An exception to the rule....

With the rise around the nation in homeschooled children in the past decade, today I needed to speak up about the really good things that are going on in the public schools in some areas.
The kids' last day of school was June 7th- they'll start back up in September. Tyler will be in sixth grade and will be at the middle school and Katia will be in third grade at Lemmer.
The last day of school, the kids got their report cards and Accelerated Reading program reports. Tyler is a bookworm- he reads a 400+ page book in about a weekend, tests on the book and usually scores 100% comprehension. In the beginning of the year, the kids are tested for their reading aptitude/ability/ comprehension levels and then each child is given a percentage goal for the year in the reading range. Each student is supposed to read at least a book a month and each child's goal is 100% for the year in their range. It's kind of confusing to explain. Well, Tyler got the highest in the school- 398% and is now reading at post graduate level- college level first year!
Katia on the other hand will read if she's motivated to do so, but ended the year at 75% of her goal and is reading at a 5th grade comprehension level in the second grade.
Yesterday we went to our city library and got them signed up for the summer reading program. There's good motivation for Katia and prizes and the best thing is that they are still learning through the summer. She read a 200 page book yesterday- the first day- Lassie- Return to home! I couldn't believe it! Tyler also read a whole book- he's been reading the Left Behind Series for kids and is on book 12 or 13. We tried the summer program before and ended it early because of terrible movie selection they showed Tyler at Movie Night which gave him nightmares for weeks! So, we'll just make sure the movie is appropriate or they just won't go. The positives outweigh the negatives.
Another awesome thing this year that we experienced with the public schools was the devotion of the teachers. Katia missed her teacher the first day of summer! Her teacher went above and beyond for months to help Katia with her trouble seeing. Tyler's orchestra teacher allowed us to have two 1/4 basses- one at home and one at school. You can't even imagine how much extra running that saved us and with an instrument of that size- it really saved me when my back was out.
Tyler is switching to band next year- the students were tested for which instrument best suited them- he'll likely be playing alto sax. His music teacher for next year sent us a packet of information already for next year explaining everything. In looking at the info, we were shocked to see how expensive the rental on a sax is- about $60 a month! There is no way we could afford that. I contacted her and she is at this very moment trying to find an alto sax for Tyler to use. She said even if she can't get an alto sax right now, there's likely a tenor sax that he could use in the meantime since the fingering is the same. She felt sure of Tyler's ability and desire and is going above the call even during the summer.
I can see the obvious benefits of homeschooling for children with special needs such as limitations with sight, hearing, hyperactivity, etc. I think if you provide good family support for your children if they attend public schools, you can have the best of both worlds. For our family, the public schools have been a blessing thus far. Oh we've had our little problems here and there, but really overall- they are getting a high quality education and in our circumstance- "there's no better place to learn".