Gut Check

Have you ever had a little moment where your gut told you one thing, but you did the opposite? Well, I am sooooo guilty of this to the nth degree. Let me explain...

If you've been following my blog, you know that the last 2 years have been rough due to my brother's brain surgeries. Well, right before his second surgery, my son asked me if he could go to school vs be homeschooled. I was under stress, not thinking super clear, and agreed to give it a try. A few hours to myself wouldn't be a bad thing, I thought.

We were told about a local private school that was big on tolerance and diversity...allowed students to make choices. Cool! Sounds right up our alley. Our son spent a 1/2 day there, and they accepted him for the 09-10 school year. He went there for summer camp and enjoyed himself. Now understand...our boy has always had attention issues. They knew this.

Day one: teacher tells us she has "lots of concerns." My radar goes off.

Day three: I watch as my son sits next to a group of boys, only to have them move away deliberately (although a mom/teacher of one of the boys didn't think that was the case as told to her by her child.) Ding, ding, ding, says my gut. HOMESCHOOL flashes in my mind in bright neon color. I was going to pay for the school this day but choose not to. A few days later, I did pay several thousand dollars...against my better judgement.

Fast forward 2 weeks: a few things became VERY apparent...1) my son most definitely learns better in homeschool environment, 2) my son most definitely needs an ADHD eval, 3) this school of "tolerance" is only tolerant if you fit into their mold of tolerance.

During a very stressful time of trying to figure out how to best meet our son's academic needs, he endured teasing from some boys in his class for being "different." Teasing at a school that, again, totes tolerance and where it's actually against the rules to be mean. Hmmmmm...can we all say "disconnect?"

I'm thrilled to say that today we pulled him out of this school and began to homeschool again. His work was completed in less than half the time he would spend at school AND with perfect marks!

So, what's my point to all of this? Well, besides being simply cathartic, it's to tell you to LISTEN TO YOUR GUT, listen to your intuition. Now am I upset that we spent a lot of money? Truly, nope. It wasn't a waste to me. We learned that it's truly God's will to homeschool and that our son really does have some attention issues that must be addressed. Who cares that it cost some money to learn that. The lesson was invaluable.

So...my blog...it will now be about health and fitness, my brother's recovery from a brain tumor, my husband's deployment, and the journey we will take with our son through homeschooling and probable ADHD. Glad to have you aboard!