We live in a sports obsessed small town and safety is one of many reasons we homeschool. Smart kids are bullied by the sports kids. According to his friends, my 11-year-old son who is twice exceptional with motor dyspraxia would be a likely target for bullies unless his big, strong, very athletic cousins who also attend this school could somehow protect him. Teachers and bus drivers don't seem to notice the bullying especially if the bully is a good football player. My son's friend had to have stitches in his head after an incident on the bus with a bully.
I know from experience that it is harder to learn when you have anxiety about your safety. I went to a school where there were a lot of fights. I often worried about getting to my next class safely. One boy got shot and killed my senior year of high school. Because of the anxiety, I didn't learn much at school. I learned more at home where I felt safe. College was different. I felt safe there. Because of my experiences and those of his friends, I would feel a lot of anxiety about sending my son to a school where he would not only not receive an appropriate education, but would need to worry about his safety. I hope that we can homeschool through high school.
I also want to protect his mental health as much as possible. I don't want him spending a lot of time in an atmosphere where both teachers and students would make him feel even more different than he already feels. I also don't want him loaded down with homework and busywork after a long day of school that would take time away from learning the things he is interested in and doing things that make him feel good about himself like musical theater, piano, circuitry class, horse riding class, and 4-H and maybe some kind of martial arts in the future. We can make our private jokes about the school that feels coloring in the lines is so educational because he doesn't have to deal with that any more.
He is safe and learning in the way he learns best.
