Sometimes being a parent is like being a renter: it doesn’t matter how good a tenant you are, you KNOW you’re not getting your deposit back.
Kids are just so frustrating sometimes. They try my patience and ask–no, DEMAND–goods and services. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being a parent, but having three very high strung children saps my strength.
After this past school year, I’ve come to the conclusion that my children will not ever succeed in a traditional school. Both Christian and Jordan are in “special ed”, on a 504 and IEP, respectively; Dakota is smart, but lazy. By the end of the school year, Dakota and Jordan had failed more classes than they passed (failing 5 and 4, respectively) and their high school “requested” that they be transferred to “alternative education” (i.e., continuation school). Can we say HELL NO? That is not going to happen.
Christian, on the other hand, had passed his classes, but stopped going to school in March and, by that time was already so far behind that, at 17, he’s barely going into 11th grade.
Mid school year, I started looking into other options for Christian. Since he desperately needs to catch up, I looked at Capistrano Connections Academy. It’s an online school designed for kids that can’t, for whatever reason, attend a regular classroom. About a month before school let out, knowing that they were going to be “asked” to attend an alternative school, Jordan looked into enrollment into SAE (School of Arts and Enterprise), which is something that both Christian and Jordan are interested in, but Dakota, not so much.
For some odd reason, Dakota seems convinced that he’ll be able to attend a different continuation school–in a different school district. Sorry, no. First of all, I’m not jumping through hoops to get an interdistrict transfer that I know will be denied. His attendance and behavior will guarantee that the other district will not accept him.
So, by the end of the school year, I had given them two alternatives: SAE or Connections. There are really no other choices. Both Christian and Dakota, having completed their 10th grade year, are eligible to take the California High School Placement Exam, which would give them diplomas, but then they’re home all the time with no jobs and, ultimately, sitting on their butts doing nothing. Alan is not crazy about that idea.
Technically, at 17 years and 8 months, Christian is eligible to take his GED. Alan is also not so crazy about that idea.
Because we’ve limited their choice to SAE or Connections, they do not need to be enrolled in our local school district, so I have unenrolled them from the district. Come fall, it’s one or the other.
Oh goody. /sarcasm