What should I tell the principal at my daughter's school?

My daughter had a tough year at her new school. She used to go to public school and we put her in a Christian school. The teacher is a jerk. My daughter is a great kid. I will admit that she is a little strong willed and stubborn. She constantly butted heads with this teacher all year and would receive demerits and detention for disrespect. This teacher put a lot of pressure on her. It was wrong of her to snap at him I admit. She's only 10. The problem is that it is a one room school with only 25 kids and he is the teacher for the whole school so he'd always be her teacher. The principal wanted to meet with my husband and I. When we went to the meeting we were bombarded with the entire staff. We felt like we were lambs being led to slaughter. It was very sneaky of the staff to do this. They had everything planned out already. The said that we had to basically get my daughter on medication or she'd be expelled. We don't want her to go back there. We want to homeschool.

Most of you have been so helpful. Except for the one who said that love hides a loved ones flaws. I know my daughter and that she isn't perfect but she didn't deserve to be treated the way she was. As Christians they should have shown more patience and tolerance with her. My daughter was in the public school system and I hated it. The classes are overcrowded and the teachers stink. She always seemed to get first year teachers and she was like their guinea pig. The kids were so mean and the teacher and principal didn't seem to care. I wasn't going to let my daughter be subjected to that. I have decided to homeschool my daughter. It is my choice. She is a great kid and I want the best for her. I will make sure that she is socialized. It is funny that she is out of school and is so happy and easy going. Her teacher brought out the worst in her and I am seeing the best in her. I am just going to tell her principal nicely how I feel and that my daughter won't be returning.

My son was at a Christian school that I loved. But they had an attitude that all students should be getting A's. If they weren't then the teacher/parent/student combo wasn't doing there job. My son is not an A students. And when he has worked hard and done his best I felt he should get praises as much as if he got an A. I pulled him out and home schooled for 2 years before putting him in public school. I used A Beka for his schooling which had a whole program I could just follow. books, test, quizzes, worksheet, study guides- it was simple to follow. We spent about 3 hours a day to get everything done.
This isn't working for you or your daughter. She will need to learn how to deal with those in authority when she doesn't agree with them. But I wouldn't put her back in that school.

I highly disagree with home schooled kid being antisocial. We don't lock up our kids in the house. My son and I had more time to do many other things. My son had the time to take several classes in the evening- art, music. I got him into science classes at our local museum. Christian Youth Theatre has a large amount of home schooled kids socializing together. There are home schooled sports team, bands, orchestras. We traveled more, did more field trips to zoos, the city, museums. He experienced more being away from the all day school.

Don't send her back there! I butted heads with my fourth grade teacher, many of the same reasons you explained with your daughter. I was actually bored with school, wasn't challenged enough, probably should have skipped a grade to keep me pushed. Maybe he is under challenging her, and she is bored. Pull her out. I don't think you need to homeschool, the public school system is better know then when I was 10, 20 years ago. She doesn't necessarily need meds, the school was looking for an excuse to explain her unhappiness.

Why can't she go to public school? In general, public school teachers are trained to be a bit more tolerant and trained to deal with classroom management - Did your daughter get kicked out of public school for some reason? Does she have problems with authority figures? Does she have problems with taking initiative? Think HONESTLY about all this and then decide what to do that is BEST for your daughter.

You answered this for yourself. Take her out and homeschool her again. If you and your daughter both feel uncomfortable or like you are being tricked into things you shouldn't be there. Don't ever put a 10 year old, or anyone on the medication they're asking.

oh wow.
that is a horrible environment for kids.
get her out of there!!! dont make her go back for one more day! how did the teacher teach kids of different ages at once? she probably didn't learn much there, and i doubt they prepared her for middle school. i think you should put her back in public schools.

you know love has a way of hiding the loved ones flaws. you said it yourself that your daughter is stubborn, well hun, a christian school has more discipline, something your daughter might need, thats why you were called in

IMO thats what you get with private Christian schools. Show them enough money and watch them back off. Personally I went to both schools. I started Private Catholic (nuns) and then right before high school and even high school switched to public. Best decision ever made. I hear all the bla bla bla about private education but to me education is what you make it. I learned a lot at Public and only felt stressed in private. Now as an adult I have enough stress I did not need to go through with that as a child. So when I had my child he went to public. Home school? I have 2 friends who home school their kids you can tell the difference in social situations. They are the ones standing alone because they have no idea how to socialize.

That is horrible that they did that to you and your daughter. Ten years old seems like a big time, especially for girls. I do think that getting out of the school will probably be beneficial, but home schooling is probably not the best answer. I am a product of public school education (public school all through grade school and state school college) and I learned a lot from all those various social situations. For example, I was in an honors program in grade school so I was kind of separated from other kids then we got to middle school and I was still in the honors program but because of the central location of the middle school, our honors program was placed in one of the most degraded schools in the area. It was a strange new world when my mom dropped me off at a low income school with kids I've never seen before, but I learned to talk to them and find out more about their lives. After high school I went on to the University of Texas..a school that at the time had 50,000 students. There were so many people to see and meet, but I was prepared for that experience because of my past.

I'm not saying everyone should throw their kids to the public school wolves, I understand that is not always the best option, but home schooling begins to rule out diverse experiences for your child and endangers her abilities to communicate and empathize with others more effectively in the future.

Good luck!!

I find it odd that they would be telling you to medicate your child without having her assessed first. If the situation is not working for your family, you should try to find a different school. Tell the principal your concerns in a one on one setting. Be honest with your concerns and see what kind of solution you can come up with.

I personally am not a big fan of home schooling. I feel that children need to socialize with other children and learn how to deal with issues that only happen in a school setting.

Good luck!