First off I want to say that we have tried to make the best decision for our Daughters education. Being a parent is not easy. The things we have have to do and the roads we have to cross are at times very hard and of course we have no road maps or GPS to help us navigate the roads. We try to do the very best for our kids and sure we stumble and sometimes we lead them down a road that wasn't the best but in the end all we can do is try. So with that being said here is the story on why we decided to move her out of the charter school she is at to K-12.
As most people who live here or have lived here in NV you all know that the school system sucks at best. Sure there are some good schools and good teachers. I loved the kindergarten program she was in at Nancy Gomes. I didn't love the area of town it was in last year there was a police situation where some loser was shooting a gun trying to kill someone. So instead of shutting the school down or at the least canceling morning kindergarten they decided to have school but have the SWAT team escort the kids into the school. Now I may be an over protective parent BUT that is unexceptable to me! I after having a panic attack at seeing what I was expected to do kept her home. I had also heard that some kids after being in 1st grade and going to another school were behind. So I looked around at other options. The one option I found was a charter school in Stead. I toured the school twice and liked what I saw. I liked that the school was small and the max number of students in a class was "supposed" to be 25. I liked that they had an after school program that they call "educare" where they not only let the kids play but tutor them and help them with their school work. So we after much debate decided to put her into that school. I liked that they had a lot of things throughout the year for the kids and families. So along with that school parents have to volunteer for 10 hours a month. So I started my volunteering about 4 weeks ago. I noticed that during my 2 to 4 hours of time in class that I saw NO LEARNING. I saw lots of "center" time and lots of heads down for the kids that are misbehaving but NO LEARNING. I don't know how the last few hours of school go but for 4 hours no learning is not ok in my book. The school is also doing a AR field trip today for all students who have passed the AR exams. so I noticed that Alexa did not get a field trip slip. I asked about it and her teacher said that it wasn't that Alexa didn't pass it was that she didn't get tested. She didn't get tested because the teacher does not always have the "time" to test each student every week. So now I'm stuck with well is it the teachers fault or is it the schools or both? In my opinion it's both. I would trust that the teacher would go to the director and let them know what is going on. I would then trust that the directors would have a T.A go into that class once a week to test. What I don't know is if the directors even know the problem and if they do know why has nothing been done? I have a call into the director yesterday and have yet to hear from them.
So what am I to do? The other charter school in town that a friends kids go to is about 20 miles away. So that would be about 80 miles a day to take Alexa to school. 80 miles round trip in the snow! So that option is out for right now.
My only other options are to leave her where she is and hope for the best.. move her back to the ghetto school and hope for the best, drive 80 miles round trip OR Home school.
So I looked into 2 different online schools and after talking to both of them and a few friends (one who has all her kids at K-12 ) we decided that it was the best option.
K-12 will be sending her a computer, printer, school books and a art box, science box, math box, history box. In each box is everything she needs to complete everything that would need to do each subject. I have to say that even hearing what she gets is 100% more than she is getting at school. They have field trips at least every other week. They even have field trips for the parents. I think that this is going to be a challenge for us all but in the end I will be in control of Alexa's education. I don't plan on keeping her in K-12 forever just until we are in a better school district. If this K-12 really works out then maybe it will be long term.
I know I have already gotten comments that Home school is horrible and they are against it and how is Alexa going to be socially intergrated and that she won't know how to act with other kids. Have they not met Alexa? I know she needs other kids to function. I know she needs to be around kids and she enjoys it. I have her in dance class right now and plan on putting her in Girl Scouts as well. I have begun looking for other home school kids in the area so I can get them together. I don't plan on letting my kid be a social outcast. I plan on my kid being smart and not behind or forgotten about because the teacher does not have the time to teach or is to busy discipline kids who run wild. So I hope that no matter how you feel about what we are doing I hope that you support us. Remember our kids are our futures and if we fuck them up now.. we will be screwed when they are in charge.
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