Peter Bell

I will answer Shelley not from theory but from experience:

Several years ago we had a similar experience, with a strong suggestion to stay for the rest of the school year, right about this time of year (spring break). What did we do? We pulled our child -- both of our (youngest two) children -- out of the (very loving, private, kind, sensitive etc.) school and have been homeschooling / unschooling ever since.

You don't need to hear a lot of our details, but I'll make this very brief:

We had two kids in the "wonderful" private school. Our daughter (in 5th grade) was being bullied and pressured by the other girls in her class; she was a bit younger than most of them (having skipped 4th grade) and was not ready for that kind of treatment. (Who ever is? or should have to be?)

Our son (in 2nd grade at the time), on the other hand, was the bully! He was bored in class and was taking it out on the other kids. And it was his teacher (very loving, kind, experienced, etc.) that pleaded with us (since before Christmas) to give her more time to try to "help" him!

She told us, "If I put your son in the corner with a pile of books and left him there, he would learn. But of course I can't do that with 20 other kids in the class."

Well, we could do that for him. So we did! And he's been learning and growing ever since.

Best to you in your decision,

Peter & Barbara


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