Julia

Yesterday was Julia 's last day of public school possibly ever.  She completed fifth grade.

It was not a difficult decision to pull Julia out of public school but it was not necessarily our first choice.  Julia struggles with the academic aspects of school. This year we have also began to notice a huge difference in her maturity level compared to her peers.  The gap is large therefore she no longer has friends in the general classroom.

While the special education services at Julia's elementary were excellent the time spent in the regular classroom was not ideal.  It was very unrealistic and unfair to Julia to expect her to perform satisfactory in a regular classroom 51% of her day. 

If we kept her in the public school she would be in the regular classroom 25% of her day next year. Emotionally, physically, and socially we do not feel this would in any way be an appropriate environment for Julia.  She would be going to a middle school that few of her friends would be attending.  It would be a year around school with a start day of July 7.  

It greatly saddens us that the public school system is not equipping special education students with what they need to succeed in society.  There is definitely some anger there.  My special needs child's education should be just important as my straight A overachiever's education.  It is not the special education teachers at fault.  I believe most of them truly care about their students and try to get children the services they need.  The system has failed Julia and I am confident she is not the only one.

So a new chapter in our lives will begin.  While I am nervous about Julia's future and my ability to teach her I am excited about the opportunity.  At last Julia's education will be geared just for her. There will no longer be hours of listening to teachers talk about subjects way above her comprehension level or teachers expecting her to perform way above her abilities. It is time for Julia to succeed!