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The bully pulpit

This whole bullying thing is out of control. Every day thousands of kids in the US cut school because they’re afraid of bullies. Tens of thousands more are literally sick over it, with symptoms like stomach problems, anxiety, and depression, just to name a few. And some—you’ve probably read about the cases—have actually committed suicide. Statistics on how many kids are bullied are hard to pin down for several reasons. First, it’s hard to define. Is teasing someone “bullying”? A kindergartener in New Jersey was the subject of a bullying investigation after he said that another child had cooties. To call that bullying diminishes the seriousness of the problem. Second, a lot of kids are so afraid, intimidated, or embarrassed that they don’t ever report being bullied. This is especially true of boys in general and boys who are bullied by girls. There are also some important differences in the

Houdini Part III

Yesterday, I continued my story with an account of my second or third step-dad. I talked about running away when I was 8 years old, and the abuse that occurred. I didn’t go into specifics, rather spoke in generalities. Moving forward in time, I am about 12, and my Uncle needs help on the family farm. Since he is a bachelor, I am asked to help. My step-brothers from my dad’s marriage are each tasked to help. Though not both of them at the same time. We spent the summer working on the farm, at first we slept in a tent, because it was an adventure. But then the tent was basically destroyed by a rain storm. So we started sleeping on the floor of the Quonset, still an adventure. One of my step-brothers took after me one night with a pick axe. That was the end of joint trips

frustrations with the IEP process

Well, a couple of weeks ago, we had our facilitated IEP. We ended the meeting at an impasse. The last thing that the facilitator told us was that she would file her report, and that DPI (Department of Public Instruction) would be in contact with us. Our superintendent was after me to turn in the home school paperwork so that everything is legal where David is concerned. Turns out that they are using that paperwork against us at this point. The only reason we are home schooling David is because the school is refusing to accept him in our district. They want to ship him 50 miles a day to another school. We asked for assurances that they would accept David back after he completes another program successfully, and the school wouldn’t give us one. My wife also asked the school why they were so against educating David. We never