No more public schooling

Right, so I mentioned a little while back that we have started experiencing issues with Gabriel at school again, according to his teacher he is a very needy child (which I will not argue), who constantly fidgets, is in his own world struggles to complete his work but not for the lack of being able to and so forth, now his teacher is lovely I do not think this is due to her not being able to do her job in the least, I do however feel that this is due to the numbers in the class and I am pretty sure that Gabriel has a Sensory Processing issue, if you look at his constant motion, his thumb sucking and rocking when he becomes agitated or overwhelmed, his neediness and issues with food textures, noises and a need for material items as comfort items, we would obviously need to see a doctor for a proper diagnosis but honestly from raising my own child this is what I see. 

So as I said he is having issues and I did have to fetch him from school last week, the school has now suggested an evaluation through red cross.

So here is what it comes down to…

Gabriel can and is perfectly able to do the work expected of him, I myself have sat with him on several occasions this term and done his class work and/or homework with him, when he is in a one on one situation he is perfectly able to do his work, he takes a bit longer than perhaps some students do but he is perfectly happy to do it, if he makes mistakes he is eager to correct them unlike when I used to do Loghans work with him; Loghan would perform and get frustrated and would take hours to perform one menial task, Gabriel is eager and happy to do his work, this is of course a one on one situation.

Secondly whilst going the red cross route was an amazing help with Loghan and I do feel they are brilliant there, the end result will most likely lead to medication and whilst I am not a doctor since Gabriel is able to work perfectly fine in a one on one situation, we as parents do not feel he needs medication unlike Loghan who even in a one on one situation needs his medication in order to hold his focus and concentration and whilst in Lohans situation the difficulties he was having at school led to violent and agrevated behaviour which caused disruptions at home as well, Gabriels issues are solely on the school front and his bahviour is perfectly manageable at home.

So with this we are left with the option of either keeping him in mainstream where he is clearly struggling and unable to receive the attention he both craves and needs, we can struggle and fight, we can medicate him and force him into the mainstream box which may lead down the same road it did with Loghan whereby we end up removing him at a later stage with damage already done, or.

We can remove him now from mainstream and place him in an environment where he will benefit, where we do not have to medicate him and where he will flourish.

The decision for us is obvious, and to be honest I have lost my respect for public schooling in this country and it is not going to get any better, this is not the fault of the teachers because I truly feel we have encountered many wonderful and amazing ones who have tried their best to help, but unfortunately until the actual situation of the schooling system changes, until there are more schools, until teacher are given proper support and resources I am not in favour at all and will choose homeschooling/ tutor schooling for Jesse when the time comes as well.

We have found a place and I honestly feel that Gabriel will excel there, we have chosen not to put him in the same school as Loghan, because they aggravate each other and we do not want to set Loghan back when he is doing so well, we also feel that whilst Loghan is doing great in a place where he only has 6 in his group but more in the general school population, Gabriel needs a very small environment as a whole. 

I am very eager to start this journey, since Gabriel started having the problems at school it has set everyone on edge again and I am in constant fear of a school phone call, it is not a life or home situation I enjoy putting my family through especially when I know there are other options.