Withdrawn

Rugrat was officially withdrawn from her brick and mortar school on Friday afternoon. She attended on Friday but I enclosed a note with her binder letting the teacher know that we were planning to withdraw her that afternoon when I picked her up. We also included the class snack she would have been responsible for  a week so the schedule wouldn't be interrupted.

The teacher called me after lunch and told me that she had actually been planning to speak to a counselor about getting Rugrat some "help" in class. That was somewhat validating since it confirmed that what we had been seeing was not just a paranoid parent's imaginings.

She told me a few times that she thought we might be doing the right thing (which was encouraging). She didn't feel that Rugrat had bad issues, just that she needed a little extra attention and to be "re-directed" frequently. She also confirmed that she just wasn't able to do that, in large part due to how many kids were in the class. In fact, she mentioned several times how many kids there were and I got the feeling she often felt a little outnumbered.

As an aside -- I really feel like it would be a great thing for the public education system to truly evaluate the problem of such a large student to teacher ratio. Everything I've researched and seen has constantly confirmed just how much more effective a smaller ratio is - both in learning and behavior issues.

All in all, I was glad that she called. It validated what we had been seeing and boosted my certainty that we had made the right decision. While I still feel that she just may not have realized at all how hard it was for our little girl to make the jump to English mid-stream, I am glad to know that she recognized Rugrat as bright and intelligent.