Oh Cathy!
I hope the person with the difficult receiving teacher wasn't you! Although even a bad "transition year" may still be worth it if the rest of the year are better, yes?
I hope I'm not being too hard on you....actually I wish that you weren't being just as hard on yourself. That's why I'm saying all this out loud, so you can get frustrated with that pesky Trinity who keeps asking the difficult questions and not with your own self for asking the same difficult questions.
I know that it sounds like you can try and always pull him if it doesn't work, but really - that plan means that he will have failed, and have learned that Mom doesn't really know what she's doing and that he will be visibly suffering, and that school is stupid, and that if something is unpleasant, Mommy will say he doesn't have to do it. None of that sounds appealing, does it?
As for the in class differentiation, well that's all well and good for kids who like school, enjoy playing with agemates, and are in the top 5 to 2 percent of students academically. None of this sounds like your son, yes?
You asked about the benifits of the YSP - one of them is the support of other parents who have BTDT when one embarkes on a path that is totally different from what all the local friends and family and school staff have every heard of. These unusual kids need unusual educational paths, and it really helps to hear about what others have tried and how it worked.
Please pardon the bluntness, I really hope that everything works out beautifully, and that I'm super wrong about everything. Whatever you decide, we want to hear about the good times and the bad ones,
Trinity
