excuse me while i pat myself on the back for a sec.

[mopinko]

so, i raised 5 crazy genius kids. homeschooled for 8 yrs starting w #2.
for a lot of reasons, they all got sent to regular school when the younger 2 were in 1st and 2nd grade.

now, the older 2 did have a bumpy entry.
teachers dont like homeschoolers, and they took every hole in what they taught the other kids as proof they were miseducated.
they had them believing it.

now. they are 28-36.
the older 2 are doing great. successful. primo is ebt on a phd in theoretical math. he bailed tho, and took a great job.
middle child ended up doing some college, then got a job. got promoted a couple times at her 1st job.
then in the space of about 8 yrs she went from being a server at cpk to being the gm of a store in queens.

the other 2, not so much.
segundo, well, that kid was just traumatized by school, and by the lord of the flies kids. my worst nightmare come true.
30, and just plain lost.

youngest is better. school would have been great for faer if fae hadnt been sick.
rly wasnt supported, tho there was plenty of paperwork, and some good ppl.
landed a full boat scholarship that fae couldnt use for health reasons. the college fell down, but if the hs had done it right, the college likely would have followed their plan.
fae's had good times and bad times. in a good place now, but dependent on ssi.

i pointed this disparity out to my ex this morning.
him- i was just saying that the other day.

this kind of validation is a rare thing in life.
imma wallow in it a minute.

[Freddie]

1. "Raising teenagers is like nailing jello to a wall"

I plan on giving this plaque to my daughter, whose oldest will be 13 in 2 years.
Nothing pisses me off more than people who automatically blame parents (especially moms) for kids problems. They hit a certain age when their peers have way more influence and you can sometimes stand back and watch. My daughter was a horrible teen - drugs, awful boyfriends. Absolutely refused to go to school - this is before cyber school became available - I finally gave up and let her drop out, figuring she could get her GED later.
At 18 she got a job at a nursing home, in the kitchen and helping patients with their meals. A light went on - “I don’t want to do this the rest of my life!” Got her GED, went to community college, did so well she got a scholarship to a local 4 year college. She’s now an RN.

[mopinko]

2. middle kid had a breakdown a couple mos in.

after much strum und drang, graduated from a therapeutic day school.
her 1st batch of teachers were 90% assholes. the math teacher was the best of them. she had horrible math anxiety, but she could see that she understood the concepts.

she didnt speak to me for years. barely does now.