More School

Okay....

So I met with the public school last week.  Let's see if I can make sense of the plethora of information provided to me:

*approximately 300ish students in one grade alone
*accommodations available in the form of IEPs and 504s, but aren't an option until he's been attending there 30 days and then there is still the entire testing process that could take six more months.
*he will need to spend 45 minutes in the gym waiting for school to open since I'll need to drop him off at 8:15 and school doesn't start until 9:00.
*if he rides the bus (probably wouldn't) his route would not drop him off until 5:00.
*study halls are not monitored
*if they see his math scores are low (they are) he will put in some math class at 3rd period that runs into study hall 4th period, and then into his lunch 5th period where he can stay and continue to work with someone so he can feasibly have three periods of math instruction a day.
*couldn't promise me a top locker, but would try
*he can do LDC (which is like ROTC) in place of PE
*he can choose art or drama as an elective
*if he brings up his language arts grades he can take AP English which is a short class and get one more elective
*there is a police officer monitoring the building
*the principal monitors the building through taped video.
*strict bully policy beginning with a green incident report children can fill out and slip to teachers/administration

I know there is more, but I couldn't keep up.

I was slightly more encouraged than the previous meeting, but the whole 45 minutes and possible 10 minutes waiting for the building open has really turned me off.  That just isn't an option with all of his problems.  We are trying to figure out a way to make it work.

I met with my friend about the K12 Virtual Academy they do, and it was pretty impressive.  It was very structured homeschooling taught through classes on the computer.  All self-paced, but then you have to complete a certain percentage every month so you don't fall behind.  The best part is that they form the lesson plans for you and you are able to move things around according to your needs.   For example, for one of Rosemary's children, she follows the plans verbatim, but her other child she adapts it so that he is doing a week's worth of one subject each day because that works best for him.  They take their tests online and the "school" keeps track of all their grades.  I really did like it and have thought seriously about doing this with Jacob ONE year, just so he wouldn't have to deal with mean kids and just bring his grades up, but, naturally,  my husband isn't convinced.  I don't really think this will be an option for us at all, but it would be nice.

So tomorrow I really need to turn in the re-enrollment forms.   I will likely pay for Jacob to hold his spot just to buy more time, but at this point, we are leaning more towards the public school if we can just figure out the before and after school logistics.