Saturday, February 09, 2008

Educating an angel

So, for those of you who don't have experience with children with disabilities, education is a huge source of stress for parents.
Arabella has been at The Rise School for 6 years - since she was 1 yr old. And I really haven't had to put energy into planning or worrying about curriculum. Rise is for kids with Down syndrome - and they know way more than I do - plus, they love her too.

But in July, Arabella will be done there. So, I have had alot of anxiety over the next place for her to learn. During the month of Dec 2007, I was pretty sure I couldn't find a place I approved of, and I would have to quit work and homeschool - not really ideal for socialization, but a guarantee that she would be loved all day.
Then the day before the Christmas holidays, we found this amazing Christian school for Holden, called Veritas Christian Academy, where Ms. Streger, Bill's mom teaches Pre-K. It fits us so well - small school, missional values... we love it.
And from our first visit, they didn't run from the possibility of discussing Arabella coming there next year.

So, I've had one meeting with the headmaster - very good.
Yesterday, Arabella's Rise School teacher and I had a meeting with the kindergarten teacher at Veritas. It went well. She was open and honest about their apprehensions - mainly, can they meet Arabella's educational needs correctly?

But these meetings always make me want to cry...
Where else in life do you sit down to talk about the things about you that are unfamiliar and awkward to someone else? It's just a weird situation.

1 comment:

Christy said...

I feel your pain. I feel like I had to do a selling job for Josh last week at his preschool next year. It was really one sided (my side) but it gave anxiety none the less.