Schools! AAARGHH!!

Another completely hectic day!! I could really do with at least just two days in to catch up on stuff.
This morning got off to a dodgy start. It was Jamies transition day at school, she was finally going to see what her new school was like. On the way in this morning, Jamie told me " If I like the new school, I will start in September, if I don't, then I'll be home schooled". I took a deep breath, and told her that I hope she has a good day, whatever happens. Jamie was really excited about it all and it really sounded as if she was probably going to want to go to school come September, but I don't want her making any decisions out of guilt, I specifically told her teacher to NOT tell her that she should go to the new school, and it took a lot this morning for me to hide my feelings, and not say anything to suggest I wanted her to stay at home- although all I wanted to say was "Don't go!!!" I really want Jamie to feel that she can make up her own mind about what she wants to do, just as I'd promised her I would, and I'll completely support her if she decides to go to school (but I would be really disappointed!) .
So coming away from school feeling quite sad, I went off to my last session with the ADD-vance ladies (a support group for parents with ASD children) . They talked quite a lot again about all the help you can get for your child in school, and the more I listened, the more ridiculous it sounded, there were IEP's which were goals decided that you and the teacher wanted the child to go for, like 'staying in their chair' and 'putting hand up to ask questions' and I just thought the whole thing sounded silly, and feel really sorry for all these children that have to be forced to behave in a way totally unnatural for them, no wonder Alex couldn't handle it in school, I can't imagine MAKING him stay sitting in a chair for extended periods! and at the same time being able to concentrate on what the teacher was going on about, when it made no sense at all to him!! And then they started talking about ways to get them to stay in their rooms at night and one mum said she'd bought a shed alarm that had motion sensors and set it up outside her sons room, and if he stepped out of his room, the alarm would go off, and her son was so frightened of the noise, he daren't go anywhere near the door! and she even had the sensor switched off in the end because her son didn't know that it wasn't on!!!! It sounds absolutely awful! and I was even more gobsmacked when quite a lot of the other mums were saying " ooh! where did you get it from? I want one!!"
Also, they started talking about medication and I thought it was a bit odd that the two ladies running the sessions were pro-medication! One of them said her whole family are on Prozac and she thought it was brilliant stuff!!
I was so glad to get out of there today.

The time came to pick Jamie up, and I tried to act normal, fully expecting her to say she wanted to go to school in September.....she came out, and started telling me all the things she did, then as we walked down the road, she said " Mummy, I don't want to go to that school", I asked her why and she replied " I just didn't like it, there's nothing to play with, it looks really boring, the teachers are nice, but I want to be home schooled" I did a little happy dance inside, but kept my cool on the outside, I said "well, you've got the whole of the summer holidays to have a proper think about it".
So that was pretty cool, I feel a bit more relaxed now :)

This evening we went to the 'celebration of achievement' night at the school. There were a few teachers that asked me what Jamie was going to be doing, and I proudly told them that she wants to be homeschooled with me and Alex, and it was quite funny seeing them trying to hide their disapproval!

Oh, and I forgot to say, the other day when we had our shopping delivered, the guy asked Alex why he wasn't at school - in a friendly way, and Alex said full of confidence " I don't got to school, I'm homeschooled" and the guy looked pleasantly surprised, I told him that school couldn't contain him, that Alex has too much life in him to be kept in a clasroom all day :)

p.s. I do prefer the term 'home educated' but home schooling just rolls off the tongue better....I might start changing it though.....