My twin nephews graduated from public high school last week. I'm not sure whether their LAUSD-issue diplomas are worth the paper they're printed on, but the alternative for them is much worse. This year's theme seemed to be, "Air Horns Totally Rock." Oy.
Their 5th grade commencement ceremony included speeches from kids who talked about the importance of recycling, and -- my favorite -- how one boy planned to make a difference in society by *not* joining a gang. Well, there's something to be said for not wanting to be a statistic... I wonder whether that boy graduated from high school last week. I hope so.
I tutored these boys when they were in 6th grade. I had just one small silly at the time, and it was my first foray into homeschooling. I had the WTM, but not the WTM boards. If I'd had the boards, I would have picked completely different curriculum for their needs. They could barely read, and they flunked the third grade standardized test from Texas that I gave them for diagnostic purposes.
One twin was basically cooperative, but the other knew how far behind he was and was really depressed and hard to teach. It was a long, hard 10 months. In April of that school year we ended up getting them into Resource classes for some LDs. Ironically, they would have received more services, if I hadn't tutored them.
Over the weekend, we had their graduation dinner with the extended family. Their mom thanked me for working with them so long ago and told me that they wouldn't have graduated without my help in placing them in special ed. That felt really good.
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