Well, that's the big question at our house right now. Jacob is an 8th grader in our public school system and always has been in public school. To say that this year is a challenge for him would be putting it mildly.
Jacob struggles with LD in reading and writing which has an effect on every subject. Lately, he's struggling to keep his head above water. He's always been an A B student and now this year his grades have fallen quite a bit. The material is harder, he has all men teachers (a first for him). Not that men teachers are not good, but some of them tend to not be as attentive to student needs. He is on a team that doesn't have as many of his old friends and some of the new friends are not who he needs to be friends with. His dad is away now and I know that makes a difference in all of our lives. He got in trouble this past week for aggressive behavior. According to the asst. principal he had a right to be angry and he was defending himself, but he still knows the rules and they are to remove himself from the situation and tell someone in authority what is going on. Okay, it's the first time he has ever been in trouble -- and we may very well be overreacting.
We've been talking about changing his eduation for over a year now, so now it's time to actually do it or not. Next year he'll be in a totally different high school than most of his friends thanks to the school district reassignment unless we sell our home which we were already thinking of doing because it would allows us to build a smaller home and be almost completely debt free. Retirement is a good ways away yet -- but we could save alot of money between now and then without a house payment.
Back on subject -- Our oldest son attended Christian school until high school age and we moved into this area and put him in public school. The first year was tough for him because he wasn't used to the freedom, but he did well. However, Jacob and Zachary are totally different. The Homeschool option and the Online school option gives us greater flexibility with our family and we could travel with hubby at least once a month. That would give Jacob many opportunities and he could still maintain friendships with his friends through youth group. The Christian school option keeps him in a school setting, but he would have to make new friends, we would have to drive him 20 miles both ways every day. It's an additional expense of tuition and gas to our budget. Or we leave him where he is. Of course, Jacob would like to stay where he is because he knows it, it's familiar to him, but is it the place for him?
So, that's where we are -- praying, looking at options, praying, checking out materials, praying, interviewing schools, praying, talking with other parents we know who homeschool, praying, and talking with parents who send their kids to Christian schools, praying and praying and praying.
Father God, you know the plans you have for Jacob. I pray that you will reveal those plans to us and show us what your perfect will is for his life.
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2 comments:
The town in Brown County is called Nashville so if you google it you'll surely have no problem finding it. It's a very popular area and has all sorts of hotels, b&b's and cabins. Very beautiful.
I hope you guys make the right decision about schooling. It is so hard to decide what is best for our children sometimes. I'm a big believer in home schooling, so you certainly have my support if you guys decide to go that route!
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