Suspended

I never, ever, ever thought I'd be in this place. One of my children is about to be suspended from school.

I don't blame the teachers, well not really. Actually, I can't. We try to teach respect, responsibility and accountability. That means an understanding that your actions do have consequences. If you choose not to complete your homework by its due date, you will have to suffer the consequences. Multiple infractions will result in more serious consequences.

And it's not that my child wasn't warned. Each time the assignments were not completed, the consequences were spelled out and executed. After the last violation, the phrase "in-school suspension" was thrown around quite a bit.

At first this child was thrilled - a day without schoolwork. But then it was explained and it didn't seem like so much fun anymore. But, the desire to avoid the punishment wasn't as strong as the desire to slack off and avoid schoolwork.

So now the teacher is at the point of no return. To suspend or not to suspend? This is the question. And the second question is this: How does one suspend a homeschooled student? If, as was explained to this child, a day is to be spent in solitude with nothing but school books, where is this happy event to take place? We have very few places in this house that would qualify as complete solitude, none of which is deemed acceptable for a whole day's placement. And who will supervise this day apart? If it's the teacher, then who will teach the rest of the class? I guess we could call the principal but I can assure you he will give me some explanation about his responsibilities being the bringing home of the bacon so that school supplies and curriculum can be purchased (I know it's not going toward teacher salaries) or this that and the other thing about how he has no idea what is being taught and how it's being taught so he knows that he would be of no help at all in this supervisory position.

A difficult position, indeed. Anyone want to play guidance counselor for the day?