Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Decisions, Decisions

I remember wondering if Jared and Allison would be ready for K because of their hearing loss.  Would they be ready for a typical K class, should we look into our local Hard of Hearing program? Bill and I felt very strongly at the start that they would be raised oral, they would be mainstreamed and they would succeed.  We decided to home school Jared for K because of the fact that Allison was still in the auditory oral preschool, I just could not figure out how to be in two places at the same time, I'm good, but not that good.  Once Allison finished with preschool, we sent them both to the Hearing Impaired program in our county.  They were mainstreamed into typical classrooms with support from their SLP and HI teacher.  They have done great!  We just got their report cards and they are both reading at or above grade level( pretty good for a of HI boy and deaf girl). 

Now we are faced with the decision on what to do with Jordan.  He is not HI or deaf, in fact he has such good hearing that he can hear his father opening a Little Debbie wrapper from upstairs!
Jordan turns 5 on Sept 12th, in Ohio he is able to go to K because he turns 5 before Sept 30th, but does that mean that just because he can go, he should?  I have been doing preschool with him here at home and he is doing great.  He knows all his letters, can count to 100, knows all his shapes and colors.  All those things that the checklists say he should know before K.  I am just not sure if we should send him to school and have him be one of the youngest kids in his class.  I guess we can take care of this problem by homeschooling, he would be still be the youngest in his class, but when it is a class of one, I guess it would be OK.  Then there is the issue of his size, he is really small for a 4 year old.  If we gave him another year, he would not be the youngest and he might even have a growth spurt.  I guess I also have to face the fact that I may not be ready to let my baby go, he is our last.  So comes the decision that needs to be made, send him or don't send him, home school or traditional school?  If we send him to school we have to deal with his schedule not jelling with his brother and sisters, different start dates, different winter, spring breaks, different end dates.  If I home school, I can put him on the same schedule and we might be able to get a family vacation in.   I let you know what we decide, I guess we need to made a choice soon, it is about time to register for K.


I am so thankful that God have us this precious little boy.  He fills our lives with such joy.  Whatever the decisions is, we know that he will jump in with both feet.  No fear that is the motto that Jordan lives by.