Homeschool to Public School

So yesterday was one of the final steps for getting the girls registered for school. Since we homeschooled last year we had to have her tested to make sure she is ready for the second grade. She was so nervous about going back to school. She kept saying " I don't want to go to school. Cant I just stay home again!" To which I reassured her that she would do just fine and we will see in December what she needs as far as school.

We have put our homeschool journey on hold for now. I have had a lot of trouble keeping Hannah focused and willing to work on school work. I also haven't been able to do as much with it as I thought. I wasn't able to take her on the field trips and play groups and all due to financial and vehicle difficulties. I haven't been able to get our curriculum exactly right yet either. We started out with several but none were right for her/us. I know, that is always a work in progress. We decided to put them in school this year and see how it goes. See if its better for Hannah there or home.

So Hannah was really worried and nervous. So we practiced all the reading and math stuff before we went to do the testing. Turned out they dint even test her math which kind of bugged me because she is a whiz kid in math and struggles with her reading confidence. She did great on it all. The only thing she was slightly behind on was fluency in reading. They wanted her to read at 40 words and she was at 31. I believe that was nerves mostly.

So after the testing was complete and we were leaving, Hannah was excited and thought that she would be able to do it. That school might not be as hard as she had worked it up to be. I was happy that she got that confidence boost.

I know Chyenne needs to go to school. I believe there is something different about how she learns and I do not know how to teach her way. So I am hoping school will help with that. Plus she is such a social child school might be best in that sense for her. She is excited about going to school. i think she is looking at it like an adventure ahead.

I am still working on getting Jordan into the preschool program. He has special needs and was evaluated by them last September. At that time they said he was find and would catch up on those delays quickly and that he couldn't be in their program because of that. They told me if he's the same bring him back in a year. Well I have been trying to get things going for him in this past year and the only thing I have succeeded in is getting him Occupational Therapy at Easter Seals. He needs speech and special instruction as well but we are still waiting on those too.

I have contacted several places to try to get him tested for a diagnosis but there are waiting lists here that the minimal wait will be 6 months! Its extremely frustrating. I have him on the waiting list of one place and working on the second place. I know if I had a diagnosis, they couldn't deny him services at the schools. They would have no choice. Its the law.

For now I will continue to work on all these things, trying my hardest to be my children's advocates. I hope I can look back one day and say I tried hard enough and did what I had to to help my children succeed. I will just keep trying.