Snapped

Well, it finally happened.

My sweet fire-engine red-headed bucket full of built up anger, humiliation, and whatever other feelings, finally snapped.

And I'm not even mad.

Why am I not mad?

Well, I do not condone fighting.  But I don't condone letting yourself be walked all over either.  This chubby cheeked boy of mine is NOT a fighter!!  If you know him at all, you pick that up almost instantly.

I'm also not mad because he was hit first.  And after AN ENTIRE YEAR OF BULLYING, I think he released a lot of pent up feelings today, while showing these bullies that he's no longer going to be abused!

For the first time in a LONG TIME (longer than I can even remember right now) I have my little boy back today.  My sweet, oldest child that is a great big brother and loves the world and everything in it.  My little boy with the beaming eyes and pep in his step that I have lost for so long now.

I don't know if it's temporary, or a permanent recalibration of his emotions, but I'll take it.

By the way...if you're wondering what the 'school' did...I'll leave you with a few things that stood out to me.

A. Riley did not get into trouble. (Personally, even though I have my own reasons why I'm glad he finally 'lost  it', I feel that he should of at least been talked to about why fighting is wrong. The bullying aspect of this situation was lost, once again, and went unnoticed.)

B. The child that started the fight by punching my child in the groin received only a 5 minute 'break' from playing at recess.  Yeah...that taught him...(but when my 5 year old hits a kid he receives 2 after school detentions!?)

C. I didn't receive a phone call, note home, email...nothing! What if my son wasn't so open with me? I would of never known!  That bothers me.

I know that this post has nothing to do with homeschooling, but it factors into our story...and plays a big role in WHY we will be homeschoolers in 12 days and counting!

It's all a part of the bigger picture.

Inappropriate Comments

What seems like many moons ago, when we did round 1 of homeschooling, a teacher's comments/responses to my son played a big part in that.

While witnessing a fight on the playground (a physical brawl), Riley attempted to tell the playground teacher and was answered with "Quit being a tattle-tale."  He was in Kindergarten...5 years old.

A) What is a grown up member of a public school staff doing calling my 5 year old names?

B) The name wasn't even correct...these kids were HITTING each other!!  That's not tattling!!

C) Why was fighting being allowed in Kindergarten!?

That was the straw that broke the camel's back...among other things that just didn't 'feel' right.

So, we homeschooled...while I was running a daycare (totaling 8-10 kids, including my own/day for what seemed like more hours than the mother had them).  Needless to say, that didn't turn out good.

It also didn't help that my family is not pro-homeschool.  I had no support, just criticism, nagging, and the constant issue of always being told that I was going to 'screw up my kids' and they weren't going to learn anything...all while thinking they could just stop by/take Riley for days whenever they wanted because there was no school schedule!!

Then 'it' happened.

Riley hit a roadblock on the pathway to reading.

I couldn't teach this child phonics for the life of me!!

I had been defeated...my family was right...I screwed up my child.

He couldn't read.

He was 7.

(I have since found out that some boys can't grasp reading until much later...even clear up to ages 11 and 12!!)

We moved, and off to school he went.

They couldn't do anything either. Read the previous post for a more thorough explanation of the public school system's attempts at 'helping' him.

Now, I'm back in that same rut of inappropriate comments being made to or about my children!

The other day, while working on Math, my 10 year old's resource teacher started taunting him about using cubes to help him with his multiplication.  "What are you going to do - carry those cubes around with you for the rest of your life?" 

A) That is borderline bullying to a kid that has spent the entire year dealing with bullying!

B) They've only been working on multiplication for a couple months!

C) ARE YOU 12??  Can't you find something more encouraging to say to your student?

This aggravated me!  I'm not happy about it! But what did I really expect from the teacher that has shown the least amount of effort to control the bullying that he's went through this year than for her to be a bully herself!?

I would tell the principal, but he's not that much better himself!  Just mere weeks ago, during a discussion about my 5 year old's behavior, he made the comment, "Well, I could just tell last year that we were going to have our hands full with that one this year!".  (PS...my 5 year old wasn't even a student there last year.  He'd only seen him for maybe a total of a few minutes every 6 weeks during a meeting.)  

But hey, thanks for judging my kid's character before even getting to know him. Glad to know he stood a chance.  

I guess the point of this post is just - Where do these teachers come off acting like this?  

When did it become okay to call student's names, judge people before meeting them, and embarrass children?

When did it become okay for parents to allow them to do so!?

Well, I, for one, am reclaiming my children back!

Take 2 of homeschooling begins in mere weeks and I am coming back in MISSION MODE!!

I am CONFIDENT this time!
Something I lacked before!
And I will stand my ground!
And I will NOT let ANYONE to break that confidence again!

I'm in it for the long haul this time, baby!

In two weeks...I set my children FREE!