Tough Questions... Any answers?
leavingemeraldcity
This may be a shot in the dark, but you never know...
My husband and I are agonizing over a decision we need to make soon
regarding our third child, who has Down Syndrome. We have homeschooled
from the start, have now moved to unschooling, and we are being
encouraged to place our son in kindergarten next fall. He is 5 1/2 now
and has no speech, as hearing has been an issue all along, and he
could only have tubes inserted in his ears in September. The thought
is that with more interaction with his peers, more one-on-one help,
his language abilities may develop faster. I'm not so sure about that,
but for me its a question of him being known and accepted in our
small town. Our other children are sociable and arrange their own
interaction with friends outside of school. I'm not sure he'll have a
circle of friends and be accepted in the community if he stays home
with the others. Also, as a parent there's all the second-guessing,
feeling insecure in unknown territory and all the anxieties that go
with having a "special needs" child. Yet I grieve over the thought of
sending him "out" to school when the others stay home, over the
possibility of him losing the closeness with his siblings, being less
a part of what goes on here. At the same time I recognize that perhaps
I can't give him everything he needs. We've also been told his
therapies will stop once he is "school age," because then they must be
accessed through the school system. So we also feel boxed into a
corner. I tell myself that Kindergarten is only half-time, and that
even if we send him we can always pull him out. Does anybody out there
have any experience, advice or thoughts to offer?
Tamara
My husband and I are agonizing over a decision we need to make soon
regarding our third child, who has Down Syndrome. We have homeschooled
from the start, have now moved to unschooling, and we are being
encouraged to place our son in kindergarten next fall. He is 5 1/2 now
and has no speech, as hearing has been an issue all along, and he
could only have tubes inserted in his ears in September. The thought
is that with more interaction with his peers, more one-on-one help,
his language abilities may develop faster. I'm not so sure about that,
but for me its a question of him being known and accepted in our
small town. Our other children are sociable and arrange their own
interaction with friends outside of school. I'm not sure he'll have a
circle of friends and be accepted in the community if he stays home
with the others. Also, as a parent there's all the second-guessing,
feeling insecure in unknown territory and all the anxieties that go
with having a "special needs" child. Yet I grieve over the thought of
sending him "out" to school when the others stay home, over the
possibility of him losing the closeness with his siblings, being less
a part of what goes on here. At the same time I recognize that perhaps
I can't give him everything he needs. We've also been told his
therapies will stop once he is "school age," because then they must be
accessed through the school system. So we also feel boxed into a
corner. I tell myself that Kindergarten is only half-time, and that
even if we send him we can always pull him out. Does anybody out there
have any experience, advice or thoughts to offer?
Tamara
Deb
Tamara
That's a tough decision and I have no words of wisdom at all but to
suggest that if you aren't already head over to the Shine with
Unschooling list here on yahoo.
--Deb
That's a tough decision and I have no words of wisdom at all but to
suggest that if you aren't already head over to the Shine with
Unschooling list here on yahoo.
--Deb
jlh44music
> I can't give him everything he needs. We've also been told histherapies will stop once he is "school age," because then they must
be accessed through the school system. So we also feel boxed into a
corner. I tell myself that Kindergarten is only half-time, and that
even if we send him we can always pull him out. Does anybody out
there have any experience, advice or thoughts to offer?>>>
I have no experience with what you're going through, only my
opinion. You can always TRY it, to see if it's a good fit for your
son, knowing that you can pull him out.
We're new to unschooling (dd just finished 6th grade in June, we're
still deschooling), so I'm very new to all of this, but very
committed. Nothing is forever, and sometimes I think we need to
allow ourselves to try something, knowing we have control to change
it if it doesn't work. If you're unsure, but feel you want to give
him the opportunity to experience school, then go for it. You're
in charge of what happens after that, never forget that.
Jann
[email protected]
I can't give him everything he needs. We've also been told his
therapies will stop once he is "school age," because then they must
be accessed through the school system
**************
This may or may not be true. I quit taking my son to speech therapy because
I believed (and was told) he could only get it through the school.
Now, years later, and in quite a backwards way, we find out he can go to a
private group and the insurance will cover it. This has been an amazing find
because now if he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to go and we won't be at
the mercy of the school system and their mounds of paperwork.
You might be able to find a loophole somewhere. I didn't even know my
loophole existed!
Leslie in SC
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
therapies will stop once he is "school age," because then they must
be accessed through the school system
**************
This may or may not be true. I quit taking my son to speech therapy because
I believed (and was told) he could only get it through the school.
Now, years later, and in quite a backwards way, we find out he can go to a
private group and the insurance will cover it. This has been an amazing find
because now if he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to go and we won't be at
the mercy of the school system and their mounds of paperwork.
You might be able to find a loophole somewhere. I didn't even know my
loophole existed!
Leslie in SC
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
polykow
I have a wonderful 33 year old cousin that has DS and he is amazing. He surfs, works, skis, does anything he wants. He lives in Brazil but has lived in the US for a couple of years. He reads and writes. He did his best when he had private tutoring than when he went to school. ( His family does not even know what homeschooling is).He has many friens that are not special needs and lots that are. He has made most of his friend thryu his parents and siblings and activites that he wanted to join in. THey treat him like a normal person that has the same values and wants and needs as anybody in the family. THey are not a perfect family at all but thye try to be the best for him. THe parents are divorced and his mom has re-married and hes new husband is great to him.
He actually adopted him just so he could leave his military pension to him when he dies. Everyone agreed to it including his kids that will not get the good pension.
Well what i got to say is that my cousin did better at home than in school eeeven thou school was OK. He has made friends out of school and not really in school.
Hope it helps.
Alex
He actually adopted him just so he could leave his military pension to him when he dies. Everyone agreed to it including his kids that will not get the good pension.
Well what i got to say is that my cousin did better at home than in school eeeven thou school was OK. He has made friends out of school and not really in school.
Hope it helps.
Alex
----- Original Message -----
From: leavingemeraldcity
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 12:02 PM
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Tough Questions... Any answers?
This may be a shot in the dark, but you never know...
My husband and I are agonizing over a decision we need to make soon
regarding our third child, who has Down Syndrome. We have homeschooled
from the start, have now moved to unschooling, and we are being
encouraged to place our son in kindergarten next fall. He is 5 1/2 now
and has no speech, as hearing has been an issue all along, and he
could only have tubes inserted in his ears in September. The thought
is that with more interaction with his peers, more one-on-one help,
his language abilities may develop faster. I'm not so sure about that,
but for me its a question of him being known and accepted in our
small town. Our other children are sociable and arrange their own
interaction with friends outside of school. I'm not sure he'll have a
circle of friends and be accepted in the community if he stays home
with the others. Also, as a parent there's all the second-guessing,
feeling insecure in unknown territory and all the anxieties that go
with having a "special needs" child. Yet I grieve over the thought of
sending him "out" to school when the others stay home, over the
possibility of him losing the closeness with his siblings, being less
a part of what goes on here. At the same time I recognize that perhaps
I can't give him everything he needs. We've also been told his
therapies will stop once he is "school age," because then they must be
accessed through the school system. So we also feel boxed into a
corner. I tell myself that Kindergarten is only half-time, and that
even if we send him we can always pull him out. Does anybody out there
have any experience, advice or thoughts to offer?
Tamara
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