About Me - Early School Years.

I graduated in teaching in 1999.  I was taught to value education from a young age.  I wanted to pass along this passion for learning to my own children.  By my eldest son's 8th birthday and 3rd grade year of school I knew that public schools were not meeting his needs.  He had been bullied daily and was terrified to go to school.  Boys would wait for him in the bathroom to turn off the lights and lock him in.  The school said they were doing all they could.  They'd continue to document these incidents, meet with the bullies parents, and have my son sit out of regular activities to keep him safe.  With all of their interventions, my son was not safe.

So now my son was removed from activities that he should've rightfully participated in and learned from and I had to wait, hoping that the bullying would stop.  One day my son fought back and hit the bully.  My son was to miss recess the rest of the week as a consequence for hitting.  I knew at this point that the school's were powerless to help children like mine.

My youngest son was in kindergarten this same year.  He had been seeing a speech therapist since he was 3yrs old.  He struggled with collaboration because he was 5 and could not be understood by those around him because of his speech impediment.  He was to be expelled from school because he would cry daily in the classroom, making teaching difficult for the teacher.  I understood the challenges of the teacher.  However, I fought this expulsion with the school.  As the educators, they were responsible for taking the time to know and meet each child's needs.  This was not happening.  As we celebrated our annual family tradition of making New Year goal's I cried when my son said, "I want to be on green for just 1 day." (Green was part of the school behavior system, referring to a stop light.  Green = good.  Red = Bad)

The following year I pulled my children out of public school and put my degree into action.  I home-schooled my children for 2 years.  In those 2 years my boys learned to love learning and began to repair their self-confidence.