Posted by Annette on October 20 2009 at 15:46:08:
For background: I have been homeschooling since 1995; first, my son, then two daughters. My son was diagnosed with ADD when he was in 4th grade, so going on advice given to me at the time, I moved him from homeschool to public school (BAD mistake...his grades went way down, teachers didn´t care, and the school was violent...this is in Philadelphia.)
Then we moved to another state, and my son went to pub school there too, he did much better, grades went up, etc My daughter continued to be HSed.
Then we had to move back to Philly...son´s grades went way down again, violent school, teachers didn´t care again, etc....right now he is in cyberschool and his grades went up a bit, but because he was left behind a grade in the Philly high school (he was getting beaten up and his grades suffered again), he is almost 18 and still in 11th grade. :(
The problem I have right now though, is that my youngest daughter (6th gr) is saying she wants to go to "regular school" because "I want to have more friends".
How do you explain to an 11 yr old how dangerous and lacking Philadelphia public schools are? I am very emotionally upset right now, because I feel terrified that the same thing would happen to her that happened to my son, and to many kids in this Godforsaken city.
There is not much homeschool support in this city; the local HS group decided to stop having meetings and just "meet" online. There are few kids in our neighborhood; the ones my daughter was friends with have since moved to the suburbs.
What do I do? I can´t afford private school and I feel this is a judgement against me and my abilities, even though I know its not deep down inside.
My daughter is active in gymnastics on a weekly basis; she has friends there. She also goes to a weekend religious class for several hours. I don´t know hat more I can do, given the situation in the city.
Please, can someone tell me what to do? Other HSers I know don´t seem to have this problem, or if they do, they don´t talk about it.