AWANA. She could win 5 other awards that night but it would still bug her that she almost got the perfect attendance. hehehe Your son sounds like a pistol. I think to a certain degree thought their personalities develop kind of like their bodies, in uneven spurts you know? I'm sure in the end it will all even out and he'll be a boy to be proud of. He sounds like he has a lot of great qualities. :)

LOL Maybe president someday? :)

hehehehehehe Bless his heart!! Ay, such a beautiful picture. :) You can see the love he has for his sister. :) So sweet! :)

Reya.. can I just say to you that that picture of your son and daughter is absolutely gorgeous!! What a beautiful family you have. Okay, sorry for the small hijack.. now back to your regularly scheduled thread. :p

lol :lol:

I'm fascinated to know how you were able to figure out the code to the combo lock?? I have two in my house that I can't remember the combinations for. I'd love to know your secret. :)

Every year I have not filled out the lunch form because it is to see who qualifies for free or reduced lunches and it doesn't apply to me and every year I get a call from the school that they need to form filled out and turned in. :rolleyes:

:rolleyes: Well the bureaucracy would explain the number of forms anyway. hehehe :p