Megan and school

Yesterday we had yet another conference with Megan's teacher - they have had an awful lot of these this year as a result of the local school board's efforts to keep records of the learning that the kids in this alternative program are doing. I'll spare you the rant on how pointless a lot of this is and how much stress it is creating for the staff.

We let the teacher know that Megan is exploring other options for next year. It's becoming very clear that this is just not the right place for her any more, and I'm sad about that. I was so delighted and grateful to find this school when we moved here almost 2 years ago - it seemed like the long-awaited answer to our schooling dilemmas. Yet, the atmosphere there has changed quite a bit during the past two years due to aforementioned stress and pressure from the school board. A lot of longtime families have left the school, and a lot of newer families coming in are unfamiliar with the school culture. The school founder retired at the end of last year, and there is a new principal at the helm. The result is an environment that is slightly out of control. Now, Megan's a pretty good self-directed learner, but right now none of her self-directed learning is happening at school. We've bought her Japanese and math curricula and she learns from them on her own time. At school, she wanders around feeling bored, trying to avoid the mean kids who tease her about her clothes, her acne, her differences. Megan's teacher has tried to help her remember the fun classes that are being offered each day, but Megan usually says no, or 'forgets' about the classes. Much as I believe in self-directed learning, I can see that this school is not providing her with any place to direct herself to. Most days, she doesn't want to go.

So, we should find out any day now whether Megan has got a spot in the Late French Immersion program... and next week we meet with the psychologist to learn the results of Megan's psychoeducational assessment, which may open up other options for her (such as gifted programming) in the local school district. None of these options is precisely what I would prefer; I know that homeschooling would probably be the best choice for her, but I want to put off going back down that road as long as possible, because she and I tend to not react well to spending lots of time together. Fortunately, if she does end up homeschooling again, I know she will be able to participate in many more classes and have a much wider pool of kids to choose friends from than she did in Mississauga. I'm just glad that we have so many options and choices right now, whereas two years ago, in Ontario, we were feeling like we had NO options.