Back to School

 This year the boys started a new charter school.  Switching schools was a hard decision for me.  Their old public school, Oak Hollow, was a really good school with amazing teachers and staff.  Chase loved it and did very well there.  Wesley, however, struggled a little bit.  Wesley is very smart, and his old school's curriculum didn't challenge him enough. When Wesley is board he will find ways to entertain himself in class, which often leads to him getting in trouble. Wesley also experienced minor bulling, and would often come home upset from negative encounters on the playground. I soon realized that Wesley needed a more positive educational experience.  I didn't want to leave - Oak Hollow is within walking distance, starts at 9am (so nice!), and is a great school.  However, even though Wesley would have done just fine staying at Oak Hollow, I wanted him to really flourish at school. I decided it would be best to move him to a charter school. Chase wanted to stay at Oak Hollow, but it would have been really hard for me to manage two different elementary schools. We got accepted to all the charter schools we applied to (at different times during the year), and decided on Channing Hall.   Its an International Baccalaureate school, so they focus on love, acceptance, and appreciation of other cultures and ideas.  They incorporate the world into their curriculum, and focus on teaching kids about other beliefs and the idea that we are all connected.  The kids have to do a service project each year, and the school is constantly finding ways to help others and bring awareness to the needs of the world.  They are also very strict on bullying, and make sure all kids feel safe at school.  Their curriculum is more rigorous than a public school, but not as demanding as other charter schools.  The elementary kids have many special classes each week: Spanish, Art, Technology, Brain gym, PE, science, Library, and Music. Wesley also gets pulled out of class once a week to go to an advanced reading group where they focus on poetry, history, literature, and theatre, as well as a social group to help teach him social skills.  He also stays after school two times a week for violin (orchestra). Chase was a little behind in reading, so he gets pulled out three times a week for a special reading intervention class.  Chase has been flourishing, and is doing so well.  He recently tested out of the special reading groups, and has improved so much over the past year. He loves his teacher, and enjoys school for the most part (he just doesn't like the 7 hour days).  I'm still on the fence with Wesley though.  He says he loves it, and seems to be learning a lot.  The curriculum is great for him and he is a lot more challenged than he was last year.  However, Wesley is a unique kid with unique intellectual needs, and I'll have to keep monitoring him to make sure he is receiving the best education he can get.

Blake doesn't go to school, but he does have one hour of speech class each week at an elementary school which we call his school