So school for the little man has been a bit of an unknown for me. First off we are required to have him schooled in an accredited school while in custody and although we think the Schulte homeschool is top notch ;-), its simply not accredited so he can’t “attend” here. We had discussed our available options and decided that using the public school system is what is best. We live in an area zoned for a particular school that although we’ve never heard anything bad about it, we hadn’t heard anything good either. And there is another school not but a mile down the road that is considered a “magnet” type of school. We have friends who have and do use this school and all have been very pleased with it. So based solely off this we decided we should seek out this school as our top priority. Not being zoned for that school has presented some issues and for the last month we have been working on just even getting a meeting set up with the principal......which still hasn’t happened. It’s been rather frustrating and disheartening as well. The logistics of the “move in” and school starting are already going to be tight so I was really hoping to get all this ironed out this past week! So after not hearing from this schools principal by mid afternoon Wednesday, I decided maybe it would be a good idea to contact the school we are zoned for and just go by for a visit. That way at least little man would have seen it before school starts seeing as this was likely going to be the school he attended. So I called mid afternoon and unbeknownst to me at the time, got the principal on the phone. As we talked she just asked if we were busy and if not she would stay for us to come up to the school and check it out. So we all hopped in the car and went! Now as we were walking in little man comments, “I hope the principal isn’t white.” To which I asked why? His reply was that his last two principals were white and he didn’t like them. I then laughingly asked him if he realized that I was white too? He just kind of laughed. I then asked if it had more to do with the fact that he possibly spent a good bit of time with them in their office....to which he readily admitted yes to. :-0 So when we get there we all introduce ourselves and the principal immediately recognizes Nettie’s cochlear implants. She then tells us that her son has one also and she is so excited to introduce Nettie to everyone. Immediate connection! So from there we end up going down the hall to view the rooms. Two of the three 3rd grade teachers were there, and what I learned later was that they weren’t even required to be there that day...just “happened” to want to be there getting their classrooms ready. And they stayed to talk to us bc the principal had told them we were stopping by! How awesome. So as we enter the classroom, one of the teachers asks little man what his favorite thing about school is to which he promptly replies, “I hate school. I don’t like anything about it.” Lovely. :-/ However this teacher responded with such love and grace and just continued talking with him. As I watched them interact I really began to get a sense that this is where little man is supposed to be. So we talked a bit more then the kids wanted to see the playground. As we were leaving I felt the need to communicate to the teachers our desire to be involved and part of the whole schooling process for him and they both shared how much they wanted to come alongside and make it a team effort. How encouraging! So as we saw the outside play area little man spotted a basketball court....to which he was super pumped. He loves playing basketball. I told someone the other day...he has bounced everything bounce-able in my house..and even some things I didn’t know were bounce-able he has bounced!!! ;-) The principal also told us that this school has a football program.....who knew? She said the coach is a top notch man. He really seeks to teach the kids the importance of school work/grades and behavior above sports and if either are out of line, they won’t be playing. She said he also spends time in the school with the boys. She also thought to point out he was AA. This alone is an answered prayer!! We have been praying that God would send opportunities our way to find AA men to invest in little mans life and help him with things we know we won’t be able to. (much of this awareness has come from our education and training from Bethany Christian Services...and for this we will be eternally grateful!) At two times while the principal was directly talking to little man he looked away and didn’t look her in the eye. She calmly asked him to please look her in the eye when she was speaking to him. Although this sounds simple and basic, it was as if the Lord was giving me a little glimpse into the care and compassion this woman exudes...and I don’t even know her. Eye contact is a difficult thing for many but especially important for us to be intentional with little man on and I felt such thankfulness that the principal just naturally did it herself. So as we were getting ready to leave the principal asked me if she could ask me a personal question...to which I replied yes. She asked me why we weren’t planning to homeschool him like the girls. As I explained that we couldn’t legally right now and were just going to pray about it for the future as we did with each child each year thus far, she was so supportive and encouraging and I didn’t feel “judged” by my choice of homeschooling vs public school. Another sweet blessing. And right before we left, she looked little man in the eye and told him how excited she was for him to be coming, that they had lots of fun there at the school and she wanted him to have fun there too. She also told him that they wanted to encourage, support and love on him as best they could. So as I left the school, I was so encouraged and incredibly thankful for that experience and thankful for the confidence that I now feel in regards to the school issue. Answered prayers!! I had been praying that we could get things worked out with the other school and never even considered this one might be just where God would have us!
