Kid from Missouri travels

These are my reasons, and my Nana is not doing my work for me. If she did, that would be cheating, and if no one believes me, you can ask her staff person, Elizabeth.

My reasons why I want to do virtual or homeschool and not go back to in-person school are my Nana will help me if I am stuck on a question, I get better grades in virtual, I am not as anxious and can concentrate better, I have friends who are homeschoolers, I get to do more specials, and I do a lot of fun stuff that is school-related. I want to be an entrepreneur.

First, I want to let you know my Nana does not do my work. She helps me if I am stuck. Nana’s help is no different from what Ms. Hilton or Ms. Doe helped me with when I was in school. Ms. Smith said my Nana can read the questions to me, print off anchor charts for me to look at, and explain the process for doing hard math problems or spelling. My Nana also makes my work fun with games and movies, and sometimes she uses different objects to help me understand. We use the whiteboard or chalkboard, and we also use rhyming games to help me learn.

I do not have to go to a special classroom at my virtual school to learn or get help. I can work on my school work, and if I need help, I can wait for my Nana to help me. When I had to go to a special classroom, it would take me from my regular class, and sometimes I would not be able to see all the fun things or do the extra things like science and history. If I had to go to Ms. Smith, the kids wouldn’t do anything, but I liked it better because it was noise-cancelling, and I could play with the toys. When I was in the special classes, I would miss some of my work, which was homework, so at the end of the day, I would have more work and feel frustrated and behind the other kids. In my special classes, I did not really do the work; they just let me play on a Chromebook if I had enough tickets. I would mostly sit around and wait. In homeschool or virtual school, I do not have any sitting-around time; my Nana keeps me busy with schoolwork, art, science, videos, and writing. I also have to practice my violin, go to the co-op, and go to the gym to exercise. My Nana also makes me write, spell, read books, and do other things I do not have to do in in-person school because we do things on the Chromebook, and we do not have writing or spelling in in-person school. She also makes me learn history, and when we go places, she makes me get books or watch movies about the place we visit, like Booker T. Washington.

The next reason is “I can concentrate better,” and this is important, and I have a lot to say on this point. Because I can concentrate better, I understand most of my schoolwork and do not always need help. Like with my math, I am learning and can listen to the teacher better, so I understand what he is teaching me and can do the work. I can also use a calculator if I need to, so my Nana, who is like my special classroom teacher, does not need to help me as much.

I feel like I learn more because there are fewer distractions, and I can focus on what I need to learn. Also, when I am homeschooled or virtual schooled, if I am hungry, I can eat something, and it helps me focus. In in-person school, I have to wait for lunch, and sometimes I am hungry, so I don’t concentrate. One other thing about eating is that I can chew gum to help me concentrate when I am taking a test, but in school, they will not let me have it. The chewing gum helps me focus and perform better on the test. In school, some kids get loud in the hallways, and the echo makes it hard to hear, so I have to listen to it multiple times. Some of the kids would reach over in my classroom and hit me when I was trying to work, in 3rd grade. When I would go to the bathroom, some of the kids would rip my things off my desk. The teacher never said anything to them. Also, some of the kids would yell at me for no reason and blame me for things I did not do. But when I would yell, I would get sent to the special rooms with Ms. Barnett, but they never got sent out of the classroom.

Also, I have more friends at homeschool. I go to the co-op at the church, homeschool group, and homeschool skate. I also have homeschool friends from the Library and other events I go to. These friends are the same age and share my interests. I have the homeschool gym where Pastor teaches sports, PE, and soccer, and he prays with us. Homeschool gym is at the same church that I go to with the neighbors on Wednesday evenings. I also have a lot of friends who attend the homeschool skate on Friday. This skate works as PE also. Finally, you probably do not know about S.A.L.T./Co-op at the Baptist Church where my friend goes. So far this year, I have done Chemistry, Drama, Theater Plays, Fossils, Art, Animal Husbandry, and Missouri History. We also go on field trips; the last one was to SWAT, which was really cool. I go to see where they handle all the 911 operator calls, where the SWAT cars are, and where they keep the evidence from crimes. They could tell what happened and the direction of the blood-splash puddle if there was one. All that is really cool, and I never get to do these things in regular school because I end up in special ed class, so I don’t even get to do science most of the time. We set up ‘play dates’ like with Jake, where I went to his birthday party at the bowling alley. IT IS NOT LIKE LITTLE KID PLAY DATES- it is just getting with other homeschoolers my age so we can do some outdoor activities or an outing. Last time we had salt and water, and we had to put it on the ice ball to get the dinosaur out of the ice with an eyedropper. These activities are for holidays like last Easter or this year’s Valentine’s, when I met with a group of kids, and we celebrated the holiday at the Library or a park.

I love the science, art, history, and music I do with my homeschool group and my Nana: I get to do more specials. At school, I usually do not get to do those things because of the special ed pull-outs and Ms. Barnett’s class. I learn something new every day. I also have to go online and research what my Nana tells me to look up. This week, I finished my galaxy painting after learning about the galaxy in science. I also had to look up places in Chicago and Kentucky to see where we could go when we visited. I make science experiences weekly and mostly at my Nana’s. At the office, I get to do STEM experiments and make art. Everything I make has to do with what I am learning.

I do a lot of fun school-related stuff, like helping Nana with the website, videos, and blogs. I also talk with clients and answer phones. My Nana makes me research camera equipment, books, and toys, and go to her Chamber of Commerce meetings. I also help with her artwork, clean, and answer her Facebook messages. She teaches me breathing, grounding, and other skills that I use with her clients when they come in. We also play games related to what I am learning, so it helps me remember, like The World Game, Zingo, or Pizza for Fractions. The games help me learn, and when I was in school, I never got to play them because I was always behind or did not get my schoolwork done. I was really sad when I didn’t get to play Fraction Fortress, so my Nana bought it, and we play it a lot. I also have Outschool, where I learned to use a cookie to make a map and did photography.

Finally, I want to be an entrepreneur, so virtual schooling helps me achieve that goal because I learn by doing and by helping business people. MY NANA IS HELPING THAT IS NOT CHEATING- BECAUSE Ms. BARNETT HELPED ME AND Ms. RADCLIFT HELPED ME AND TOLD MY NANA HOW TO HELP ME LEARN WITHOUT DOING THE WORK. THEY BOTH SAID IT IS IN MY IEP and not cheating, but I DON’T HAVE TO GO TO A SPECIAL ED CLASS OR TO MS BARNETT’S ROOM FOR HELP. Plus, I GET TO DO MY WORK AND ALL THE EXTRA THINGS I LIKE AND NEED FOR LEARNING.

I also learn to spell, do Bible stuff, write, and read things that aren’t taught in school. Also, by doing virtual, I get to learn to balance, strength, and independence. It might be weird, but it is true. Because you know, in the movies, when they are being beaten up and it is hard for them to walk or find the strength to fight back, well, it is just like real life for me and maybe some other people. I need the time to do my OT exercises to build my strength, and if I did that at school, they would take me out of class, or worse, I would not have the exercises to build my strength. When I got beaten up, it was hard for me to walk. I was scared and nervous, and I always came back home with a nosebleed or upset. Now that I do virtual, my Nana is helping me build my strength back, and I am learning how to keep my balance. Basically, I am learning to walk again, like I am not falling all the time.

When I went to school, I was miserable every day and never happy. I hated it, and no one listened to me, and I got bad grades because I was always afraid, distracted, and confused. Now that I have been in virtual school, I am way happier and doing great. School is still hard, like a jail cell for kids, but I get to take my time and get my work done. I can also visit more places and make learning more fun.

I forgot to add that I am still sad about my mom, 7 out of 10, but if the kids bring it up, I would probably cry or get mad. I don’t know what they would say, and I am not ready to talk about it or to know what to say. They may say some mom jokes, and I can’t handle that. The mother-son dance will make me sad.