Though I in particular experienced a high level of stress as her public school days came to an end, Anika has been as happy, calm and excited as can be. We’re pretty much continuing something in every main subject area she was covering in school and have added a few things here and there as well as going more in depth in each area. (Here’s some of what we are covering: Morning Journal, Math, Word Study, Social Studies (Mexico Unit Study), Science, Art, Music, Reading, Writing (all kinds), Spanish, Thinking Skills, Cursive, Computer-Typing, Computer (all kinds of other stuff), Poetry, Blog, Research, and Physical Activity.) These things are mapped on a weekly schedule that is flexible but certainly has goals for each day. Some of the things unique to home learning that we’ve particularly enjoyed are our walks. On the first one we had quite a lengthy conversation in Spanish which Anika is still in the beginnings of learning and on the second one we did a neighborhood photo shoot with the subject of signs (signage) and a visit to a special garden to better visualize a scene we read about in “The Secret Garden.” Both included some free park play time. We’ve had wonderful days. I think this is gonna work out just fine. Really it is up to us to make of it the best experience it can be.

Today was actually her fourth day home learning though Friday was a bit unusual since Dante was home too. He needed a day to process the change and understand his school situation was just fine and it wasn’t unfair that he wasn’t getting to stay home as well. It’s all worked out now, what he really wanted was as much attention as Anika was getting and once we showered him with that and lots of special times together he was just fine. He needs intentional quality time with either mom or dad or both and that makes all the difference in the world.

My anxiety came from the fact that though I didn’t get much resistance for our decision, I could definitely sense the sadness and worry of the teachers; an unstated questioning of whether or not i had any idea of what i was getting myself into, and of course there’s what may seem like a ludicrous thought that I can do any better than the tons of well trained professionals invested in the kids at this school (ie. two credentialed teachers, two assistants (as of last Wednesday, THREE assistants, which makes a total of 5 adults for 22 students—yes, the needs ARE that acute), and on a weekly basis—a gym teacher, a music teacher, a science teacher, a computer teacher, a spanish teacher, an art teacher, AND a dance teacher!) WHEW!!! Yes, this can be intimidating. Ultimately it came down to the fact that though they care for and love Anika they have no say in the make-up of the class she previously found herself in and the peer environment that made up the bulk of Anika’s school day. It was those pressures and realities and how they were affecting Anika that led us to intervene. (The best intervention is early intervention.. ) Anika can certainly hold strong in tense environments for long lengths of time and thrive but what many don’t know is she tends to keep all her frustrations and anxieties bottled up and you won’t know there is a problem until it is too late. Partly it’s her personality and partly it is her undeveloped coping skills but regardless it is what it is. Having spent 95% of every minute of her life with her I know this child profoundly. I know her spoken and unspoken language, I can sense her emotions even before she herself recognizes them, I can tell when she’s feeling sick though she herself won’t say a thing until she is really really sick, I know and value her unique personality, gifts, likes and dislikes, and of course I totally love her like only a mother could. Given my intuition (gut instinct) and knowing these things about this child along with good sound judgement (having sought much advice from those wiser than myself) led to the final decision. Now whether it actually is the better choice we will not really know (as my wonderful sister-in-law puts it) until time has passed and we look back, until Anika looks back on her childhood. What we can do as purveyors of our present and future is to do everything within our means to make it as wonderful an experience as we possibly can.

After talking with several school administrators we came to the mutual agreement that her last day would be last Wednesday (3-5-08) due to the statewide math tests. The day was certainly much anticipated and the teachers and Anika agreed to keep it all a secret so the rest of the kids wouldn’t worry about her leaving but plan for a little celebration for her on her last day. I volunteered to bring in chips & salsa and lemonade. To add that extra little special touch I bought beautiful little colorful paisley napkins. I also prepared a gift for everyone in the class. For the students, I framed their individual illustrations we had previously made for the art project. Anika helped me with picking out colorful patterned backgrounds to match each color frame. For the teachers we brought in all the kids illustrations into a photoshop document and resized them all to fit into an 8.5″ by 11″ paper, printed them on nice presentation paper and framed them. The finished product was beautiful! I really do hope they enjoy them. For the assistants I printed the same thing just did not frame them.

This of course is the wonderful aftermath of a very intense transition for me as I went through the full gamut of emotions and doubts in the process. Needless to say, here we are pressing forward anticipating all the wonderful things the future holds.

Here are the final class gifts:

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