Track B school for non-academic students?

busymother

Mon, Dec 30 2013, 11:59 am

Does such a thing exist? My 10 year old was in a special ed school for 1st-3rd grades and now she is in the regular bais yakov system getting "integrated" since the special ed class dissolved (the other kids left). so far she is pretty unhappy. Socially I think she likes the other kids but they go to recess in the gym with 4-5 other grades and she totally shuts down. Academically she is LD so she gets some help in school but I think she needs less learning time and every day a different 'special' like art, gym (they only have every other week), ballet, music etc. she needs to shine in something else bec she is totally turned off by the learning... totally overwhelmed. Now she's been crying in the morning that she doesnt want to go to school bec the work is too hard and boring. (I don't blame her, I hated going to school to sit for 7 hours in a hard desk!) I would totally consider moving if there is a school somewhere for girls like her. Any tips/ideas suggestions would be helpful. Sorry for the long story, I'm at my wits end! Oh, and my 8 and 4 yr old are totally going through similar situations... no one likes school... help!!!

SplitPea

Mon, Dec 30 2013, 12:49 pm

busymother wrote:

Is homeschooling an option? For kids in your daughter situation it can really make them love learning again. And with all the money saved on tuition you can get her in some activities she loves!

amother

Mon, Dec 30 2013, 12:54 pm

Op first of all put her into an extra-curricular program for her on Sundays like art, voice, dance or something that has a performance at the end to raise her confidence. My 10 year old dd has a hard time focusing and we gave her other skills and bh she is doing great. For example I gave her art lessons and now in class whenever there is a project or scrapbooking the girls all turn to her. So even though she is not the smartest book wise she is one of the creative kids in the classroom. And there is so much creativity in the classroom.

Another thing is that it seems that your kids are not in a good school. School should be fun, not only learning. My girls are in a high academic school and they still love school because its also fun.

Brooklyn and Lakewood both have schools if you are really interested in moving.

busymother

Mon, Dec 30 2013, 1:57 pm

Thanks everyone!! She does tae kwon do thursday and art on sunday. my wallet is totally on negative! Just had a meeting at school and they want her to start seeing a psychiatrist, social worker, the works... she just needs a smaller class and doesnt need to know the whole tanach by heart! any schools in oot area or only bklyn and lkwd?

Barbara

Mon, Dec 30 2013, 2:03 pm

busymother wrote:

It would help if you would share where you are, and whether you are limiting yourself to Bais Yaakov style schools. I could tell you that I hear amazing things about Carmel Academy's PALS program, but if you're not interested in a Modern Orthodox school in Connecticut, that's not going to help you.

http://www.carmelacademy.com/academics/PALS

SingALong

Mon, Dec 30 2013, 6:33 pm

Do these schools have an option to send to a self contained class? It's in the regular school building but they learn slower, maybe don't cover as many subjects and are together with peers from other classes during lunch and recess. Some even join mainstream classes for certain subjects. This sounds like it might be a good in between for her. Another option is to speak to the school about eliminating certain subjects that she doesn't have to be responsible for, and leave the class that time to go to a tutor to study the subjects she is responsible for. This would work better if her curriculum is departmental, and it won't be so noticeable to her classmates when she leaves class, and just goes to study by certain subjects when everyone is anyways changing classes/teachers/rooms, etc.

busymother

Thu, Jan 09 2014, 10:57 pm

Thanks for your support, everyone!! She is in an inclusion class, and hardly responsible for any subjects. Can't wait till she graduates 12th grade:) It doesn't look like there are any orthodox schools that do a different track in the midwest (or anywhere) although if I ever win the lottery, that's probably what I'll open! Now we have appointments with all the specialists, so I hope something works out.