Back to the rant I was having on the message boards at my writing community. It was answered by several well-meaning people, including school employees/teachers/teachers in training. I finally responded back:

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Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond to my rant. I feel compelled to continue.

As a parent of a child who has been diagnosed with ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome, and Bipolar Disorder, I get tired of people blaming me for having a distressing and sometimes difficult to control daughter.

To quote:
"The teacher is not there to clean up after the parent's mess."

Do you have any idea how upsetting it is for a parent of a behavior-challenged child to hear something like that? First of all, I don't consider my child a mess. I think she's a beautiful work of divine art... one of God's masterpieces.

Second, if teachers aren't capable of taking care of all kinds of children, these beautiful, special children don't belong in their care. That's one of many, many reasons why I keep her home.

And when our family goes on homeschool field trips, all the kids go, not just the ones that are behaving the best that week, and the reason why is that a good field trip is educational. To take that trip out of the behavior-challenged child's education is discrimination towards the handicapped.

My daughter insisted on attending a public school for eighth grade last year just because she wanted to participate in the eighth grade graduation, a formal event equivalent to a coming-out party in our small mountain community. Because her behavior caused problems at the school, she was confined to a special classroom for just behavior-problem children, something like a prison within a government prison school.

(That's how I think of them... and then people have the nerve to say I isolate my children because we homeschool. Give me a break! I don't have a chainlink fence all around my house to hold the children in like government schools do!)

Anyhow, we were so distressed by the way my child was treated (like a criminal rather than as a child with special needs and diagnoses) I filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Civil Rights Division. After investigation, the school was found at fault and must make changes to assure they will be less likely to discriminate against special needs children in that way again.

My honest opinion is that children are usually best educated at home where they are loved and appreciated despite any perceived unwanted traits.

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