School stuff

[starrymite]

Today some people from the private school Sean will be attending soon came over for a kind of evaluation. And I'm feeling very good about things, actually. They were surprised that with the low level of functioning they have that they can respond and behave as well as they do. And they made me feel a lot better about what I've been doing with the kids. They said that talking to me and David was "like a breath of fresh air" because we have a detailed understanding of our kids and practical ideas and goals for them. That means a lot because I so often feel like I don't know how the heck to raise these boys. They really throw me a lot of curveballs! But it's great that I will be working with therapists and teachers that value my input.

They really want both boys to go to this school, and, of course I do too. It's not that Elliot's education isn't worth the money, we just don't have the money. David has an idea though. Apparently there is this site called GoFundMe. It's a funding site, as the name implies, and people have used it to fund tuition. He figures that we'll let Elliot go to his current school next year while we raise the funds we need for him to go to the better school.

You're supposed to offer rewards, of course, but then, I can always offer my art. I'm not sure exactly what kind of art to do for this kind of thing though. I was thinking that at the lower giving levels ($10-$50) I could offer digital drawing commissions, for characters as well as portraits from photos. And for the higher giving levels, some paintings. But then, I'm not sure if I should offer paintings I've already done, or do painting commissions... I'll have to give this more thought.

But I hope this option will work, because Elliot no longer has qualified teachers working with him and both kids have really stagnated this year. And there are no plans in the works for this situation to change. I really want what's best for them both. I've just got to believe I can make this happen.

Comments

[ex_mek82]

That's really good to hear! I'm glad Sean will soon be getting the help he needs. I hope that this school will be a good fit for him, but from what you've described, it sounds like it's legit. I will say this, though: options are better than they were even 10-15 years ago. (I witnessed the whole rigmarole with my parents trying to find the right places for my sibling)

Crowd-sourcing... hmm. It does sound like it could be a viable option for Elliot's tuition. Do they have scholarships available, though? I'm not sure how that would work, since I know most scholarships are usually for colleges. But if that option is available, that could be something worth looking into.

[starrymite]

I really do have a very good feeling about this school, which is why, of course, that I want Elliot to have the same benefits Sean will have. The school is connected to a church and the good news is, this church pays for about two thirds of the tuition. But it still comes out to 15,000 a year. The school has told us that the only option we have for financial assistance would be to get a grant. I want to look into that option as well.

I'm glad that my boys have had the few good years in public school that they had. But the situation has changed, and the qualified teachers they were doing so well with have moved on somewhere else. And we are not in a school district that has a middle school autistic program that is more than a glorified daycare service located in a crime ridden part of town. So I will do absolutely everything I can to make this work. I think I just need to get creative here.