First Day of School

I am back. It is bittersweet. I took Hey and Myrrh to school today, public school, shocking I know. I was led to homeschooling while living in Vegas. Now, we are playing it by ear, literally.  We are closely listening to what the teachers say about the girls academic skills and special needs. There is a curriculum meeting coming up for the parents. I will definitely be there. I plan on volunteering in the classroom to see how things are first hand.

Hey's counselor strongly suggested we keep Hey in school. The girls physical therapist suggested we seek an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for them both and see if we can establish services for their needs. Their developmental pediatrician told us to seek services whatever way we thought was best. We weighed the opinions of these three professionals and our own experience. The best way to get services is to have your child in public school. It isn't the only way, but the easiest and fastest.

We live in a small school district that is a tight knit community. It is the best school district in the State of Arizona. I already have received an e-mail and a phone call from the school district communicating what to expect for the start of school.

Plus, there is the issues that Hey refuses to learn from me. My thought is that Hey will be in some school at least until all her skills are at the 3rd grade level. Many Christian online courses and the programs I would consider don't start until 3rd grade.

It broke my heart to drop off Myrrh today at 1st grade. She has asked me in the past to always homeschool her. She listens and learns from me, but struggles with many skills she needs at her age. We really need to see if we can get the school to provide the OT for her motor skills. She potentially needs Speech too. I am not sure the school will see it that way since it superficially seems to be an enunciation issue. We shall see.

Myrrh did benefit from meeting her teacher and seeing her classroom last week. Once she saw that it was a fascinating classroom she wanted to give it a try. Her teacher seemed very nice. She remembered her this morning too. I just pray that Myrrh's tender heart doesn't get wounded. She is so sensitive to what others think. Hey is sensitive too, but she keeps her heart well guarded.

Yes, I am justifying why we are sending our girls to the local elementary school in our neighborhood. Although NASA and I have a peace about it, we want others to know it wasn't an easy decision. One goal is that as soon as NASA has a job and we have an IEP for Hey, we will start shopping faith based schools that can accomodate her needs.

In the meantime, I have to watch that I don't waste this school time alone. I have many projects I haven't had time to do and this is a great opportunity to do them.

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